Bearclaw Valley And now it's hard to breathe

The accusation that he hadn’t thought wasn’t argued against—his beliefs were his own, he could not make her experience the moment through his mind. He could speak the thoughts that ran through his head, he could vocalise them and make them known to all, but he could not ensure they would all be understood, as that was not the reason for why they existed. Thus, for a long moment, he was silent—silent and thinking, considering what he should next say, how he could comfort her, but the time to do so had long since passed.

And then she frowned, and out came her answer—an answer that forced him to maintain his silence, brain working to go over what it was that she’d said.

She wanted to be with him.

“Why?” he couldn’t keep the question from flying out his mouth. “Why me? I haven’t done anything for you, I haven’t been there for you—why do you want to be with me?” He couldn’t wrap his head around it, not at all. Even now, after experiencing so many and in such great quantities, Alexander did not understand emotions—not how they worked, not what was the driving force behind them, nothing.

“Why don’t you hate me?”