Mal had been thinking. A lot. Why not tell him at last? Ben had said that he will wait for her to tell him when she was ready, but she felt guilty, and wanted to tell him now. She could not believe that, back on the Isle she had done bad things, horrible things, she was the one everyone feared, but here she had trouble telling the love of her life one...well, not-so-good thing she had done. But, Mal forced herself, to wait until Ben came back from his meeting with the council and tell him as soon as possible.

She impatiently fidgeted in her seat, trying to work on her homework to kill some time. She just couldn't focus, and, frustrated, she closed the book with a snap, just as the door opened. Of course it was Ben, who stepped inside, his eyes immediately searching for her. When he saw her he smiled, quickly coming to stand in front of her.

"Hi," he said, leaning in to hug her. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, breathing in his familiar scent. He chuckled. "Someone's missed me."

She let go of him. "Can't blame me, I haven't seen you all day."

"Sorry, sweetheart," he pressed a brief kiss to her lips before saying, "I had to leave early for the meeting."

"No problem," she said smiling, but she was a mess on the inside. One moment she felt really confident for telling him, but then she'd start worrying.

"Everything alright?" Ben asked as he shrugged off his blazer, roughly throwing it on the bed.

"Yeah," she replied.

"You sure? You don't look so well." He stopped untying his tie and let it hang around under his collar, quickly making his way towards her. She nodded. "If you say so," he said, and after hugging her again disappeared in the bathroom.

Mal sighed, hearing water splashing outside. It was raining. She got up from her chair, and walked out onto the balcony, which had a tiny roof above it so she was not wet. It was raining heavily; there was no one out in the campus grounds, there was strong wind. She was, coming from the Isle, obviously very used to the rain, and she hated it.

She pulled out a chair and sat down, still pondering. She considered telling Belle or Evie, maybe indirectly somehow telling them the story and getting it out of them. But then, she wanted to do this on her own too; her strong independent ways were coming back to her, now that she was fully recovering. Mal shivered, the rain was getting heavier by the second and though safely under the shed, she could feel the drops splattering on to her face.

No, she thought stubbornly, I will not just sit around here and and carry this burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life. I'm telling Ben, right here, right now.

And as she moved to stand up, she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to catch a cold out here," she heard Ben say and she turned around to find him grinning at her. She managed a weak smile, Ben's own smile faltered at seeing this. "Something's wrong, I can tell."

"Yes, actually..." she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. Ben looked at her, confused. "There is something, you know I've been meaning to tell you for a very long time..."

"You're ready? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to." He grabbed both of her hands and looked into her eyes. She flinched.

"I know, but I can't keep such an important thing from you for a long while. It's high time." Ben's facial expression changed into a really worried one, worse that before.

"Then, go ahead, say it." He paused and saw her struggling with what to say. Her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish; she almost chickened out again. She's actually kind of cute like that , a thought at the back of his mind was briefly heard but he ignored it and tugged at her hands encouragingly. "Its okay. Take your time."

"You know how not so long ago, I had broken my back and I got this spider, the Fide or something, and it had caused me to die?" She cleverly did not look up at him, knowing how he hated being reminded of it.

"Yes?"

"I found out who sent it." The words came out in a rush, and somehow her eyes had already been filled with tears so her voice cracked, but she knew Ben heard. She looked up for the first time since she'd started telling him to find him looking expectant as to who was the person, and slightly hurt as to why she hadn't told him earlier.

"Mal, why didn't you tell me?" he asked gently, pulling her closer.

"I was just too confused, Ben, I didn't know what to do..." She had tears streaming down her face now and she looked dangerously close to completely breaking down. Ben shifted his weight from one foot to the other, not knowing how to get it out of her now that she was almost crying.

"Well," he said at last, giving her the tiniest of smiles to reassure her, "who was it?"

"Julian."

Evie stood up from her sewing table, throwing away the different silks in frustration. "Ugh, I can't do this!"

She picked up her sketch book and pencil, walking out her dorm to see Mal, hoping maybe she had some ideas for the many dresses she had to make. She loved dress making as a hobbie, but now she was going under pressure. Either she needed a break, or some ideas. And fast.

Evie reached Mal and Ben's dorm just in time to see Ben walk out angrily, and push past her, walking away. She called after him but he did not listen. Did they have another fight? Worried, she opened the dorm door to find Mal on the huge bed, sobbing.

Forgetting her own troubles, she walked in and whispered, "Mal, Sweetie, is everything okay?"

And...DONE! A year ago, I could've posted 15 chapters in the time I was gone, but now, I'm so happy that I got ONE done after a long while. Funny. I think I rushed the last bit, but I was excited to post it and really determined to finish it. First chapter of 2017. Woo hoo! Let's just hope I can manage to post another in the next few weeks. ;-)