✔️ MONSTER ➩ Ben Hargreeves

ｏｈ

"Ah, Number Six." Dad stared straight through me as I met him for my lesson. He looked down at his watch. "I see you finally decided to show up. Don't you know that five minutes early is ten minutes late to me?"

"I'm sorry, sir." I looked toward the ground .

"Quite alright. You'll just have to remember to be earlier next time."

"Of course, sir."

I did not meet his gaze. I would be in awe of anyone who ever did.

"Number Six." There was something in his voice I had never heard before. "Benjamin."

Woah. Did he just use my name? I promised myself I would tell Klaus even though he wouldn't believe what had happened.

"Have we ever talked about girls before?" He asked.

Dad knew. He knew about Galena and about everything that happened and how I almost killed her.

"I don't think we have." I answered honestly, ignoring where this conversation would obviously lead.

"Yes, well, I think that will be our lesson today."

It confused me that we should have a lesson about girls. I knew what they were. I knew how to treat them most of the time.

"What about my powers?" I asked, truly wondering about my lessons.

"We will save that for another time."

The room was quiet. It was a dark room that I had grown up in. I never liked it. But when compared to Klaus's hours spent in a mausoleum, I was grateful for the room I had.

Dad cleared his throat. "I know of your current relationship with that girl."

I could feel the blood rushing to my face. I was going to be in some big trouble.

"We're not together. Not anymore." I argued.

"Oh?" He seemed surprised. "Because I also happen to know that she is the reason you were late to your lessons today."

"Oh..." I had no comeback for that.

He sat down in a chair that seemed to appear out of nowhere. There was always something creepy about that room. Maybe that's why he chose it.

He motioned to something near me. Another chair. I sat even though I hadn't previously noticed the chair sitting there.

"I'm not going to say I approve of this relationship, because I don't. It's hindering your powers. You have lost touch with everything you have learned. Yes, I know that you hurt her but I believe it was an accident."

That was something I never dreamed I would hear.

"You've got to forget about her. Move on, Six."

"I thought I loved her." I admitted.

He laughed. "You're too young to even know the meaning of love."

This was a strange place to be in. Not the room - even though it was pretty strange too - but the situation.

Dad never had conversations with anyone. But here I was and he was talking to me as if he were one of my best friends. I knew this was a once in a lifetime chance.

I wondered if this had happened with any of the others. Surely I would've heard about it, if it had happened.

"I'm not going to make you do anything." He assured. "I just trust that I have raised you to have some common sense."

"I do. I told her we were done." Even though it wasn't what I truly wanted, I had to protect her and if Dad agreed then it was even better.

I never felt the urge to please him until now. He is a lot older than us children and I assume that means he is wiser as well.

Dad is a mean man but I think that he does have common sense and knows what he is doing most of the time.

"So you will never see her again?"

I didn't want to tell him about our next meeting. But I didn't want to lie. That would definitely get me in trouble.

"I asked you a question." He pressed on.

"I- I don't know." That was an honest answer.

He glared at me, his monocle digging further into the skin around his eye. This compelled me to make a confession.

"I promised her I would see her again." There. It was out - the good, honest truth.

He sighed. "A promise is a promise."

"And I promised her that I'll never see her after that..."

"Good." He halfway smiled at me which was also a rare sight. "And now I know you are a man of your word."

"Yes." I agreed with him.

"Now I just have to talk some sense into Number One about girls..."

I laughed at that, thinking about how Luther was absolutely in love with Allison.

Maybe Dad wasn't really all that bad after all.