Ben left on his original flight promising Mal that he wouldn't take the job with Jeffree and that if they ever felt like distance was playing against them, they would talk about what they would do. The couple went back to their routine, and Mal was happy to hear how shocked Jeffree was when Ben told him that he didn't want to work for him.
The boy tried not to give a lot of details about the conversation mainly because he wanted to spend his time with Mal talking about anything else but work. However, Mal went on to plead with him that she was sure the conversation with Jeffree must've been entertained, to say the least, the boy couldn't deny she was right. That's when he went on to tell her that when the HR department of Jefrre's company called him he politely declined the job but thanked them for their call before he ended the call, they plead with him to take the job.
"We know you are overqualified, but you are the only decent guy that has applied. If you don't take it, we are going to have to tell Jeffree that he is not going to get the best guy for the job. Please, Ben." Mal laughed and asked Ben if they honesty said that or he was just getting full of himself trying to impress her. Ben laughed and admitted that they didn't say those exact words, but the message was pretty much that. After that call Jeffree called him and to say that the man was confused was an understatement, he went on to tell Ben that he didn't like people playing games with him and that it was disrespectful of the boy to go on an interview and then declined they generous offered. Ben rolled his eyes taking advantage that it was a phone call he knew that they were offering less than what the market offer was for that job and they were overextending the things an average person on that position should be doing. Sure he didn't want to fight, but when Jeffree went on to tell him how Ben needed to stop thinking so highly about himself and realized that he was giving him the chance of his life the boy was not going to stay quiet. At that point, Ben told him calmly how wrong he was and wished that he would realize how wrong he was about everything about the way he treated people in general in his day to day life.
By the time Ben finished his story, Mal was ready to go search for Jeffree and give him a piece of her mind. Ben told her not to worry, nothing the man said to him made him feel different about his decision, and he hoped that HR warn whoever took the job about the guy. Ben also went on to tell her that when he shared his story with Azis, Jay, and Lonnie, they all told him how horrible the guy was and if he ever wanted to work with their company, they would overcharge him. The couple continued to talk, and by the end of the call, Mal was sure that Ben was telling her the truth about his state of mind, and she was glad.
The next week Mal went out to lunch with Carly and a couple of girls from her office, and without even trying, she started talking about Ben. Her friends smile, the girls were used to that at some point, the conversation would mention the boy, but this time, they were shocked to know what happened on the night of their anniversary. Sure, Carly and another girl knew that things didn't end well, but they didn't have any detail about it and were shocked by the entire situation. When Carly asked Mal if she was being serious about moving to Seattle, Mal nodded without hesitation. "I know the job I have is a dream job, but lately, I've been thinking about how much happier I would be if I was near Ben. Sure he told me that he could move here, but he made his dream come true too, and he would be completely giving it away if he leaves Seattle. Last Christmas, when I stayed here because my days off were denied, I realized that people just assumed I should stay here even though there was no need. Like our meeting on New Years' Eve, they made all those changes after they had already approved the presentation I did, and after I sent all the changes, they went behind my back and kept it like it was. So, they made me do all that extra work because they were trying to teach me a lesson? I get it I shouldn't have the day off, but technically, I was still working, and I would have work less being in the office because the toast was at 2 pm."
Carly bit her lip; she remembered the incident that Mal was talking about, she had helped her change some things and saw when the email came telling them not to run the changes. It was Elliot's boss who made the decision, and when the girl asked the boy about it, he just shrugged and said that he had told his boss people would follow Mal's example and work remotely if they didn't make an example of her. That was the last time Carly talk to the boy, from that moment on she ignored him completely, but didn't share the information with Mal not wanting the girl to know how easily her colleagues agree to ruin her day. Mal continued to share with her friends that at that point, she realized that she wasn't as in love with her job as she used to be. The girls nodded they all saw how the girl's attitude change with time, sure Mal was always nice, but since she started dating Ben, she was sociable. Before, she seemed to be consumed with her job like before when she would pretty much ignore any event that wasn't work-related, but now she would share more with the group, and even though she was still amazing at her job, she would also make time to share with people.
Months went by, and soon, it was time for Ben's birthday, and the couple wasn't able to reunite, which made the boy a little sad, but he was working out of the country, and he knew that the girl couldn't visit him. By October, Ben clear her schedule so that he could fly to New York and spent a week with Mal, sadly a project went wrong, and even though he still managed to visit the girl, it was only for a weekend. Still, they made the most out of their time together while he was in the city. On his last night there, the couple went out alone and walked around just enjoying each other's company. At some point, Ben took the girl's hand and started twirling her in front of him while taking small steps, making her laughed. They were so focused on not falling that they missed completely how a person was crossing the street directly towards them with anger emanating out of him.
