Chapter 94

• "I deserved it... I did. It's karma, and this is exactly what I should get." Leon mutters it in a breathy, almost non-existent splice of words, still looking down at his hands, trembling the same way Sophia's are. "It doesn't make it hurt any less... or mess me up any less. That you've been lying this whole time... Pretending... Making me hope... Was this punishment? Revenge? Did it give her a kick to see me falling all over her and trying to rekindle past memories?"
• Leon finally raises his head, his eyes so steeped in sadness and betrayal that it cuts Sophia deeply. His words are slow and etched with bitterness. Questioning her in his mind and coming up with so many reasons she would drag this charade out and pretend not to know. He can see why he would think it was a ploy to hurt him, that it was vindictive and mocking. Despite everything he did back then, she never wanted to wound him this way, and it wasn't a manipulation of any sort.
• "I......" She doesn't know what to say and shakes her head. Her words trail to silent air because she doesn't know how to explain when he's looking at her that way. As though she ripped the rug out from under his feet, stabbed him in the heart, and yet he doesn't explode. He waits for the mad and cruel to appear, the cold, cutting words she can throw like spears, and instead, he stands a man grasping for reasons that the person he thought he knew could do this to him.