After the couples finished eating the pizza, Zohu asked Ben if he was going to stay for Mulan's and Shang's celebration assuring him that his parents would be happy to see him again. Ben was silent, not sure if he was going to stay for the weekend although part of him couldn't think of a valid reason to go back to New York after following Mal to Washington. Still, the boy didn't feel like he was ready to be social and he knew that going to the celebration would mean that he was going to meet Mal's "family."
Noticing that the boy remained quiet Zohu decided to drop the subject entirely giving Ben the chance to decide what to do. Cora saw the time and turned towards Zohu saying how it would be better if they go to sleep instead of going back to practice. "We still need to go to work tomorrow and take Dani to daycare."
"I can take Dani to the daycare and pick her up. I was planning to cook dinner tomorrow, so I needed to go buy some things anyway." Mal told the couple and then turned to Ben telling him that he was free to join her if he felt up to the task. Cora thanked her and got her phone out typing a quick email to the daycare to informed them that Mal was going to be picking Daniela up the next day. With that taking care of Zohu started to explain what Dani ate every morning before going to the daycare and how tomorrow she needed to bring some snacks to share with her class. Between the two of them, they managed to pack everything so that the next day Mal would only need to remember taking them with her.
Soon after finishing that Zohu and Cora were saying goodnight to the couple and went on their way towards their bedroom, giving the couple some privacy so they could talk. Ben wasn't sure what to do or say now that they were alone if he was sincere he hadn't thought his trip through before making it. The moment Mal got into the car Ben went back to his apartment where Cogsworth was working on his laptop. When the boy asked Ben why he looked like was about to vomit he found himself feeling nauseous.
"Mal is going to Washington. She is leaving, and I don't know when she is coming back. Every time she goes there, I'm afraid that one day she is not going to come back. What if this trip is the one where she decides that she rather live there with her brother?" Ben started to hyperventilate, and Cogsworth was sure that his friend was beginning to have a panic attack. After helping him calm down, Cogsworth asked Ben why did he think there was a chance of that happening. The conversation helped Ben realized that even though he hadn't talked to Mal for over two weeks, he still found solace in knowing she was close to him. If Mal didn't feel the need to see Stella and Zohu it meant that things weren't in such a bad state that they couldn't fix it and she was sure that they would manage to work things out with time alone.
"So you want to fix things?" Cogsworth knew that Ben love Mal and that eventually, he would seek out the girl to work things out. However, with each passing day, the boy was also aware that Ben wasn't solving the issue that started all of this. He should have already discussed with Lonnie the reasons behind what she did and why it hurt him that something that he thought was private was share with the one person he didn't want to ever find out about it. With that said both boys assumed that the girl's intentions were pure, but still there was no justification for her actions and the fact that it took her this long to tell him about it showed that she was aware of that. Ben was right to be mad, but in his hurt state, he failed to see that he was now unfair to every single person around him regardless of the way they participated in this mess. They talk for an hour until the boy finally admitted to himself that his main concerned was that he didn't know how to speak to Mal again, Ben knew that he should have listened to her when she first came to his apartment. Mal didn't try to avoid the situation when she heard about what Lonnie told him, but part of him wish that Mal was the one that told him about what she knew, in all this time the girl had shared so many things with him but she never said anything about his proposal.
Cogsworth took the opportunity then to ask Ben to put himself in Mal's place. When did he think the right time to tell him about what she knew would be. "You told me yourself that she tried to have a conversation when you first start talking again, and you told her that you didn't want to talk about the past. Then you wanted to talk but never mention the proposal, was she supposed to tell you then? Let's be honest there was never a good time for her to say anything and honestly, I think she was never supposed to be the one to tell you about it. Lonnie should have told you, but I can understand why she was afraid to do it. I have told you this before, but you had every right to be mad and feel betrayed, but you took things out of proportion." Ben knew his friend was right, but now he only wanted to find a way to fix things with Mal before the girl decided that they were not going to work. The way Evie had reacted when Mal shared the information about her mom came to his mind, and suddenly he was feeling worst, he did the same and now Mal was not only having to deal with her best friend distancing herself from her but also with her boyfriend not even given her a chance to explained herself. The conversation where Mal told him how she thought that she and her best friend were never going to be able to move from this make him wondered if maybe she already felt that about them. When they saw each other in the elevator the night before the girl looked calm, Mal never tried to talk to him even though she was polite there was a distance between them that Ben hated.
