The good side of betrayal (Gajevy/Gale)

Chapter 7

Dedicated to one of my readers whose comments had always brightened my day!

For the past thirty minutes, she had sat in Gajeel's bedroom, the mentioned dragonslayer standing in front of her, describing several outfits for her to choose from. Though she knew every piece of clothing she owned, she was extremely nervous picking one of them. Always telling herself that she'd just go and see people she considered friends didn't help a lot.

Gajeel had talked to her about her options, describing the patterns multiple times, as well as handing her the different dresses so she could picture them even better. Making decisions had always been easy for her, but even picking a dress was a hard task in her current situation.
Honestly, her choice didn't matter, she liked all her dresses. But no matter how pretty the dress would look, the woman wearing it wouldn't be pretty at all. Her eyes were covered with an enormous with cloth, her arm was still in the middle of the healing process and her upper body hurt like hell, due to her ribs. Only her legs were doing better, the bruises had disappeared in the past few days and the pain had concentrated on her upper body. Obviously, these small changes in the right direction were no success or didn't help her much to being her old self again, but it progressed she accepted thanking.

Gajeel handed her the dress she had chosen, the orange, simple dress she absolutely adored. But when she felt it in her hands, she hesitated and held it out again, asking for another one. This was the fourth change she did and Gajeel wasn't having it anymore.
He took the dress in her hands and placed another piece of cloth in them.

"I'm done with this, it would take a few hours before you'd make a final decision, so I'll choose. You'll wear the white dress." His voice revealed that he wouldn't let any resistance pass. This decision was final. Nervously fumbling with the dress in her hand, she tried to make another change.

"But-"

"No buts Levy. It doesn't matter what you choose, these are all looking beautiful when you wear them. I like the white dress, so go and change."
After his words, she nodded and hurried to go into the bathroom to finally change into the dress. Finally, behind closed doors, she hoped Gajeel hadn't seen her deep-red face. As if he had known what to say, he told her that she looked beautiful, not the dresses themselves.
After (hopefully) changing correctly into the dress, she hesitated to go outside. Gajeel may find her pretty, but no one else would. They would only see the beaten woman.

"Are you ready shrimp?", Gajeel asked from outside the bathroom, probably waiting right in front of the door. She hesitated before answering.

"No."

"Is something wrong? Do you need help, Levy?"

"No, don't worry. Just leave without me, I don't want to go."

"Be reasonable shrimp, they all want to see you. You'll like it too."

"Gajeel is right Levy, they are worried about you. I'm sure the others would be happy to see you. You know how concerned they were when you chose to stay with us. Your presence at the guild would prove your well-being. Besides, you'd see them all again."

"I really don't want to come, just go without me."

"Do I need to break the door again?" After their encounter in the middle of the night a few days ago, he had repaired the door the next day.

"Gajeel ..."

"I won't let you hide in here forever. These people are your life and I'll force you to meet them if you don't come out yourself. You have 10 seconds to choose what you'd like more."

"I can't even look at them.2

"I know shrimp. But they are deeply worried about you. If you won't come with us, they'll storm my house after a few seconds to see if everything's alright."