The Counselor
(Day 53: Wednesday Afternoon)
"Good afternoon, Ben." She smiles, "You don't mind if I drop the title, do you? As part of the process, it's usually better not to be so formal so that trust can be built easier."
Ben shuts the door, "Actually, at school I do prefer the title to be dropped." before he goes to sit down. "However, it's not going to make me trust you any easier."
"Yes," she nods. "Fairy Godmother warned me that you may not be an easy talker, but I assure you that nothing you say will leave this room."
Ben grins, "Great." before he takes two pieces of parchment out of his blue bag and places the first onto the table. "Then you won't mind signing this."
The strawberry blond haired therapist looks over it unsurely, "What is this?" as she touches the edge of the strong paper.
"After my mother heard about my unfortunate punishment she contacted the lawyer," Ben explains. "He drew up this little contract for you to sign."
"A contract?"
He nods down towards it, "Basically, it says that if you report anything I say to anyone, including the media, the authorities, and your family, then it will be considered treason."
She's shocked into silence, before her mouth gapes, "Treason."
"You would be banished from the country," Ben explains.
It takes her a moment to respond, "I understand that you need privacy, but there are guidelines I have to follow. I mean, for instance, if you were to tell me that someone was planning on hurting someone else, then I would legally have to report it."
"Yes. I was informed of that," Ben simply responds, before he sets the second document onto the table. "Which is why I drafted this." She caresses the wax seal with her thumb. "Yes. It's official. This document gives you permission to overlook those pesky guidelines when it comes to the things I tell you, which should hopefully make things appear less muddled for you so that you can know where your true allegiance lies." She simply looks up at him. "Your objective is to get me to confide in you, yes?"
"Yes," she unsurely states.
"Good," Ben smiles. "Then sign this, and there shouldn't be any issues."
The counselor glances from each document to Ben, "If I sign this, am I doing it because you want these conversations to stay private or am I doing it because you expect to divulge something you normally wouldn't?"
"It's merely a precaution," Ben evenly responds. "And, unfortunately, if you don't sign it, I have instructions to treat this as though it were a live interview on national television."
"Not to question you or anything, but are you sure there won't be any consequences if I do sign this?"
Ben taps his thumbs on the table, "Let's say, worst case scenario." He waits for her to nod in understanding. "Let us say that I end up telling you that someone I know has been ranting about assassinating a family member of theirs to inherit their kingdom's throne instead. If that guy— or girl— were to go through with it, you would not have your license taken away due to not following the guidelines that would have told you to report it."
"What if the police were to somehow figure out that I had knowledge of it?" she questions. "What if they try to interrogate me for information?"
"Well, for starters," Ben comments, "the police can only hold you for twenty-four hours if they have no evidence that you committed a crime, and if they bring up the idea of you somehow being an accomplice to the crime, then all you would have to do is show them these documents." He shrugs, "If they still want to hold you accountable, then I guess I will just have to pardon you myself publically so that the entire country can know you're innocent." It's quiet for a minute, before Ben comments, "If you feel like it's too risky, you don't have to sign it."
She puts the documents aside, "Let me see what it's like without signing it first."
Ben smiles, "Alright. Where would you like to start?"
She takes a post-it note off of the filing cabinet, "The headmistress gave me a list of topics to start with: school, work, your parents, your girlfriend…" She looks up at him, "Is there anything you would like to talk about?"
He chuckles, "You're the interviewer. Why don't you choose?"
It takes her a second to look back up from the note, "She has something in quotations here. Condition?" Ben frowns. "Would you like to talk about that?"
He clasps his hands together, "That's not something an interviewer would know about." She waits for him to continue, before he tensely explains, "Which means we can't discuss it."
"Okay," the brown eyed therapist accepts. "What about work? You just became king about a month ago. Would you like to talk about that?"
Ben slightly nods, "It's been busy, but I can handle it."
"Was it hard transitioning to the king's position?" she wonders.
Ben glances down, "No. My father had me observing council meetings and looking over documents with him prior to me receiving the crown. I was as prepared as I could have been."
"You're using the past tense," she notices.
Ben tenses a smile, "What I mean is that I was fully prepared to take the crown, so the transition into the king's position has been one I can handle." She nods, but she waits for him to say more. "Do you have any more questions?"
The therapist inwardly sighs before moving onto the next subject, "Your girlfriend. It must be tough on you for her to be going through all of this. How do you feel about it?"
It takes Ben a minute to answer, "I have been asked a lot of questions by a lot of different people on the matter, and what I can say is that I know she and I will make it through this. Together. She's innocent, and that's all that matters."
She lets out a breath, "Ben." almost in hopelessness. "For at least one of these subjects, can't you just tell me how you feel about it?"
He eyes her for a second, "I did."
"No," she softly responds. "You told me what happened. You didn't tell me how you actually feel about it." He stays silent. "You've been bypassing my questions. You haven't been answering them."
"I have been," Ben denies. "You just don't like my answers, because they're objective and politically correct. They're answers I would tell to anyone, but you want more."
