What you were doing definitely might not seem appealing to a lot of people. But did anyone ever applaud someone for creeping around and being a mistress on the side? Yeah, not really.

But it’s not like you were a homewrecker, sacrificing your free time and energy to get together with wealthy, taken men. Maybe your actions weren’t exactly politically correct, but surely, one look at Ben should be enough of an explanation.

Who wouldn’t want a man like him? Strong, confident and dangerous — a perfect mix.

Besides, it’s not like he was really in love with Crimson Countess. That whole relationship was just a desperate PR stunt pulled by Vought to feed the public with juicy information about beloved Payback’s heroes. Ben was America’s Golden Boy, so why not pair him with his fellow team partner to try and show how progressive the company is? Well, the reason was pretty simple — they would try to do everything so that your relationship with Ben wouldn’t see the light of day.

There wasn’t an ounce of drama or anything else that would potentially keep the engagement high when it came to you and Ben. Apparently, having a normal relationship was deemed as something boring and unexciting. So, the narrative of Soldier Boy and Countess was pushed forward and spread all over the fucking country, forcing you to hide in the shadow and feel like nothing but a homewrecking mistress.

Ben noticed that recently you’ve been off and that your smile didn’t quite reach your eyes as it usually would. The problem was he wasn’t a man known for expressing his feelings or talking about them with someone else. He kept everything to himself. But seeing you so sad was not only heavily uncomfortable but made this weird tingle appear in his chest, which he didn’t like at all.

“You wanna tell me what the fuck’s goin’ on or do I have to make you say it?” He asked, voice low and sharp. But you knew he wasn’t trying to be mean — he just didn’t know how to deal with it.