Second Glance // Benjamin Pavard

X

" Where are we going?" I ask Ben.

"Nowhere particular," He tells me.

"Ok," I say quietly.

" Let's go for a walk by the tower."

He steers me away from a group of paparazzi that was crowding the parking lot near his car. 

" Oh, sounds good."

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We stroll around the tower and I breathe in the fresh Paris air. It was so clean here, so different from where I was from. I truly loved it here and would always come with Stefan when he had business. 

This place where I was right now - with Ben - I didn't want to leave. But Ben didn't even live here. He lived in Germany. Why am I even thinking about him like this?

I somehow had strayed away from him, consumed in my own thought. I look beside me and he wasn't there. I look around me; what is someone kidnapped Ben? Oh my god, I would die.

I look around bewildered before I hear a voice call out my name.

" Liliana," Ben calls out.

I run over to him and hit him in the chest. " Why would you do that?"

" Do what Lili?" He looks at me with curiosity.

" Leave me," I cry out.

I had lost too many people in my life, and I didn't want to lose Ben. Even though we barely knew each other, I couldn't lose him, too. It would hurt too much.

" I'm not going to leave you," Ben told me. 

I want to believe that there was some underlying message, that he was being one hundred percent serious, but that was ridiculous. He didn't know me either.

" Why would I ever leave you?" Ben asks me while cradling my face in his hands. 

This was too much for me. 

He carefully pushes me into his chest and I was surrounded by his warmth and his iconic cologne.  For a split second, I forgot that he was Benjamin Pavard and I was Liliana Salvatore.

A few tears slide down my cheeks and I wipe them away quickly. I hear my phone ring and I pull away from Ben. I wipe my face one more time before answering.

" Stefan, what's up?" I ask in a tight voice.

Ben crosses his arms and looks at me. 

" Yeah, I miss you, too. When are you coming back?"

Ben breathes heavily and looks away from me. Was he mad?

" Paris is Paris, it's amazing. Damon's being the usual Damon, so everything is fine. How's business?"

I turn away from Ben for a minute.

" That's great Stef. I have to go, but I'll talk to you later. I love you. Bye."

I put my phone back in my pocket and turn around back to Ben. Or where Ben was.

" Ben!" I yell out. 

A few people look at me judgingly. I see Ben's curly hair steadily walking away from me. I run over to him and stand in front him, forcing him to stop. 

He tries to walk around me but I grab his arm. That makes him stop moving.

" Let go of me," He says in a deep voice.

" No," I reply. " Why are you acting like this?"

" Who's Stefan?"

" What?"

" Who's that guy you were just talking to?"

" My brother."

" I thought Damon was your brother."

" I have more than one," I tell him curtly. 

I pull up a picture from my phone. " That's my brother Stefan."

" Oh," he replies.

" Yeah."

I begin to walk back towards my hotel, I couldn't handle being with him any longer.

" Liliana, wait!"

I run away from him, as fast as I could. He runs after me and tackles me to the ground. 

" I'm a footballer. You can't run away from me."

I laugh for a brief minute. I was pinned to the ground by Ben.

He looks into my eyes and leans down closer to me. 

" Who is she? Who are you with Ben?"

We both look up to see the paparazzi taking photo after photo. Ben gets up off of me and pulls me up with him.

" Ready for another run?" He asks.