꒰ FUTURE ꒱

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

ESTELLA WOKE UP leaning her head against Benjamín's shoulder. He, too, was fast asleep, and now they had arrived at where they would be hiding out for the time being. Estella wasn't too sure about the location, but it was far away from Tijuana and was beautiful. Even though they were hiding away from the violent public, Estella felt like she might enjoy some peace and tranquility alone time with Benjamín.

"Patrón, we're here." The driver shouted shortly waking up Benjamín who squinted due to the bright sunlight but nodded his head. He turned to Estella, giving her a smile and a kiss on the forehead as the two got out stepping onto the fresh green grass.

"It's nice. There's a lot of nature." Estella commented, pointing to the colorful flowers and neatly cut grass. It was a lovely place, and she couldn't help but find this place so much nicer than the house back home.

¿Te gusta la naturaleza?" Benjamín smiled holding her hand as Ruth stepped out with their daughter, politely saying hi to the couple.

"I love nature. It's the best thing on this Earth." Estella answered as the two began to walk through a grassy path. The others in the background scrambled to carry their bags inside the house. The two walked in comfortable silence feeling glad to be in each other's presence.

"Estella...I love you so much and you know that. However, I'm a little confused about something." Benjamín scratched the back of his neck as Estella stopped in her tracks to look at him, trying to analyze his facial expression.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Estella tilted her head as Benjamín shook his head while staring off into the distant clear blue sky.

"No...maybe I'm just overthinking shit, but last night when I asked you to talk about the meeting with Amado you sort of shrugged it off." Benjamín explained as Estella sighed while looking down at her shoes. She looked back up at him and nodded her head, knowing it was reasonable to be questioning this.

"Look, Benjamín, I'm not trying to hide anything from you and I don't want you to think that the meeting with Amado was anything suspicious or secretive. I'm just afraid you might get angry if I tell you what happened, and I don't want you having problems with Amado, especially at a time like this where more problems are the last thing we need." Estella clarified, holding Benjamín's hand. He looked away clearly not pleased to be hearing this, and before he could say anything he decided to walk away knowing that if he stayed it was just start an unnecessary argument.

"Benjamín! I'm not saying that I'm not going to tell you, I just don't want you to get mad." Estella chased after him as he turned around, ready to say what he needed to say.

"Then tell me, Estella! I have a right to know, don't you think?" Benjamín snapped but soon lowered his temper, knowing he hated yelling at Estella. She nodded her head, knowing that it was valid for him to know about the business proposal Amado had offered her.

"Amado offered me a business proposal. I don't know the details, but it was just that and nothing else. Of course, I rejected the offer." Estella admitted while swallowing the gulp in her throat. Benjamín felt relieved that there had been nothing more, but also a bit irritated, not understanding why Amado was trying to offer Estella a business opportunity.

"I'm sorry for assuming the worst. You said no to the proposal, right?" Benjamín inquired as Estella nodded her head.

"Estella, did you want to accept it?" Benjamín asked as he hugged her. Estella bit her lip, knowing it was impossible to lie to Benjamín. She didn't ever want to betray the only family that had accepted her with open arms, but she also enjoyed her independence.

"I did...I was curious about the details, but I'm never going to take it because I would never betray you. You're my priority, Benjamín. And I love you and I couldn't take it and wouldn't do it ever" Estella whispered as a single teardrop fell down her eye. Benjamín hugged her tighter, appreciating her honesty and kind words. He knew that she loved him, but it wasn't fair for Estella to not be able to explore doing things for herself. He didn't want to treat her to feel like she was nothing and like she was less than him just like Miguel Ángel had done in the past.

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The next few days were somewhat quiet. Enedina was busy temporarily taking Benjamín's place, meeting with lawyers and high government officials to try to sort everything out. Alexa and Ramón minded their business but made sure that Enedina was doing okay while taking this stressful spot. And finally, Benjamín and Estella anxiously awaited at the hide-out.

Estella and Benjamín didn't speak more about the meeting with Amado and Estella found that odd, but she knew that it was perhaps not the best topic to discuss.

The couple laid in bed as Estella kissed him, his hands making circles on her bare back. She grinned as she wondered what to say. Even though they were "hiding out" from the public outrage, Estella find the time with Benjamín to be relaxing and somewhat like a mini vacation.

The two weren't as stressed as they were back home, although they still were on edge about the situation they were dealing with, Estella found that they had more alone time together here which was beneficial for their relationship.

"I like it here. I don't like the situation, but I enjoy it here. The nature here is beautiful, the house is not in such bad condition, and the time I have spent with you has been so fun." Estella whispered as she walked towards the window staring out at the night sky, the sounds of crickets chirping, and the loud wind.

"Our future will look like this, I promise. Once we have shit under control, I promise we'll get a house with nature and all of that. And we'll have peace." Benjamín walked up to Estella, holding her close against his chest. Estella urged a smile, thinking about the future and how extraordinary it would look with Benjamín. But of course, it was hard to imagine a life with peace in the narco world.

"What would our future look like?" Estella smirked, kissing him. Benjamín smiled holding her waist, thinking about their possible future together.

"One day we'll get married with 3 kids in a place like this but way better. It'll be peaceful." Benjamín said as Estella playfully laughed, thinking about how sweet this all was to be coming from him.

"3 kids? I want 2...I'm not giving birth twice. My mother always described the pain as the worst pain she's ever felt, so If you want you can do it yourself. But the rest sounds exactly how I want my future to turn out. I want my future to be with you even through the tough times." Estella joked but then smiled hugging Benjamín, feeling the safest with him. Their relationship to outsiders could sound "cheesy" or "corny" but Estella didn't care, she loved him.

