Chapter 989 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Tell me everything she said,” Celsie said and Benne told her exactly what Evelyn had said.

“I guess she feels this way because I’m your girlfriend and not married to you? If I were your wife she would consider me family and wouldn’t think I was wrong want to punish your grandfather,” Celsie said, and Benne shook his head.

“I don’t think so. I know for a fact that she considers you part of the family and thinks of you as her daughter in-law. She just wants to put the blame on you so she wouldn’t feel too bad about her role in all of this,” Benne said confidently.

He knew his mother well enough to know she was being all defensive and passing blames because she knew everyone was mad.

“Unfortunately for her, your grandfather isn’t the only person I was trying to punish. I had her in mind when I decided that I wanted your grandfather to report himself to them. I will wait it out till morning. If she doesn’t call me to express her displeasure before then, I will call her to express mine,” Celsie said, and Benne sighed.

“I didn’t expect you to be so calm about this,” Benne said, and Celsie smiled.

“Don’t worry your head over this. I have to go and join the girls. We still have to talk about the wedding plans since Candace came over for it,” Celsie said as she rose from her seat.

“I will wait up for you,” he said as she kissed him lightly on the lips.

“Alright. I will try to make things snappy so I don’t keep you waiting,” Celsie said before walking out of the bedroom.

The moment she shut the door behind her, she saw Sonia and Bryan standing by the hallway and paused when she heard Bryan’s question to Sonia.

“Are you aware that Celsie doesn’t want to get married to Benne?” Bryan, who had just finished speaking with his mother and had come out to find Sonia, asked.

Sonia who caught the movement of the door some feet away from them looked up to see Celsie, and she met her gaze.

“Where did you hear that?” Celsie asked as she approached them, not wanting to put Sonia in a situation where she had to lie to Bryan.

Bryan turned to Celsie, “Is it true?” He asked just as Jade and Candace who had heard their voices stepped out of Jade’s room to find out what was happening.

“Is what true?” Jade asked curiously.

“Mom just told me Celsie doesn’t want to marry Benne,” Bryan said, and both Jade and Candace looked at Celsie in surprise.

“Why would you not want to marry Benne?” Jade asked in confusion.

“I don’t think it’s any of our business. It’s between her and Benne…”

Jade eyed Sonia with annoyance, “What makes you think it is okay for you to interfere in other people’s business but clam up when it comes to Celsie? And how can you say this is not our business? Benne is our brother and we have every right to know…”

“No, you don’t. Unless Benne wants you to know you have no business knowing about my personal business with your brother. You don’t see me prying into your private lives, do I? Why does my decision have to be a subject for your entire family to debate on?” Celsie asked, feeling really annoyed now.

“Celsie,” Sonia called softly, not wanting Celsie to fight with Bryan and Jade. The whole issue had escalated really quickly thanks to Evelyn’s phone calls.

“What is going on here?” Benne asked as he also stepped out of his bedroom.

“We asked if it was true that Celsie doesn’t want to marry you and she got offended,” Jade explained and Benne glanced at Celsie, wondering where they had heard that. I think you should take a look at

“Did you hear it directly from her that she doesn’t want to marry me?” Benne asked, and Bryan stepped sighed.

“That was what mom told me. She said grandfather was trying to force your hand about settling down and having a family of your own before they realized it was Celsie who was refusing to get married and not you,” Bryan said, and Benne frowned.

“Is that supposed to justify their action? I have done my best to understand the way things are done in this family, but I am not going to put up with the meddling any longer. My relationship with Benne is our personal business and going forward I will appreciate it if neither of you questions me about any part of it. I doubt you will put up with your attitude if you were in my shoes, so why do you expect me to put up with it? The only person I owe any explanation in this family, is Benne, and that is exactly how it is going to remain,” Celsie said in a slightly raised voice before returning to the bedroom leaving the rest of them standing there.

“Why is she overreacting when we only asked a question?” Jade asked with a frown.

“I don’t think she is overreacting. And even if she is, what she said is on point. You need to know when to stop meddling. I guess there will be no wedding planning tonight. I will be in my bedroom if you need me,” Candace said before walking away.

“You both should come with me,” Benne said to Bryan and Jade, and they followed him, while Sonia decided to go talk to Celsie.

Benne led them to the bar, and they all sat down, “I didn’t mean to upset her. I was surprised to hear that from mom so I had to ask. And I wasn’t even asking her. I was asking Sonia before she showed up,” Bryan said defensively.

“Why do you keep things away from us? Aren’t you supposed to talk to us if you are having a problem? Why would you rather talk to Celsie and Harry and leave us out? Do you think they care about you more than we do?” Jade asked, feeling very annoyed by all that was happening.

“Are you alright?” Bryan asked when Benne remained silent for some time.

Benne sighed, “I’m not sure what I want to say to you both, but if either of you decides to take mom’s side on this, I will be very pissed and won’t take it lightly with you. The decision whether or not Celsie and I are going to get married is solely ours. It shouldn’t affect any one of you…”

“But….”

“No buts Jade. When your boyfriend died you didn’t want us to ask you any questions or pry and I respected that. Now I’m saying I need you to respect my relationship with Celsie and not pry or meddle. We don’t need any more dramas.” Having said that, Benne rose and walked away, leaving Bryan and Jade.

“Why do they make it sound like we’ve been meddling in their relationship this whole time? I have never shown any interest in it until tonight,” Jade said irritably and Bryan sighed.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just listen to them and keep our nose out of their business. And I agree with him. Mother was wrong. I can’t side with her on this…”

“What exactly happened? What did mother tell you?” Jade asked and Bryan explained the whole situation to her, also telling her how upset their father was.

“I don’t support what grandfather did either. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything to help the situation,” Jade said reasonably.

“What can we do?”

“We can start by letting mother know that she was wrong. If she sees that we are all mad at her, she will realize how much she screwed up and she will apologize rather than try to pass the blame,” Jade suggested.

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