Finally, the boy asked Ben what he wanted to do. "I want to be with Mal, and if that means going to Washington, then that's what I'm going to do."
Together they managed to find a later flight so that Ben was able to go to his office and close somethings that needed his attention while Cogsworth asked Jay, Carrie, and Luke to please come to the apartment taking advantage of Ben's absence. Once everyone was there, he explained what happened earlier that day and asked them to please listen to what he wanted to share with them about their friend and his current situation without any interruption. "Ben knows that he handle the situation in the worst way possible and I'm sure that after he managed to work things out with Mal, he is going to see things with more clarity. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and even though is not my place to ask for forgiveness for him I think that we all know that he is not someone that usually mistreat people. So I guess what I'm asking you guys is to be open to having a conversation with him."
The three of them agreed to talk to Ben and also shared with Cogsworth how the situation came to be. "Mal wanted to tell Ben what she knew, but before doing so, she told Lonnie about her plan. Lonnie panicked and decided that she was going to say everything to Ben so that she could be able to explain why she shared his secret. However, she never managed to do that because he got so mad after the she confessed telling Mal about the proposal that he ended the conversation."
After their conversation, they went on their way, and Cogsworth decided to give Mal the chance to share her story with Ben, although it made him happy to know that she wanted to come clean. That night after Ben went on his way the boy took a long look around the apartment trying to find out something to do when he saw a Chinese box on Ben's desk, and he couldn't stop himself before he started toying with it to see if he managed to open. The boy remembered asking Ben when he got it from, and his friend shared that Mal gave it to him at the start of the year, but he never managed to open it. Cogsworth was going to offer his help, but the boy didn't seem in the right mood to look at it with his relationship being what it was at the time. Finally, Cogsworth made the right combination of moves opening the box, and he was surprised to see what was inside making him smile and closed the box putting it back on the desk so that Ben didn't realize what he did.
Back in Washington Ben and Mal were getting ready to go to sleep agreeing to talk the next morning. The boy asked her to let him sleep in Dani's room like last time, and the girl was setting up an inflatable mattress so that he was comfortable while he changed in her room. "You didn't have to put that; I could've slept on the floor."
Mal was startled when his voice broke the silence and turned to look at Ben assuring him that she didn't mind. Ben took a couple of steps into the room hoping that this was the last night they would go to sleep without the other but still failing to find the right words to make that happen. Mal move awkwardly towards the door not sure if he would let her kiss him goodnight. Finally, she decided that tomorrow would be a better day and said goodnight leaving the boy to rest.
The next morning her alarm went off, and she found herself sprinting out of bed and into the bathroom in record time. Once she got herself ready, Mal went down and prepared Daniela's lunch and breakfast crossing paths with her brother and sister in law that were finishing their breakfast and cleaning the dishes.
"Well someone is in overachiever mode." Zohu joke making Cora laughed, and Mal stuck her tongue at him. She took out the trays with the snacks and put them over the counter saying goodbye to the couple that was now picking their stuff up and walking out the door.
Mal took a deep breath before knocking on Dani's door and opening it so she could start getting the girl ready. However, when the door was completely open, she found that Ben was already finishing getting Daniela ready. "Hey, she is ready to go, and I'll be ready in a couple of minutes."
Ben gave Daniela to Mal and picking up his backpack he went on his way to the bathroom. When he made his way downstairs, he found that Mal was picking a tray from the floor with a defeated expression, Ben joined her, and soon he realized that they were picking up one of the plates they were supposed to take to the daycare. He looked up and saw a couple of tears escaping Mal's eyes, and Ben wished that he didn't take so long getting ready. "Hey is ok we can fix this."