It took Ben's quick reflex to stop Mal before the girl hit the person that suddenly appeared in front of them, the boy brought the girl against him, breaking the motion of the twirl. Mal was startled, but before she could ask what happened, a voice from her, not so distant past said hello to her. Mal turned forcing Ben to take his arms from around her and was face to face with Harry; the boy looked the same except for the fact that he seemed to be growing a beard. The shock to see Harry after more than a year made the girl stay quiet; it was weird that she used to spend every single free moment with him, and now looking at him, she felt nothing.
Harry misinterpreted her looks as longing, and Mal saw a smug smile appeared on his face, but it was directed towards Ben or where she assumed the boy was standing behind her. When Harry first appeared, Ben let go of her, but she could still feel him standing against her, however, now Mal couldn't be sure where he was standing. Harry said Hello to Ben with a sarcastic tone, and the boy responded quickly and also asked him how he was doing. Harry's smile didn't drop, but his hand made his way to Mal's cheek, caressing it, ignoring the boy's question while looking at the girl.
It took Mal a second to grab his hand at pushed it away from her with a disgusted face. "Don't touch me, please."
Finally, Harry's smile fell, and this time, he sent Ben an angry look. "You used to like it. I guess Ben, you finally got a chance to be with Mal when I took myself of the equation. At least, she knows now that you were just waiting for a chance instead of being the friend she always thought you were."
Mal told Harry to shut up; she didn't understand why exactly he was acting like that towards Ben when he never did anything to him. Harry ignoring her statement went on to tell the boy that he should be thanking him because the only way Mal decided to give him a chance it was because she was lonely without him. At that point, Mal saw red and stepped as hard as she could over the boy's foot, making him yelled while telling him off for talking to Ben this way. Mal's reward came in the form of Ben chuckling and wrapping his arms around her waist, preventing her from going on to step on Harry again.
Harry was livid and took a step forward; surely, he was not going to hit Mal, but he wanted to tell off the girl. However, Ben was faster, and one second Mal was in front of him, and the next one, both boys were face to face, and the girl was behind Ben. "Wow, are you going to do something to me, Ben. Sure, you don't need Mal to do it for you."
Mal appeared next to the boy in a second and slapped Harry. "Stop talking like that. What is wrong with you? You know what I don't care, WE don't care. So just go along and annoyed someone else with your existence."
After that, she grabbed Ben's hand and pulled the boy, forcing him to walk next to her while she fumed about the altercation. Harry shouted something at them, but she was so mad that she didn't really hear him but still made a point to turned and flip him off before moving forward, again pulling Ben. The boy let her calm down for a while, but after ten minutes, Ben stopped and brought Mal towards him, hugging her and asking her if she was ok.
When Ben first realized Harry was in front of them, the boy knew that things were not going to end well. The way the boy looked at him when he was embracing Mal made it evident that Harry was going to made it his mission to ruin their night. Ben hated his smug smile after watching Mal; he was behind her, so he had no clue what the boy saw that made him feel so secure. However, when he forced himself to be friendly, and Harry went on to touch Mal Ben saw red, he wanted to push the boy demanding him never to touch her again, but he knew that the girl wouldn't appreciate that. And he was rewarded with Mal taking control of the situation instantly, although the satisfaction didn't last long with what Harry said to him next.
Part of him wondered if Mal would have ever realized that she cared for him if Harry didn't decide to end things with her. He knew he wouldn't have made a move; Ben knew that Mal only wanted his friendship, or at least that's what he thought back then. However, now he couldn't stop wondering what his life would be right now; Mal's said something to the boy forcing him to stop his train of thought. "Are you ok, Ben?"
"Yeah, that was not what I thought our night would end up being. I swear we are having the worst luck lately when we try to celebrate something." Ben tried to make light of the situation, but it was too difficult, and Mal knew that he was not telling her something. Still, she stopped herself before asking Ben to share what he was feeling because he needed to learn to trust her. Instead, the girl asked Ben if he wanted to go home, he was supposed to fly back to Seattle early the next morning, and the boy nodded.
When they arrived at the girl's apartment, Ryder didn't need to ask the couple anything to realize that something happened on their date. He looked at Mal to see if the girl wanted to talk to him, and there it was in her eyes a plea for an ear to listen to her, and Ryder was quick to help her out. Ben seemed more than willing to give them space and went into the girl's room to prepared his things. They talk for an hour with the boy telling her that she needed to talk to Ben before he went away, what Harry said about her being with Ben because he ended things with her was a low blow. Reluctantly Mal went to her room and found Ben already in bed, he was looking at something on his phone obviously waiting for her.
"Did you have a nice chat with Ryder?" There wasn't any malaise in his tone and Ben even smile at her, but Mal could see how sad he was. A while ago, he was the person she would confide her worries too; Ryder was right if she wasn't open with him why would Ben be it with her. Mal nodded, and change into her pajamas quickly ready to get in bed with him. Once there she cuddled against Ben and told him to please share with her how he was honestly feeling. After the boy agree they started a conversation that went on for several hours.