“But…” he continues, “you know as well as I do that we don’t choose who our hearts beat for. No one controls what they feel, no matter how hard they try to suppress it. I swear I tried. God knows how many times. But you were always there, even in silence, even from far away.”

She can’t speak. She only listens to him, as if every sentence is being pulled straight from his soul.

“I’m not here to compete, nor to ask you for anything you can’t give. But… if you came here to try to get away from him