Chapter 17 – Broken Bond

"You lied. You said he did not want to hear from me again. That he had moved on. You owe me an explanation Bonnie."

Elena's angry cold gaze fixed Bonnie. She felt betrayed by the friend she had trusted.
"I am waiting Bonnie." Elena muttered, staring at her friend who seemed to have gone mute.

"You, you should come inside Elena."

Elena followed Bonnie inside, impatient to hear her so called best friend explain why she had lied. Why had she been so bent on keeping her away, making her believe that Damon had really moved on.

"You want anything 'Lena" , she heard Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, cut the good manner crap. Just tell me why Bonnie. I thought you were my friend! What the hell did you want to achieve, huh?" Elena found no reason to keep her tone down. She was pissed off at Bonnie.
"Yes ELENA! YES! I LIED. I TOLD YOU HE HAD MOVED ON. I did it for you! You were so miserable here with him! He molded you into what he wanted you to be! This marriage was a mistake and you know it! He finally seems to acknowledge it! All I did was enabled you to start anew! You said so yourself, YOU FELT TRAPPED!"

Flashback to 3 months earlier…

"Elena Gilbert Salvatore drinking in the midday! Come on spill. What's wrong?" Bonnie said, walking in the Salvatore's huge house.
She had left work earlier and decided to drop by to see her friend. And she was quite surprise to see the latter, sitting near Damon's alcohol stash, and drink in hand. She hated to see Elena like this; it seemed to her that Damon had rubbed off on her. Bonnie always disliked Damon and never even did an effort to mask it. She had tried to convince Elena not to get into a relationship with him, and even on their wedding day, she had told Elena she could still backed out. – Which had earned her a scowl from Caroline. She never understood how Caroline could actually befriend Damon.

"Nothing Bon. Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, finished early. Thought we could have a girls' time. And you definitely look like you need one. What's going on Elena?", Bonnie said, a hint of worry in her voice.

Elena looked up to her friend and let the tears out finally " I don't know Bonnie. Nothing's wrong! I should be happy! I have everything a woman could dream of. A good husband, amazing kids, huge house. Everything! But I can't feel happy anymore."

Bonnie stared at her best friend breaking down.
"What are you feeling Elena?" asked Bonnie, soothing her friend as best as she could.
"I love him. I do. And I love my children. I promise I do. They are my everything. But I am losing myself…This is not what I pictured for myself Bon. This is not who I wanted to be…
I feel trapped…"

"Yes! I told you I was unhappy and I felt trapped. I DID! And leaving was MY decision. But you, you promised me you'd tell him. YOU PROMISED you'll tell him everything. I told you I wanted to come back, that I had made a mistake! YOU TOLD ME THAT IT WAS TOO LATE! YOU TOLD ME HE HAD MOVED ON! You said my kids did not even miss me! YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU WERE LOOKING AFTER THEM! You lied! YOU LIED because you hated Damon! You always did and you always wanted us apart! YOU DID NOT CARE if I was hurting when you lied! You did not care that you were breaking my kids' heart when you told me they were better off without me! I WAS BREAKING DOWN IN THAT HOTEL ROOM BONNIE! YOU TOLD ME MY FAMILY HATED ME when all they wanted was for me to come back home! JUST LIKE I WANTED! Elena was yelling through her tears. She felt betrayed. She had believed her, trusted her and she had lied just to keep her away from them.

"YES! And I still hold my ground. DAMON IS SO WRONG FOR YOU! This marriage should never have happened. You deserve much better than this Damon Salvatore! And I don't care if you hate me, you know deep down I am right! He would have crushed you at some point. Because that's what he does! Soon he'll tire playing the perfect little daddy and he'll just walk away and you'll have your kids back, if that's what you're worried about" scoffed Bonnie.

Elena could not believe what she was hearing. Bonnie was referring to her children as if they were just some toys to be played with! And her marriage to Damon seemed not to matter at all. She had lied and she still believes it was the right call!

"I thought you were my friend Bonnie. But I was wrong. You speak of my children as if they were nothing. And you speak of what you don't know. Damon has ALWAYS been an amazing dad, even though he may have made mistake, he would give his life for our children! And as for him crushing me or whatsoever, we had our problems, hell, we have a lot of unresolved issues, but in the end, I love him and he loves me back, as much as he deny it, I know he does. I was at my weakest moment, and I left! And you just pushed me even more far from my family because you are so blinded by your judgmental opinions about my husband! We're not friends anymore. And I don't want to see you again." Elena said, unusually calm. She walked herself out of Bonnie's house, leaving a speechless Bonnie, crying.