Later, I learned that Benjamin had been targeted and harassed by those rich kids because of what he'd done.
I found him with tears brimming in my eyes and apologized. He just smiled, patted my head, and said, "Don't worry about it. I just can't stand to see you cry."
The man who once panicked at the mere sight of tears in my eyes could now ignore my pain entirely for another girl's sake.
When exactly had Elise Simmons wedged herself between us?
Maybe it started the day she became Benjamin's graduate student. He talked about her constantly, saying she reminded him of his younger self. But the look in his eyes was nothing like nostalgia. It was pure adoration.
Or maybe it was the time she called him crying, saying a group of male students had cornered her with unwanted confessions. Benjamin, always so calm and rational, had charged in like a hotheaded teenager and thrown punches.
When I went to bail him out, I looked at his split, bruised lip and felt something bitter settle in my chest for the first time.
He explained it away: "Maud, when I heard what happened to her, it reminded me of how you used to get bullied. I just lost it."
But the thing was, when I'd been in that exact situation, all he'd done was quietly walk me away.
...
When I woke up, I was already in the hospital.
The doctor told me with a worried expression that it was a good thing I'd been brought in quickly. I'd hit the back of my head in the fall, and there was bleeding in my brain. A little longer, and I might not have woken up at all.
I thanked him softly, had my wounds treated, and left.
The moment I reached the lobby of my apartment building, a group of men followed me in. Leering. Closing in.
"You're that bitch from the internet, aren't you?"
"You look decent enough on the outside, but turns out you're rotten to the core. Hiring thugs to bully some college girl? You like men that much? Well, today we'll give you a taste of what that's like!"
They lunged at me with ugly grins, tearing at my clothes.
I screamed and stumbled backward, but they were faster. My shirt ripped. Their fingers twisted into my skin, leaving bruises wherever they grabbed.
It wasn't until the building's security guard rushed over and called the police that they finally scattered like rats.
I collapsed to my knees, shaking uncontrollably.
The security guard stood over me, looking down with undisguised contempt.