Mal nodded, but the tears of frustration kept coming out why did everything turned out wrong lately. Taking one deep breath and closing her eyes Mal decided that she was not going to give up, she stood quickly whipping her face and open the pantry to see if there was something they could take to the daycare. Ben went to stand next to her, but suddenly Mal turned and opened the fridge grabbing some ingredients out of there she went back to the pantry and took cookies. Soon the girl was preparing something while asking Ben to please start getting everything in the car. Mal rented a car at the airport the day before, so after grabbing the keys, Ben went on with his task. When he got back into the house to take Dani, he found his girlfriend already packing a tray and smiled at how in control of the situation she looked.
Finally, Mal walked out of the house closing the door behind her and was ready to get into the driver seat when Ben told her that he wanted to drive. Reluctantly the girl went on the side of the car, and they started their way to the daycare following the instructors coming from his phone. Once at the daycare, Mal took Daniela out of the car while Ben got everything else, after delivering everything and wishing the little girl a good day the couple walked out to the parking lot again.
When Mal was about to open the car door Ben's hand went to stop her making her turned towards the boy that was looking at her with a shy smile on his lips. "I know we need to talk and we will, but I wanted to say that I love you."
"I love you too Ben." Mal went on to kiss him, and they stood there for a couple of minutes enjoying being able to show their love for each other. They broke apart smiling, and the girl announced that they needed to go to the supermarket to buy the things she was going to need for that night.
Mal took out the list, and soon both of them went around the aisles, Ben would make fun of the girl every time that something was out of reach and she needed to ask him for help to get it. "You are acting like a real jerk."
Ben laughed while apologizing for making fun of her and hugged Mal kissing the top of her head. "I love you."
"Love you too even when you are acting like a jerk." They let go of each other and Ben asked Mal if she was planning to bake some cookies because he was craving them. The girl agreed to make some for him but in returned the boy was going to have to make dinner for everyone the next night. Ben agreed, he was feeling confident that he was going to stay and join the anniversary celebration now that things were going smoothly between them.
Once at the house Mal started with the prep work for the dinner while Ben put the rooms they used last night in order and took the air out of the mattress. Maybe he should have ask Mal if she was ok with him joining her at her room that night but with the way they've been acting towards each other since they dropped Dani that morning he was sure his girlfriend would be ok.
Ben joined Mal as the girl was putting the chicken in the oven and her cookie dough in the fridge. She smiled at him and asked him if he wanted some lemonade, a couple of minutes later the couple found themselves seated on the sofa in comfortable silence. Mal knew that they were supposed to pick Daniela in two hours and if there was a chance for them to talk this would be the best time to do so. With that in mind the girl asked Ben if they could talk, he seemed hesitant, even if he knew that there was no way to ignore the subject any longer the boy wished they could just move on with their day without having what he was sure was going to be an awkward conversation.
"Honestly I don't want to talk about it Mal. I know that I said we were going to but what is so wrong about just living in the moment, and keep things like they are going right now. Today when I woke up and started changing Dani I felt a sense of calm overcome me, and let me tell you after weeks of feeling like the world didn't make sense that moment meant a lot to me. Then you came into the room, and I gave Dani to you, and while showering my mind started wondering what if the rest of our life is like this. What if we have kids and every morning we get them ready, and you dropped something while I put things in the car." Ben continued to ramble making Mal smile, but the girl was not going to let her boyfriend get away without discussing the Lonnie situation.
"Ben I would love for us to have a future like that except the part of me dropping trays daily cause that would be horrible to relive, once was more than enough for me. However, if we want that to happen, we are going to have to talk about Lonnie and why I never share with you what I knew, and every single time we have a problem we need to discuss it." Mal leaned and gave the boy a peck on the lips before asking him again if they could talk about what happened now and Ben nodded.
The boy went on to share with Mal how the moment Lonnie mention that she had shared with her that he wanted to propose before their break up, his mind went blank, and a sense of betrayal and hurt overtook him. One of the most painful scenarios of his life was share against his wishes with the one person he never wanted to know what happened. "Can you imagine what was going through my mind at that moment? I never wanted you to know what I was thinking of doing. When we broke up, I thought we were never going to be back together, and I was mourning the future I dreamed for us. When we started talking again, I never thought we were going to be more than friends or even friends. Still, everything ended up working, and I'm happy, but the fact that you knew about what happened back then makes me wondered if that had anything to do with the way you act towards me now. Did you pity me? Is that why you talk to me again?"
