Chapter 17. Family Bonds

Linda Wells

Is Ben joking? He has to, right?

“Tell me you’re joking,” I scoff as I say this to him, but he looks dead serious.

“I wish I was. Mitch is on his way back to America as we speak. He says that he is going to explain it all to our parents; him cheating on you with me, absolutely everything,” he replies to me as he sips his hot coffee.

He keeps adjusting his hoodie to cover his face as if he is hiding from someone or hiding a part of his face.

“We fought about it last night at the hotel, it is where we have been staying since we found out that you were here in China. We came here to try to make things right with you, but something changed in Mitch when he came back from seeing you yesterday,” Ben continues to explain, and I listen to him attentively.

“He was distant, and when I told him that I wanted him to be mature enough to choose between you and me, he went ballistic,” Ben says as he sniffles.

“And that’s how you got that bruise