-

"Miss? Are you awake?" Elena's maid, Miranda knocked on the door but she didn't get any respond. "I'm coming in."

She went in but she did not see Elena in her bed but a properly made without Elena.

She screamed. Running out of the room heading into Lady Bennet's room. "Lady Bennet! Miss Elena is not in her room!"

"That girl!" Anastasia growled, angrily getting out of bed and harshly opening the window. She looked out to see her daughter, in her nightgown, doing archery.

"Elena!" Lady Bennet yelled causing Elena to shoot and miss the target.

"fuck." She cursed under her breath.

"What on earth are you doing?! You have callers coming over in a few minutes and you're not even dressed! Put down that wretched tool and get inside!" She harshly closed the window.

"put down that wretched tool and get inside." Elena mimicked her mother as she put down her arrow.

-

Tables were set, flowers were hung. The Bennet's are fans of nature. The drawing room is basically a garden. Elena sat next to her second eldest brother and Isabella was chatting with Arthur in the other side of the room. Lord William Bennet sat across Elena and Thomas, reading a newspaper while Lady Bennet walked back and forth. It seems that Anastasia is nervous for her daughter more than Elena is nervous for herself.

After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened. Revealing one of the servants. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "Callers, for Miss Bennet." Lady Bennet's face instantly lightened up, but not Elena's. "The Lord Johnson."

He came into the room and the young girl's face showed disgust. It's not that he was old, he had dirty crooked teeth and a devilish smirk. She instantly held Thomas' hand tightly.

"Thomas, leave some room for his Lordship." Lady Bennet said but he did not move. Instead, he moved closer to his sister.

"Thomas, are you not due for a visit with Colin this morning?" His mother asked with a fake smile.

"I believe I should like to stay."

"I believe you should like to go." Yet again, Thomas lost against his mother. He awkwardly stood up, letting go of his sister's hand. Elena gave him pleading eyes but Lady Bennet has already escorted him out of the room.

When Thomas left, Lord Johnson made his way to the couch and sat next to Elena who was keeping her distance.

"Miss Bennet, what true beauty you possess." He tried to touch her raven hair but she yanked his hand away. Lord Johnson tried to shrug off what happened.

"If I can be honest, I've been waiting for this moment for 21 years." He said sipping on his tea but making a loud slurp.

From the other side of the room, the oldest and the youngest stared at the lord in disgust.

"So, since the day of my birth." Elena said and he nodded.

"It's like a reward." Lord Johnson replied and Elena may have puked in her mouth.

-

"Lovely to have acquainted you, Lord Evans. Goodbye." She closed the door and slid down.

"You are strong, sister." Isabella told her while picking up the dog she got as a gift.

"In an hour it will be over for today." She said standing up. "Let's just get this over with." She sat down on the couch and waited for the next caller.

"Father, you've been awfully quiet today." Elena told her father who hasn't even budged from his seat.

"I do not want to say anything I'll regret." He answered.

She nodded. "Approvable."

Another servant opened the door and came into the room to announce the next caller, but Elena kept her head low. "Another caller for Miss Bennet..." Lady Bennet got excited again as she got up from her seat.

"...The Lord Bridgerton." That got Elena's attention. Benedict came into the room and Elena stood up. They locked eye for a few seconds until he broke it when he looked at Lady Bennet.

"I hope it's not too late. I would like to speak with Miss Bennet." Benedict said. Anastasia simply nodded with a smile and led him to Elena. He took a seat next to her and she offered him some tea.

"Didn't expect to see you here." Benedict laughed at her comment.

"How were all the callers this morning?" He asked.

She put down her tea on the table. "Horrid. Are you acquainted with Lord Johnson?"

"Oh, sadly yes. I always want to puke when I see those crooked yellow teeth. Did he come?" Bnedict asked asked and she nodded. "Oh, you poor thing." He took a sip of the tea and his eyes widened, worrying Elena.

"Is there a problem?'

"Not at all. Just, this tea is delicious!" He said that a brought a smile to Elena's face.

"Thank you. It's my own recipe. A hint of lavender is just what it needed."

_

They spoke, laughed, had all of the fun they could possibly had. Everything they did was over an hour. But it was getting very late and the young couple had to say their farewells. But right before leaving, Benedict surprised Elena with a lovely gift.

"Here." He said handing her a folded paper. "It's not the best, but it's still something. I meant to give it to you at Lady Danbury's ball but I was too nervous. So, I'm giving it to you now. I hope you like it." Benedict said and started heading towards the door.

"Bennets." He lifted his hat. "Thank you for having me." And just like that, he got out of the room.

Elena unfolded the paper as a smile grew on her face. She took her time to look at it. The beautiful masterpiece she saw on the paper. Her siblings have noticed that their sister was staring at the paper for a long time, smiling like an idiot.

"Why the wide smile, sister?" Isabella asked.

Elena took her eyes off of it and looked at her. "No reason. Today was just an amazing day."