"I'm supposed to be helping you work through your problems and feelings," the therapist informs. "But you keep answering as if there aren't any problems, as though you have no thoughts or feelings of your own on the subject."
"Maybe that's for the best," Ben counters.
She slightly shakes her head, "Would you have been straight forward with me, even if I did sign the paper?"
He evenly replies, "Unless you do, I guess we will never know."
The counselor lets out a long, loud breath, before she slides the contract over and signs it. She turns it around to let him see as she looks at him, "Talk to me. You're king, and your girlfriend is being put on trial by your ex. I know you must be feeling something."
"Assuming I am," Ben calmly answers. "How is telling you going to change anything?"
"It won't," she acknowledges, "but it's better than keeping your thought and feeling trapped inside of you. For some people, talking through things can give them a new view on the subject or an answer to a question they didn't even know they had." He stays quiet. "You deserve to be able to talk to someone."
Ben eyes the table for a moment, "Talking gets people into trouble."
"I signed the contract," she tries to reassure. "Talking to me is just as safe now as if you were to only talk to yourself."
He observes her for a minute. She's desperate to get something out of him, "I'm not some damsel to be saved."
"I know that," she answers. "But everyone needs help sometimes. While you're being forced to come here, you might as well get something out of it."
"It is quite the waste of time," he acknowledges. "How much time do we have left?"
She looks over at the hanging clock, "Twenty minutes." He nods. "So. Tell me. How do you really feel about your girlfriend's situation?"
"You want the truth?" Ben questions, and when she doesn't answer he continues with agitation. "C'est foutu. She barely even touched Audrey, and now she's being put on trial for sexual assault?" He laughs at the absurdity, "C'est vraiment des conneries."
It takes a moment for the therapist to respond, "I'm sorry, but I don't speak French."
"Good." Ben attempts a calming breath, "You really didn't need to."
She nods, "Alright. So… Your girlfriend is innocent. Do you still worry?"
"Of course, I'm worried," he answers. "I mean, she didn't do anything wrong, but at the same time had I not shown up, then she could have." He shakes his head, "She's not some sexual predator, but she was attempting to get heat… and that can be an intimate act sometimes." He's quiet for a second. "The jury may not see a difference. All they may end up seeing is a hurt victim that feels as though it is personal… like when someone pulls the head covering off of a woman. It might not seem like a big deal to us, but depending on the culture or the religion, hair can be seen as a very private thing; therefore, as a judge would have to take that into account in a situation like that, the judge may also have to take into account Audrey's feeling on the matter, how she interpreted the event, because she didn't know what Mal's intention was at the time."
The counselor nods, and when Ben doesn't continue she questions, "You said that you can pardon people. If you're really worried that Mal may be found guilty, then why don't you just pardon her?"
Ben looks down for a moment, "I'm not allowed to." before he explains to her. "Back when the country was trying to diminish the monarchy's power a law was put in place to prevent the king from pardoning any family members or people who they have dated." He gestures, "It's a good rule. I understand why it's there. It's just… inconvenient, I suppose." She nods. "So, there's nothing I really can do, nothing but sit, sit and watch—" He furrows his eyebrows, "Not even watch. I'm not allowed to see her… I have to wait until Monday's trial."
"How do you feel about the timing of the trial?" the therapist questions. "Do you feel like she's going to be ready for it or do you wish you had more time?"
It takes him a minute to think, "Honestly, I just want to get it over with. Could we use more time? Sure… But Mal probably wouldn't last that long." He looks at her for a moment, "Evie, Mal's friend… She told me that it seems like Mal just keeps getting colder every time she sees her." He eyes the glossy, wooden table. It's fake wood. Pulp. "I don't know how much longer she can stay in there for, and that's just before the trial. She's still going to be put back in jail after each trial day concludes." He lets out a sad breath, "And the witness list is long. There's no telling how many days it will take for the trial to end… It could be another week. I just really hope it isn't two."
The timer goes off, and the counselor comments, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have today. When would you like to schedule your next appointment?"
Ben slowly shakes his head, "I don't know. Tomorrow, same time?"
She nods, "I think that will work." He slowly gets up from his chair. "Have a nice afternoon, Ben."
When he glances at her he sees her small smile, but he finds himself unable to make his own, "Have a nice day." before opening the door and exiting the room.
- I got Trump vibes when I wrote Ben saying, "I've been asked a lot of questions by a lot of different people on the matter"... not entirely sure if it was Trump actually. It seems almost too smart for him. But whoever said it, politicians will be politicians.
- Just to be clear, I never took a French class. I just spent some time looking up phrases, and those two are what I found. If there are longer conversations that are in French they will be written in English... whether it be indicated or not. Since Belle and Adam probably had French as their first language, it would make sense that that would be what's spoken around the household; therefore, there's a possibility that there's been a French conversation already and I was just too shortsighted to notice it (and therefore not indicate it).
- Sooo, I just found out I spelled counselor wrong... I have to re-upload the previous chapter now. Thank goodness I didn't use that word before now, because then I'd have to probably re-upload chapters that aren't even in my doc manager anymore.