Mal shook her head and assured Ben that he was overthinking everything. "I've already told you why I acted the way I did before Ben, and the reason we are getting along better is that I'm learning to trust you completely. When Lonnie told me what happened and what you were planning to do it made me realized that I never really gave us a chance and it also helped me to take down my walls finally."
"See there you go and say that you trust me but you didn't tell me what was going on with Evie a couple of weeks ago, and you never say anything about what Lonnie told you. Why didn't you tell me, Mal?" The girl apologized but before she could even try to explain why she never mention anything the boy was asking her why Lonnie felt the need to tell her about the situation.
After taking a deep breath, Mal went on to tell him how everything went down and she could sense how the boy was getting agitated. When she finished her story, Ben closed his eyes and Mal saw how he open and close his fist before saying anything. "So Lonnie told you about what happened because she didn't want you to talk to me?"
"She was worry about you, Ben. You were moving on, going places and enjoying your life again, and suddenly I was sending you birthday wishes and asking about you. Lonnie was scared for you; I'm sure that all of your friends were and they had good reasons to be." Ben stood and rubbed his face with his hands showing how frustrated he was.
Mal wasn't sure what to do, part of her wanted to go to him and hugged him asking him to please relax, but she knew Ben needed this. The boy needed to get out his frustrations so they could finish their talk, it would be selfish of her not letting him be open about how he was feeling with all this information coming his way. "Lonnie didn't have the right to do any of that. Can you imagine where we would be right now if you listen to her? If she was scared for me, she should have talked to me and tell me what she thought and let me decide. Be honest with me Mal did you ever considered not talking to me?"
"I did. When Lonnie told me how much I hurt you I was convinced that you were much better without me in your life. I was here visiting, so I managed to talk to Stella the next day and then with the therapy and time I came to realized that I needed to talk to you to ask for your forgiveness." Ben shooked his head and sat next to the girl turning entirely and taking her hands on his.
"Mal I need you, to be honest with me." The girl nodded not sure what he was about to ask her. "I need you to tell me what happened after you talk with Lonnie and I mean the moment after you put the phone down."
The girl looked at the floor wishing she didn't have to relieve those memories but when she felt his hand on her chin making her turned Mal knew that it was time to come clean. With that in mind, she went on to tell Ben everything that happened that night, from her having a panic attack to how she ended up sleeping with Cora and Zohu. Ben brought her towards him and hugged her telling her how sorry he was for what she went through. "I know you want me to forgive her Mal, but I can't. I can never forgive someone that hurt you and what she did back then with all of the things she told you was an obvious attempt to do that."
"Ben no. Please, she didn't mean to do that. Lonnie was just acting like a good friend I promised. You shouldn't even apologize for what happened; you do realize that you suffered too, right? I was the one that made you feel like that, and that is the reason why Lonnie told me everything that you went through. Ben, you had an accident because of how I made you feel, and your friends are supposed to be ok with me trying to talk to you after that? Be honest if someone treated one of your friends like I did you wouldn't want them near them." Ben shook his head and looked angrier.
"So, did she tell you every single thing I told them about our break up and what happened next?" Mal's eyes open wide, and she realized then that Lonnie had only managed to tell the boy about her slip up with the proposal but didn't go into details of all the things she told Mal during that phone conversation. Mal decided that even though she was not going to lie there was no need to go into a lengthy explanation of what happened, so she told Ben that they talk about how hurt he was.
Mal's phone beep announcing that it was time for them to pick Daniela from daycare. Ben stood from the couch announcing that he was going to pick the little girl on his own and that Mal should stay so she could finish preparing the food for everyone. From that moment until the boy was back with Daniela Mal felt like she had made a huge mistake pushing Ben to have that conversation with her, she was afraid that they wouldn't be able to move forward from this that at some point she started to tear up. When the door open and Ben walk into the house carrying a sleepy Daniela, Mal's tears came rushing back, and the girl turned not wanting Ben to see her like that, he was right to feel the way he did, and Mal wished she told him about this sooner.
