𝑅𝑒𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 - 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑒

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒

Judged, beaten, invisible to them, not knowing how much I've been feeling. What is wrong with my relationship with Benjamin? Why are they against my happiness with him?  How come Benjamin is the only person in my life that truly read me and knows what I have been going through in my life. My family deserves my reaction back there.

Here I am in my old room; filled with memories, hurt and betrayed, but above all fed up with the nonsense that my family carried. I keep wondering if my mom, Crimson, would accept Benjamin for my happiness and understand how much I love him? I really don't know... her words never really awakened me most of the times I shared with my own happiness before him.

I remember reading her diary from a few weeks ago, it mentioned how she met my dad in one of her classes. She was hopelessly in love with him and then he changed. Would my mom warn me too about the information about Benjamin? What would she say to Edward when I told her the truth about what happened in my past?

I hate sleeping in my room alone, it gives me chills and flashbacks of nightmares. But Benjamin here, beside me, is the only thing I want from him. We haven't spoken since my announcement, I keep wondering what he's actually thinking behind me, wrapping his arms around me as I look at old picture frames when I was young. Small me smiling, dressed in colorful dresses, and me playing with my siblings, specifically Leo and Della. Patrick was a full-on teenager at one point. My family in frames are not the same in the present...

I couldn't help but wonder if Benjamin is sleeping or not. As I look up at the ceiling, while he is beside me. "Are you awake?"

"Yes." I turn to face him, with his black-brown eyes looking straight at my simple brown eyes. "Are you ok?"

I shrug helplessly, "I don't know, Benjamin. I really thought that my family would support me. It's clear that they're not moving on."

"It's because of me, Lia... I told you that you cannot choose me over your family, you said it took a long time to accept you into the family. But the way Leo and Patrick treated you at the table, it's not right. I wish I could've defended you, but I saw your emotions and I knew if I say one word, they'll get back at me."

"It's ok, Benjamin... You're right, about my family. I'm not sure whether they're accepting me as part of their family or not... 'The adopted one', I fucking hate when my brothers called me that. Do I need to be reminded of that? No."

Benjamin smiles softly and caresses my hair behind my ear. "Do they know that, Dahlia? You need to speak up, not for me, not for your family, not for Crimson. But for yourself..." I smile at Benjamin's words and I come to him and lay my head on his chest to listen to his beating heart as I drove myself to sleep.

The sun shines through the window, smearing on Benjamin's sleeping face. I look at the clock and see it is 9:30 in the morning. I begin to hear the silence in the house, leaving me knowing that everyone in the house is sleeping. I get ready for a day of me letting my natural, wavy hair down and getting dressed for the day. I'm wearing a simple gray turtleneck with gray sweatpants along with black sneakers with a brown trench coat.

I kiss Benjamin's head while he's sleeping and leave him a note that says "Thank you for your advice. I'm heading out to speak up for myself. I'll be back soon. Love you." I head out to the door and drive to the location I never considered Edward and Marsha's house. If I need to speak up for myself, I gotta do something worse than my family. I need to talk to the monster, Edward.

I don't even know what the fuck am I doing... but I'm doing it. I ring the doorbell and revealed Marsha in her usual elegant, formal wear for her office. She is shocked to see me here. "Dahlia! What a surprise!"