That small movement hurt more than I expected.
She wasn’t rejecting me because she didn’t love me.
She was afraid that I would turn her pain into another problem she had to manage.
I lowered my voice.
“You are not annoying for wanting to learn. You are not embarrassing because you care about your grades. And you don’t have to change who you are to deserve kindness.”
Emily’s eyes filled with tears again.
“Then why does it feel like I’m the one who’s wrong?”
I had no answer that could make everything better.
So I did the only thing I could.
I stood beside her and let the silence remain.
After a while, Mark spoke.
“I thought I could give her a few days to breathe. We were going to use the time to put everything in writing and figure out how to report it properly.”