The girl felt him behind her even before Ben put his hand on her shoulder trying to get her attention, Mal started to clean her tears, but the boy turned her and did it for her pleading with her to stop crying. After she managed to stop, Ben asked her why she was crying and Mal share with him that seeing him with Daniela made her think of their future together, but after their conversation, she didn't know if they were going to have one. Ben said nothing but instead leaned in and started kissing his girlfriend until the lack of air forced them to stop. "Of course, we are going to have a future together Mal there is no way I'm letting you get away."
The couple finished preparing the meal, and when Zohu and Cora came home later that night, the four of them sat down and had a lovely dinner and then enjoyed a movie on the sofa while sharing their day. A few hours later the couples said goodnight and went on their rooms while Mal and Zohu promised each other that they were going to wake up early to practice their routine. Mal smiled when Ben told her that he was going to sleep with her that night thinking that they could talk a little more and she would be able to put in a good word for Lonnie. Once they made it to the room, Ben picked his backpack up and went to the bathroom to change while Mal was left alone to do the same with some privacy.
Mal changed and tried to come up with a way to bring up the subject of Lonnie without messing things up with Ben, but nothing came to mind. She decided to get into bed when she heard someone knocking on the door Ben's voice came from the other side of the door asking if he could get in. Mal said yes, and the door open slowly while Ben walked into the room in his pajamas and his backpack on his shoulder "I wasn't sure you were done changing and I didn't want to intrude."
The boy dropped his backpack near the door and got into bed in complete silence until he turned and wished Mal sweet dreams. Before the girl could even start to say anything he was turning the light off leaving them in total darkness. Mal closed her eyes hoping that sleep would overtake her but after what felt like hours she gave up and decided to go downstairs and grab a snack, she opened the door of the room making her best effort not to make any noise and soon enough Mal was looking around the pantry.
Zohu's voice announcing that there was a bag of chips in the back startle her and she almost screamed making her brother laughed, finally Mal managed to get the bag out, and together they stood around the kitchen island. "So how did things went today? I saw you looking a little out of it during dinner, is everything ok with you two?"
Mal's eyes started to get wet, and Zohu went to her side in an instant hugging his sister and urging her to confide in him. The girl started going over everything that happened that day, and how in many points during the conversation with Ben she feared that the end was coming, by the time they finished talking Zohu was telling her that this would only make her relationship stronger. "But what about Lonnie? I feel like I just ruined any chance of them reconciling."
"That's not true Mal. I think now that he knows everything Ben needs time to get over how he is feeling right now, you have to admit that what Lonnie did is wrong and that he needed to know about it. Still, I think they are going to make up eventually because they both care for each other. Please don't be pushing him to talk to her before he is ready because he is hurt and people are mean when they are feeling down". Mal nodded and thanked his brother for the pep talk, they stayed down for a while and in the end decided that this would be a great time to practice because neither of them felt like sleeping.
Two hours later they decided that the routine was perfect and they could give it a rest and enjoy their Saturday. Walking upstairs they joke with each other before saying goodbye and going back to their rooms to sleep a few hours. Mal walked into her room and decided that she needed to shower, all the dancing and goofing around made her feel sweaty. With that in mind, she picked up some clean clothes before making her way back to the bathroom where she took a long relaxing shower, at first Mal was going to have a quick one, but her mind was still fully awake going over her conversation with Ben looking of ways she could have make Lonnie look better. Mal knew that Lonnie's only interest in calling her was to take care of Ben and she appreciated that, now if there were only a way to make Ben looked at it like she did it would make her happy. After her shower, Mal was getting into bed feeling relax and closing her eyes when she felt Ben moved next to her; the girl opened her eyes to find her boyfriend staring at her. "Where were you?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I went to grab a snack, but Zohu found me downstairs, so we talk for a while, and then we decided to practice, and after that, I needed to shower because I was feeling yucky. I think the number is going to be amazing and we get to relax for the rest of the day, so that is always a plus." The girl smiled at her boyfriend closing her eyes ready to sleep, but she could still feel him watching her, so she opened her eyes again and asked him if he was ok.
