Rebecca pulled the ring out and tossed it aside. Benjamin’s eyes were clouded with tears. His heart trembled. A tormenting sadness skewered his gut.

Was this how all his struggle was going to end? In utter failure?

He forthwith felt empty, desolate, and abandoned. Darkness covered his eyes and dragged him into an unknown, cold abyss, his mind hurling along in a spiral. His consciousness kept sinking deeper and deeper without an end in sight. Suddenly, a scalding tide washed through him and transported him out of the blackness and into light, liberating all his worries along with that, for Benjamin could now feel the warmth of what held his hand.

Benjamin’s eyes flew open and glanced down. It was Rebecca who held his hand, and she began to pull him along.

For a second, his heart skipped when he thought she might personally be sending him out of the house, but then she wrapped her arm around his arm just as they reached the stairs.

Without even trying, they climbed down the stairs in an