Best Friend, Escape, Her Begging Chapter 2

They were childhood sweethearts, and their fights always devolved into dredging up the past.

Sure enough, Benjamin shot to his feet, incensed.

“You think what happened then is the same as what happened the other night? We were kids! That was just messing around!”

Stella’s eye twitched. She crossed her arms, her expression flat.

“Right. Messing around. When we were nine, you pulled my chair out from under me as I stood up to answer a question in class. I hit my head on the desk behind me and got a concussion. When we were thirteen, you tied my shoelaces together while I was asleep. I fell, broke my leg, and spent New Year’s in the hospital. If all of that was just ‘messing around’ in your eyes, then after all these years, a single slap seems pretty damn fair, don’t you think?”

This kind of bickering was their normal.

Watching them, I felt an unexpected pang of envy.

Benjamin was speechless, his face turning cold as he struggled to catch his breath.

“No matter what, you hit me for another man,” he said, his voice low and hard. “I will remember that, Stella. Even if I can’t leave today, this marriage is over.”

Anyone who knew him understood: as long as he was yelling and fighting, it wasn’t serious. But when he went quiet, when he lost the energy to argue… that’s when you knew his heart was truly broken.

Stella realized the gravity of the situation. She knew she couldn’t talk him down easily. Her expression finally turned serious.

She sighed and turned to me.

“Noah, don’t just stand there watching the show. You’re the one who really needs to think about what you’ve done. Benjamin and I have our issues to sort out, but my sister has respected you for the three years you’ve been married. She’s given you all the dignity a husband in our world could ask for. You shouldn't have gotten involved in his drama.”

Benjamin blinked, now looking at me too.

“Yeah, Noah, I never asked. Why did you want to leave with me? I always thought Clarissa treated you with respect. She never embarrassed you in public, always gave you your space. Not like me…”

He shot a glare at Stella and huffed.

“I had no choice but to leave!”

I flinched and looked down, a bitter smile on my face.

Yes. Respect.

Everyone could see it, even someone as dense as Benjamin.

Clarissa had only ever shown me respect.

I used to think that for someone as cold as her, respect and dignity were all she had to give.

But after Tristan Davenport came back, I learned that she was capable of love, too.