Ben stared at her and nodded laying next to her and closing his eyes just to open them back again a couple of seconds later and suddenly sitting startling Mal. "I was thinking about what we talk earlier, and the one thing I don't understand is why Lonnie suddenly felt the need to come clean when there was no way I would find out about any of this. Then I finally got it. You were going to tell me about it, don't you?
Mal nodded, and Ben started kissing her all over her face ending in her lips with a long deep kiss, after that he kept his hands holding her face tenderly smiling at her."You can't imagine how much that means to me. I'm glad that you don't want us not have any more secrets and I also want to apologize for always asking you to be open with me when I didn't share what happened with you. I didn't want to hurt you or make you feel guilty, but I guess that is the same reason you didn't share what you knew with me."
"Yeah, but we need to stop doing that, or things are going to get messed up between us. I know that you are mad with Lonnie now but could you at least promised me that at some point you would talk to her and let her explained?"
Ben stayed quiet and started to shake his head until he noticed how sad Mal looked. "Fine, I promise but Mal you can't force me to talk to her. I understand why she called you, but she could have called me and told me that she was worried. Back then I was dating Linds and honestly trying to move from anything that had to do with you. Still, she went behind my back because she had no confidence that I could decide what was best for me?"
Mal stayed quiet. Part of her wanted to continue to search for reasons to defend Lonnie, but Ben had a point. Lonnie should have said something to him if not before, after talking to Mal so that the boy would know that his secret was out. Ben asked Mal if she thought he was being unreasonable with how he was feeling.
"No, I think you have a right to be upset. Still, I know that you love Lonnie and she loves you, so you need at some point seat down and stopped being angry so that you can listen to her." Ben nodded and promised yet again that he was going to give Lonnie a chance to tell him what she hoped to say that day.
"Ok, so we need to sleep at some point because is super late." The couple kissed one last time and went to sleep cuddling next to the other. Hours later they woke up to an empty house and a note that informed them that the others went to visit one of their cousins to talk some details for tomorrow and they would be back in time to have dinner with them.
Ben stood behind Mal while the girl read out loud the note that was pinned on the refrigerator door, giving her little kisses on her neck and smiling when she move to give him more access. The boy decided then that this was an excellent opportunity to ask something that was bothering for a while now, and that with the extra information he got from their conversation the day before he thought he had the answer.
He stopped kissing her and went she started complaining Ben smiled but asked her to joined him on the couch. When they were seated, he took Mal's hand in his and looked her in the eyes first telling her to please don't take badly the question he was going to make. Mal nodded confuse about what exactly was left to talk about after all they talked about everything Lonnie related the day before and earlier that day.
And that's when Ben went ahead and asked Mal why she still didn't feel comfortable being intimate with him; he was making it clear that he had no issue with waiting, but he didn't understand why they weren't going back to how they were before the breakup in that aspect of their relationship. "If I'm honest, I missed that, and I want to know if maybe you have something you want to share with me about that."
"Well at first I guess part of me couldn't let go of the image of you and Linds making out in the elevator" Ben's eyes open wide, but Mal told him not to worry about it, they were broken up, and in the end it helped her to stay in shape by using the stairs. "Then I didn't feel like I was ready for that part while I wasn't completely honest with you. Although I'll admit that on your birthday I was ready to let go and maybe see the way to tell you after that."
Ben wasn't sure what to say; part of him feel vindicated that Mal wasn't ready to be with him without being completely honest. On their last talk, he had been wondering if maybe that was one of the reasons and hearing it was made him feel like their previous conversation was going to fix that, so with that in mind the boy lean and started kissing his girlfriend.
Mal's arms went around his neck immediately bringing the boy closer to her and Ben didn't lose any time changing positions lifting his girlfriend so that she would end up seating on top of him. Ben closed his eyes enjoying the feeling of Mal not only kissing his neck but giving him little bites while he moved his body against hers creating the exquisite friction between them that he missed so much.
