Chapter 484 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

While waiting for Benne and Celsie to arrive he had decided to give Jade a call to while away the time, seeing as she had failed to give him a call the previous evening as he had expected.

“Sort of.”

“Are you alright? I was calling to find out how it went last night. I mean with Jero and the Cartel,” Harry said, since that was also one of the reasons he had called, apart from wanting to see her reaction to what Aurora had told her.

“Yeah, I’m okay. About that, I decided to take your advice, and stay back at the hotel. I didn’t go with them. I’m still waiting to hear from them,” Jade said with a yawn, and Harry raised a brow.

“Oh, I see!” Harry said with a thoughtful frown.

She had been at the hotel all evening yet had failed to call him after she heard from Aurora? What did that mean? Was she not affected by what she had heard? Harry mused as he tried to imagine her, waving it off dismissively and turning on the television to watch a television show, or most likely taking out documents related to her case to pore over them.

He shook his head. That couldn’t be it. She had said she wanted to live rent-free in his head, and even Aurora had said she had seemed more surprised than excited about the news. That means she cared.

If she cared, did that mean she had been too affected by the news that she had decided not to call him? He wondered as he tried to imagine Jade crying over the news of his date with Aurora and getting drunk to stupor. He shook his head once again. That image did not suit Jade.

“What about you? Are you at work already? Oh, by the way, how is your dad’s health?” Jade asked when she remembered Aaron.

“He is feeling better today. Celsie is coming over to spend the day with him so that I can go to work today,” Harry said, and Jade nodded.

“That’s cool,” she said, and paused, waiting for him to say something else.

Although she was feeling very tempted to ask him about his conversation with Aurora and why he had asked her to accompany him to the dinner party despite her confession to him two days ago, but she stifled the urge to ask him any related questions.

She was going to let him do what he wanted for now, while she focused on closing this case and relocating to Serenopolis. If he was still single by the time she was done, she would do as she had promised Candace, and confess her feelings to him, but if he wasn’t, then it would just have to be her loss.

Harry on the other hand was also waiting for her to say something or ask him about it. When she didn’t and the line remained awkwardly silent for some seconds, he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he cleared his throat.

“Esquire, about our phone conversation the other day. About what you said… What did you mean when you said you wanted to live rent-free…” Before he could finish his question, Jade quickly interrupted him when her phone beeped with an awaiting call notification.

“I’m sorry, Harry, but I have to go now. They’re calling about last night. It’s important I receive the call now,” she said, her heart beating wildly.

“Sure. Let’s talk later then,” Harry said, and she hung up immediately.

“Hey! Good morning! How did it go?” Jade asked breathlessly immediately she received the call.

“Not so good. For some reason they came prepared. We lost some men, and your witness is badly injured too. He was just moved into the ICU. He was asking for someone called Candace before he passed out,” the person on the other end of the phone informed her.

“What about the Lords of the cartel? Were you able to get them? All of them?” Jade asked, holding her breath as she placed a hand on the left part of her chest which felt like her heart was about to shoot out from it.

The response to her question was very important to her as it would determine what the future held for her. She knew without a doubt that if for any reason any of the lords escaped, then not just Candace’s life, but her life too would be in danger too. She knew they were going to come for her.

Lucas looked at Celsie incredulously, “Are you seriously asking me that right now, Celsie? Do you honestly think I’m in the state of mind to be in any way attached to any lady after I just walked out of such a toxic relationship with Rachel?”

Celsie sighed as she picked up her cup of chocolate. She sipped from it before meeting his gaze, “I understand what you mean. But I think she really likes you,” Celsie said, but Lucas shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter, Celsie. I don’t have to be friends with everyone that likes me, do I? I’m just trying to look out for myself right now. My mental health is at stake here. She is ill. You may not fully understand the extent of her illness yet, but as a medical doctor I know how bad her condition is and just how worse it’s going to get overtime if she doesn’t start receiving treatments. Being friends with her or getting involved with her in anyway is going to mess with me. I’m not there yet. I’m not ready for it,” Lucas said, as he took a bite from his sandwich before sipping from his cup of coffee.

Seeing the turmoil in his eyes, Celsie could tell that he was genuinely worried about Miley even though he didn’t want to be, “You care about her,” Celsie stated, knowingly.

“I’m a medical doctor. Caring about sick people comes naturally to me,” Lucas stated, sounding more defensive than he had intended.

“I know you, Luc. Your eyes don’t lie. You care about her even though you don’t want to. Care to tell me how you met her? Amy said you both didn’t part on very friendly terms,” Celsie said, and Lucas looked away from her for a moment as he contemplated if he should tell her or not.

“I will appreciate it if you don’t lie to me,” Celsie said, and Lucas sighed as he picked up his cup of coffee which had become cool and gulped down its content.

Deep down he wanted to talk about Miley. He wanted to tell someone else about his encounter with her and know if he was crazy for caring about her the way he did in such a short duration of time. And right now it seemed like Celsie was the only available person he could talk to. It wasn’t like he had any other close friends who he could speak with about this right now apart from Tyler, who was thousands of miles away, and who he hadn’t seen since for some years now.

Lucas took a deep breath before telling Celsie all about his meeting with Miley, how he had woken up at her house and how he had left her, he only left out her plan to get married and have a kid before dying.

By the time he was done, Celsie had a sad smile on her face, and a tear drop on her cheek which she brushed away with her thumb, “She sounds like a really sweet person,” Celsie said, and Lucas smiled.

“She actually is,” Lucas admitted.

“Are you sure you won’t regret this? I understand that you are not ready for any sort of emotional attachment, and you need time to recover from Rachel. But if her condition is as bad as you have said, then she doesn’t have the luxury of time to wait, so you can’t blame her for coming on so strongly,” Celsie said, and Lucas raised a brow.

“I didn’t say I am romantically interested in her. It’s just friendship. You don’t expect me to just jump from Rachel into another lady’s arms in such a short notice do you? I’m not interested in rebounding with Miley,” Lucas said, and Celsie smiled as she sipped from her cup of chocolate.

“I didn’t say you should do that, did I? Listen, what I’m just trying to say, is this; At least Miley has a couple of months left to live, so if you care about her why not help make that time more memorable for her? Haven’t you seen healthy people die in the twinkle of an eye? I mean, there’s no guarantee in life. One minute a person is alive, and the next a person is dead. Do you have any idea how many healthy persons without terminal illnesses have died since Miley was diagnosed? She has outlived them all,” Celsie said making Lucas sigh.

“What are you trying to say Celsie?”

“I know you are scared that when you get close to her and she dies you’re going to be devastated by the loss, but you can’t always shield yourself from being hurt, Luc. Life doesn’t work that way. Pain is a part of life. At least when you feel pain you know you’re still alive. If anything happens to Benne right now, I might go crazy with grief, but you know one thing I know? I won’t have any regrets. I think the hurt I’d feel over losing him is worth having him in my life for even only a couple of months. I’d rather have spent that time with him, than not spent it at all,” Celsie said, and Lucas looked at her with interest.

“You have changed a lot,” Lucas observed.

“I know, right?” Celsie asked with a soft laughter, “You have no idea all the crazy things I’ve experienced and done since I met Benne. It feels like I’m a different person,” Celsie said, and Lucas smiled.

“You are obviously a different person from Celsie that called me a few weeks ago asking me about her colleague’s friend’s driver,” Lucas said, and Celsie giggled.

“That seems like such a long time ago,” she said, and Lucas nodded when he remembered how he had been cuddled up on the couch with Rachel when that call came in. Who knew that so much could happen or change in such a short time?

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