Chapter 45 – Talk at school
His mother took a few moments before looking up at him. She became red-faced, now realizing after the fact that her son had just made her climax. She opened her mouth to say something but Benjamin spoke first, with a regretful face.
"Mom, I am sorry, I got carried away. Did I hurt you?"
She widened her eyes in surprise before shaking her head hard.
"No, not at all. In fact, it felt very good. That was an amazing massage, really. Best massage I ever received."
Her will to not hurt his feelings took precedence over her shame and she blurted anything to make him feel better. Benjamin beamed, continuing.
"Really? Hehe, that's great. Then I will definitely give you another massage in the future."
"O-ok. Thank you, darling."
She looked like she was a bit conflicted about the whole thing but accepted nevertheless. Benjamin kissed her on the cheek before announcing.
"I need to prepare dinner now. I will see you later, Mom."
She nodded and he left her office to go down two floors to the kitchen. He started to prepare dinner, a task which he was becoming more and more skillful at. The rest of the day went by without anything special happening, except for the fact that Grace and his mother looked at him even more than usual, if that was even possible. As for him, he always returned their gaze with a full smile on, which would make them look away for a moment, before they soon resumed watching him, as if their eyes were attracted by a superior force.
On the next day, Friday, Benjamin studied diligently in class to keep his grades up. After coming back from a toilet break during recess, he reopened his notebook, only to find a folded piece of paper inside. Curious, he unfolded it and saw that there was something written inside. It said: 'Please meet me behind building 3 after lunch at 12:30 pm. I have something to tell you.'.
Benjamin discretely hid the note in his school bag, trying to act as naturally as possible. The day of this happening had finally come. Thinking logically, even without being a narcissist, there was a high chance this was going to be a confession from a girl. He had it coming, being so friendly to all the girls around him. From his point of view, this was just friendliness, but as a boy from his previous world, he could easily understand how his attitude could be interpreted a bit too optimistically, potentially confusing it with interest. Or it could simply be a normal crush, for all he knew. Anyway, he wasn't even sure it was going to be a love confession, though he still decided to prepare himself for it, just in case.
After lunch, he told Julian and Nathan to go ahead, explaining that he had something to do and that he would join them as soon as he was done. They curiously asked him about it but he evaded answering and headed toward building 3. It was a building at the end of the school premise and, as such, there was nothing but a wall behind it, making it a place no one ever went to.
When he reached the meeting place, he saw a girl waiting for him and Benjamin knew who she was. Her name was Sarai, one of his classmates as well as one of the most outgoing and confident girls in his class. She was the first one to suggest to him to join the school party and he had a lot of contact with her in general since she stood out a bit more than others.
Once he was in front of her, she said.
"Thank you for coming, Ben."
Benjamin nodded, without smiling, for once. He answered.
"No problem. What did you want to talk about?"
She looked down as if trying to gather her courage, before looking at him in the eyes and declaring.
"I like you, Benjamin! Please go out with me!"
His first guess was correct, it seemed. Unfortunately, he had already decided not to date anyone, at least for the moment. If he wanted to continue his current lifestyle, he just didn't have the time to go out with anyone. But, perhaps even that was just an excuse he was making to himself. The reality was that he didn't feel much interest in dating in this changed world. It might come later on in his life when he would feel like settling down, or it might come if he met a really incredible girl. However, currently, in a situation where there was no such girl around him and where he could almost just ask any random woman on the streets to have sex, it was obvious that dating was not the priority in his mind, as a horny teenager himself. He had a sorry expression when he answered her.
"Sorry, Sarai. I have no plan to date anyone at the moment. I am sorry."
She looked at him, agape and shocked. Soon, however, her face distorted in anger and she walked up to him. She violently grabbed his left arm in her right hand, her nails piercing his skin, and shouted.
"Why?! I'm the best girl in our class! I'm not good enough for you, is that it?!"
Benjamin tried to ignore the jolting pain in his arm and responded, shaking his head.
"That's not true. You are an amazing girl. This is not about you. I am sorry, Sarai."
His words didn't seem to appease her, though. She gripped his arm more strongly, her nails piercing even deeper, extreme anger in her eyes. She looked at him like she was attempting to change his mind through her stare alone. However, Benjamin maintained eye contact with her, showing his sorrow, without trying to escape her grasp. After a minute of this, her gaze slowly transformed from anger to realization, and, a minute later, from realization to sadness. Finally, she let go of his arm, her face full of despair. Benjamin couldn't help flinching when her nails extracted themselves from the skin of his arm. They had pierced so deep that he was bleeding from the wounds. She saw him flinching and noticed what she had done to his arm, gasping at the blood flowing out. She now looked horrified by her impulsive act and started shaking her head, as if in denial.
"No... no... I didn't want to do that. No, Ben, I am sorry, I am really sorry!"
She extended her hand toward his arm but didn't dare to touch it again. Eventually, she collapsed on her knees, eyes down, and continued to express how sorry she was, interminably.