Day 3 of Benito's internship at Marissa's hotel. He was tired as hell because he had to be at work at 6am. He couldn't sleep ever since he had to work with Marissa. He was constantly tensed up because she let him feel how cold she could be but he didn't blame her - in his opinion, he deserved it. It was the first day on which they were working alone. Of course, the cameramen were with them the whole time but he could finally talk to her without Charles being there. They had to polish sets for lunchtime. Marissa showed him how to do it, then she put a box on the table between them. Benito was trying to make it perfect while Marissa put one fork after the other into a second box for the already polished sets. She watched him and bit down a smile - it was cute that he wanted to make every fork look like a new one. "With that pace, the guests are going to eat with their hands." she joked, grabbing another fork from the box. Benito looked at her. "Take a couple of them at once in one hand, put the towel over your other and you're way faster." she then said, showing him how to again. In the two hours they were doing so, Benito and her did talk but not much. It frustrated him that no matter how much he tried, she would block it off completely. When their break came around, she grabbed some left over bacon and eggs from the breakfast buffet and hurried off to the staff room to eat. Whenever they had a break, the cameramen did too, so this was his chance. Benito took some of the left over pancakes and followed her. "Do you mind if I spend my break with you?" he carefully asked her. She looked up from her phone and shook her head. The past two days, he had spent his breaks alone at the bar, drowning himself in memes and TikToks to pass the time. "I'm sorry, Mari." he started, sitting down across from her. "Don't call me that." she gave back, not acknowledging his apology. "But I always call you that." he said disappointed. Marissa put her for down and looked at him like she wanted to murder him. "Only friends and family get to call me Mari, you're neither." she responded as calmly as she could. That hurt Benito. Sure, he understood that she was mad and that he had hurt her feelings but he hadn't expected her to delete him from her life completely.

After his shift ended, Benito noticed that Marissa had changed into the receptionist attire. "I'll be out in a second." he told one of the cameramen. He had to do an interview for the show but first he wanted to say goodbye to Marissa. She was sitting down behind the reception and typed something on the computer. "Are you not finished for today?" he asked surprised. Rolling her eyes, she looked up at him. "No." she said. "We start at 6 tomorrow. Another shift means you don't get home until like midnight. That's not even legal." Benito told her shocked. "Unlike some of us, I cannot afford going home and getting a full night sleep." Marissa responded. Benito thought for a few seconds, then he sighed and nodded. "Okay... If you need help, just let me know." he said, before he turned around and left. He felt defeated and like he had no idea what it meant to be heartless at all. Marissa was relieved when he had exited the building. Finally, she could be normal again. It was all an act, in reality it hurt her when she was near him. It had almost killed her to tell him to not call her Mari again because no matter what she had always loved to hear it from him. And being cold towards him had cost her all of her willpower. Yes, she was friendly while they were working but as soon as one of them clocked out, she put on the mask. Marissa knew that if she got weak and warmed up again, he would play her again and she didn't want to be the fool another time. 

A few days later Benito noticed that Marissa was a little distracted, it seemed like she physically was there but her head was somewhere completely different. As they were polishing plates for an event that evening, she accidentally dropped one. That was a break down moment for her and she excused herself and stormed out of the room. Benito was left with the shards on the floor, so he cleaned them up. After that, he went to check on Marissa. It had been at least 10 minutes and he was getting worried. First, he knocked onto the women's bathroom door, no answer, then he went into the staff room, where he could hear very silent sobbing. "Marissa?" he carefully asked. The sobbing stopped. "I'll be right down." he heard her respond from where the changing stalls were. Slowly he walked up to the door. "Are you alright?" he asked softly. "Yeah." Marissa gave back. He decided to wait for her to come out, so he leaned onto the wall of the stall. "I know you're not alright." he said. "Go away, Benito, please." Marissa answered, sounding like she was about to break down again. "Look, I'm sorry about what I've done. I didn't think it would effect you like this." Benito told her. He thought that working with him triggered her. "You think I cry because of you?" Marissa questioned taken aback, then he heard her laugh a little. "My life doesn't revolve around you! I have far worse problems than a goddamn fuckboy with commitment issues!" she exploded on him, pulling the door open. Shocked he stared at her but he also got angry. He pushed himself off the wall to face her. "You think I don't know what I did was wrong?" he countered angrily. Marissa glared up at him. "No, I think you do but you're just too fragile and ignorant to care about it." she said, then pushed past him and left the room. In shock, Benito stared at the wall in front of him for a few seconds. When he snapped out of it, he followed her, calling her name multiple times. "Leave me alone, Benito! Do as you said and disappear from my life, for fuck's sake!" she shouted, sobbing. She was still walking, so Benito trotted after her and grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Let me make it right, please?" he begged her. Marissa lost all self control in that moment. As soon as the words had left his mouth, she turned and slapped him across the face. "Sorry, I'm sorry... I..." she immediately said afterwards. She was shocked about her own action. Although Benito's cheek was burning like fire, he stepped forward, ignored what she had said and pulled her into a hug. He understood that she needed one very badly. "It's alright I deserved that." he whispered, when she returned the hug. In that moment, he was incredibly glad that the cameramen hadn't gone with him to look for her. Marissa completely broke down in his arms, letting every single thing out that she had pent up in the past couple of weeks. When she had calmed down, she let go of Benito excused herself and left. For the rest of the day, Benito was alone with Charles. He couldn't wait for his shift to end.