Even though he wanted to let things flow between them the fact that he was seating in Zohu's sofa didn't escape him, and reluctantly he gently pushed a flustered Mal making her stop. "You know I don't think your brother would appreciate what I want us to do right now so we should probably go out and do something."
Mal blushed making the boy smiled widely at how into the moment she seemed to be, but also hoping that when they were back in New York, they could finish what they started now. "You are right. Is late so how about we change and have lunch out? Then we need to come back because you promised to cook for all of us today."
Ben groaned remembering his promised but not feeling like cooking at all. "How about we call Zohu and Cora and I invite all of you out for dinner?"
"Nope, you promised. Maybe we should call Zohu and see if we can all meet up to help out in what we can." Ben nodded and soon enough they were going upstairs to shower and change before making their way to meet the couple.
The rest of day flew by, and soon enough it was Sunday, and Ben found himself being surrounded by several guys that made it clear that it would be very unwise for him to hurt their Mal. The boy nodded assuring them that he would never do anything to hurt her, but that he appreciated knowing that they were there for her. It seemed that Zohu's had a big family and all of them were protective of Mal, because the moment the couple made their way into the house several people came towards them and say hello to Mal and Ben while giving him and extra long look.
Mulan and Shang made a beeline towards Ben the moment they noticed him. Smiling as they hugged the boy the couple thanked him for coming to their celebration, and started asking how everything was going with him. They talked for a while, and the boy felt himself daydreaming once again about his future and what it would be like to be part of this family. When the time for the little show came, Ben sat next to Cora; he offered the girl to hold Daniela while she announced the number and then they both sat and watched Zohu and Mal do their thing.
To say that Ben was impressed with what Zohu and Mal managed to do was an understatement. The pair sang and did a choreography to two songs of Mulan's favorite Musical, Mama Mia, with some of the cousins singing alone to some of the lyrics in the end. Once they finished Mulan and Shang hugged their kids and thanked them for the show, everybody started taking pictures and talking among themselves. Ben moved towards Mal until he was standing behind her and whispered for her to followed him.
Taking her hand Ben guide them out of the main room, and into the kitchen where there where two guys were picking up trays to serve outside. Ben opened the door for them, and when they were out he open the door to a little pantry, he had noticed when Cora asked him to help her move some of the food outside. Less than a minute later Mal found herself being pinned against one of the walls by an eager Ben that started kissing her, and telling her how amazing she was.
It took a call from Cora asking Mal where they were for them to stop and come out of the pantry. They joined the party again, but Ben didn't miss the way Cora was smirking every time she looked at them or how Zohu eyed him in a suspicious way. Cora came to stand next to them telling them that she had told her husband that both of them were outside looking into Ben's ticket to New York for that night. The second she said that Ben's demeanor change and the boy was holding onto's Mal hand a little tighter.
A couple of hours later Mal and Ben were saying goodbye to everyone and making their way back to the house so that the boy could start his journey back to New York. After coming to the house the night before Mal had managed to find him a ticket to the last flight to New York so he could go to the part. Even though Ben wished he could stay more he needed to be back at the magazine on Monday leaving him no choice but to leave his girlfriend behind. "Are you sure you don't want to come back with me?"
"I already told you that I can't Ben. Zohu's birthday is on Tuesday, and I want to be here with him. I will go back on Wednesday; maybe you can use the time to talk to some of the guys back home? Perhaps Lonnie?" Ben looked annoyed and ignored Mal's question telling her that he was going to pick her up from the airport so to please sent him the details of her flight.
Not wanting to start a fight with Ben the girl agreed to send him the information although she was still not planning to let him picked her up, it would be dumb to make him go to the airport when she could easily take a taxi back to the building. By the time Ben made his way back to New York he was already dreading being away from Mal. However when he got into the elevator ready to get a good night sleep, he found himself in front of Carrie and Luke.
The boy didn't know what to do, but Carrie took the matter into her own hands and hugged him asking him how he was. Ben hugged her back and started to apologize to the couple, just for Luke to stop him and tell him that they should go into Carrie's place so they could talk properly.
With that settled they all got out of the elevator and Ben took a deep breath getting himself ready for what he was sure was not going to be an easy conversation.
N.-Thoughts?