"Then two kids, and we'll have a home similar to this with beautiful nature because my beautiful girlfriend loves it. And I want to make you happy no matter what. One day, I'm going to marry you." Benjamín grinned as the two began to kiss. Things began to heat up just like they usually did, but Benjamín seemed to have something on his mind that he had been meaning to talk about with Estella.

"Wait." Benjamín stopped the kiss as Estella sat up on the bed, confused on why he had stopped. She appeared concerned, but Benjamín reassured her by placing his hand on her knee.

"I want to talk to you about something. About Amado." Benjamín said his tone changing into a serious one. Estella sarcastically laughed, wondering why he decided to bring this up, especially at such an intimate moment.

"N-Now? Are you serious? Don't you think it's a little weird to have a conversation about him?" Estella snickered now covering her body with the white blanket. Benjamín sighed, knowing she was right, but it was something that had been bugging him these past few days.

"I know it's a bad moment, but I have to talk to you about it, or else I'll just keep thinking about it." Benjamín looked at her while holding her hand. Estella nodded her head agreeing to talk about what he wanted to talk about even though she felt puzzled and a bit nervous.

"I'm aware that Amado proposed you a business opportunity. And I know that you wouldn't want to hurt me or my family, and I know you would never do that...but I'm not Miguel Ángel." Benjamín explained, still not sure if he was making sense due to Estella raising her eyebrows not certain where he was going with this.

"No estoy segura de lo que estás diciendo." Estella lifted an eyebrow as Benjamín continued with his idea.

"I'm saying that if you want to take it and learn more details, then I would be okay with it. When I met you, we always fought due to how upfront you were, and I always knew you were independent and were capable of doing more." Benjamín nervously fidgeted with his hands feeling anxious about telling her this, he didn't want to offend her or put her in a hard position, he just wanted to feel like she was not less.

"What? I don't want that...I don't want to mess your business up, I just want to be with you. I don't care to know about the details about his damn proposal." Estella stood up now, beginning to pace around the room. But even then, she was lying to herself she obviously never wanted to betray the Arellano-Félix family, but doing something for herself wouldn't be too bad.

"Estella...If he tries to betray us, then I'll know you'll never do it. I just don't want to treat you like Miguel treated you, so just think about it." Benjamín kissed Estella before walking out of the room to go check on his daughter, Ruth. Estella sat down on the bed, biting her tongue, not knowing what she should do.

She wondered if she should take the offer, but she didn't want it to come back to her and ruin her life.

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The next day Estella walked around the grass not knowing what she should do. She didn't have anyone to talk to about this but had the urge to call Alexa to discuss this, even though she could be judgmental at times when it came to things like this.

"Alexa...what are you doing?" Estella called Alexa, who immediately picked up.

"Estella! How are you? I miss you!" Alexa shouted as loud music played in the background. Estella could hear yelling in the background, which she assumed were Ramón and his friends. She was glad to hear that they weren't exactly in a depressing mood like they had been recently.

"Can you talk now? It's important and I need your advice. I would ask Enedina, but she's on the phone talking to Benjamín about the important meeting with the lawyers." Estella explained, admiring the colorful bloomed flowers and sounds of birds chirping on the tall trees above her.

"Yes, of course. Wait a second." Alexa laughed, making her towards a quieter room to be able to hear Estella properly.

"So...remember the meeting with Amado?"

"Yes. I'm still stuck about how hot he was, I mean I love Ramón but damn Amado is just so handsome." Alexa gushed over Amado, causing Estella to snicker shaking her head at her friend's words.

"Well, you can gush over Amado all you want. Preferably I think Ramón is a better match for you, however, that's not the reason I called you." Estella joked as she sat down on the grass seeing Benjamín from afar engaged in a conversation with Enedina. He made eye contact with her, instantly smiling and waving hi. Estella waved back, returning a grin.

"I know, I'm never breaking up with Ramón, but anyway, why did you call me? Please don't tell me that Benjamín is being an asshole, or else I'll punch him right in the face." Alexa rolled her eyes while biting her nails. Estella chuckled, knowing that her time with Benjamín had been wonderful except for one small issue.

"No...Benjamín is incredible, and he treats me like a princess, but I told him about the business proposal Amado had made and just last night he told me that he would be okay with me taking that opportunity." Estella explained, still surprised that Benjamín had been so nonchalant and okay with the idea of her being involved in this business life.

"What?! Is he okay? I would expect him to be so angry. Are you sure it isn't some sort of trick to test if you're loyal?" Alexa nearly shouted through the phone as Estella flinched at the loud noise.

"Nope, I'm a hundred percent sure that it isn't a trick to rest my loyalty or something... I know him and I know it because he brought up Miguel Ángel." Estella continued explaining while staring at Benjamín, who watched over his daughter Ruth.

"Then...what's your decision? If you take it, then that means that could be risky. What if Amado causes you to risk the cartel of Tijuana, you can't risk the cartel." Alexa worried, Estella agreed but couldn't help but admit that she was intrigued with Amado's offer, but she felt like if she did it would just be a huge betrayal to her family.

"I'm not sure..." Estella shook her head, knowing this would be a difficult decision to make. She knew that would never give in to the idea of betraying the family even if Amado asked or tried, but there was a possibility that this could be a big move for herself and could benefit her. She was lost once again.

Author's Note: This chapter was short and boring sorryy!! I'm just preparing for the next upcoming chapters, I wouldn't say it's a filler chapter since it's leading up to the next story and I also enjoyed the moments with Ben and Estella!!! What would you guys like to see? Thanks for the support, ily guys <3 Please vote and comment