Chapter 517 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Let’s just eat. One date at a time,” Amy suggested, and Lucas flashed her a smile of gratitude before focusing on his food.

Even though he wasn’t feeling hungry, giving his food attention was the escape he needed from facing Miley.

“Why are you so quiet?” Celsie asked as she turned to look at Benne who had been quiet since he started driving.

She had been expecting him to badger her with so many questions the minute they were alone, but he had been unusually quiet for some time.

Benne sighed, “I don’t know. I guess I’m just trying to process some things in my head one more time before asking you any question,” Benne said, and Celsie nodded in understanding.

“How was work today?” She asked after some time, and Benne glanced at her.

“It was going alright until you told me about it, and after that time I could barely think about anything else,” Benne said, and Celsie smiled sadly.

“I understand,” she murmured.

“What about you? How are you?” Benne asked, and Celsie shrugged.

“It’s just one of those days I want to come to an end quickly,” Celsie said before looking at him with a serious expression.

“Harry didn’t suspect anything, did he?” Celsie asked, and Benne shrugged.

“He would be an idiot not to. And we both know he is far from being one. Thankfully, he didn’t press me to say anything. By the way, you didn’t send me your recorded conversation with Sara as promised,” Benne reminded her.

“Oh! Sorry. It completely slipped my mind. I will do so now,” Celsie said as she took out her phone from her handbag.

“Instead of sending it, why don’t you connect your phone to the car’s Bluetooth speaker and we can just listen to it together as I drive?” Benne asked, but Celsie shook her head.

“I’m not sure about that. You are driving and the conversation might upset you,” Celsie said, and Benne turned to spare a glance at her.

“You think I’m not already upset? What could I hear now that you haven’t already told me? Connect it and let’s listen to it together. Don’t worry, I’m okay,” Benne assured her, and Celsie looked at him for a moment before hesitantly doing as he had requested.

Benne said nothing as he listened to the conversation between Celsie and Sara, and Celsie was startled when he suddenly chuckled at the end, “What’s funny?” She asked in confusion since that was the least reaction she had expected to see.

Benne looked at her with a proud smile, “You sounded really tough and sexy. I was just wondering why I’m never around when you show off all that hotness,” Benne said as he stopped the car when the traffic light blinked red.

Celsie laughed softly, feeling embarrassed, “You’re exaggerating. I’m sure either Sonia or Jade could have handled her better,” Celsie said, and Benne shook his head.

“I think you handled her perfectly. You amaze me, Jewel. And I’m so lucky to have you in my life,” Benne said as he gazed at her with a soft smile, and she smiled in embarrassment as she turned her face away from him briefly.

“I’m happy to have you in my life too. And you should know that I was that confident only because I know I have you behind me,” Celsie said with a soft smile.

Benne smiled as he reached for her hand and kissed the inside of her palm, “I’ve got your back, Celsie. All day, every day,” he promised as he returned his attention to the road and started driving again.

“I know,” Celsie said confidently, “That reminds me. What did she say to Harry in front of the restaurant?” She asked, referring to Sara as ‘she’ since she didn’t want to utter her name or refer to her as Harry’s mother either.

Celsie sighed after Benne told her about their exchange with Sara in front of the restaurant, “She is obviously self-centered and doesn’t care about Harry. I doubt that she would be acting this shamelessly if her intentions were pure. There is no iota of remorse in her attitude. Shouldn’t she be feeling too embarrassed and ashamed of herself to show her face in front of a son she abandoned?” Celsie asked, and Benne nodded in agreement.

“Yesh. Good thing Harry could see through her pretty face and make-up to see how shallow she and fake she truly is,” Benne said, thinking how strange it was that Harry didn’t think that way when he looked at his ‘mom’s’ photograph, but felt that way when he saw her in person.

“By the way, is she really the same person in the photograph Harry has? Harry thought she looked familiar, but I could barely recognize her,” Benne said, and Celsie explained what Aaron had said about her going under the knife several times.

“I guess Harry was right about her,” Benne said, remembering how Harry had said he was certain she had undergone surgery to look the way she did.

Celsie arched a brow, “What did he say about her?” She asked, and sighed when Benne told her everything Harry had said about Sara.

“As sad as it is that he thinks of his mother that way, it’s a good thing he already has that opinion of her. I only hope he doesn’t feel too hurt when he hears everything.”

“Are you certain Aaron is going to tell Harry everything after this weekend? I’m not sure how much longer I can avoid answering Harry’s question,” Benne said with a slight frown.

“You will have to keep avoiding his questions until Aaron is ready. You know how sensitive the situation is. Harry has to hear the truth from Aaron himself,” Celsie said firmly, and Benne nodded.

“Yeah. I know. Can you give me her full name or phone number? Or anything I can use to look into her,” Benne suggested, and Celsie gave him a nod.

“I have her phone number, but I don’t think there will be any need to waste our time on that. We already know who she is and we have evidence we can use against her. What we need to focus on is finding Aaron’s daughter and making sure Harry isn’t too affected by any of this. If Harry is fine, Aaron would be fine too,” Celsie said reasonably, and Benne turned to her with a soft gaze.

“I don’t know what I would have done in this situation without you,” Benne said, and Celsie sighed.

“Perhaps things wouldn’t have happened this way if I wasn’t in your life. By the way, I got some strands of hair from Aaron’s hairbrush. When can you get the DNA test done?” She asked, returning to the subject.

“I could send it to them tomorrow, and by Saturday we would have the result,” Benne said, and Celsie nodded.

“Let’s do that.”

“What are the chances that Candace might really be Harry’s twin sister or related to him?” Benne asked, and Celsie pursed her lips thoughtfully.

“We both know that anything is possible,” Celsie said after a while.

“If it turns out to be true, that would mean Jamal is your what? Second cousin?” Benne asked, and Celsie smiled at the thought that cute little Jamal might be related to her.

“No. That would make him my first cousin once removed,” Celsie explained, and Benne’s brows pulled together.

---