[ Comes so immediately, a knee-jerk deflection of what she gives to him.
Another night, under different circumstances, he might have cushioned it more gently. But he feels frayed apart, all his transgressions and errors washed up like so much wreckage around him. ]
Alina, you are...
[ A searching pause. He is so tired, and she is so many things, all of them so important. ]
You are my wife, [ feels insignificant even as he says it aloud. ] My partner. I don't want to do anything you mislike.
no subject
[ Comes so immediately, a knee-jerk deflection of what she gives to him.
Another night, under different circumstances, he might have cushioned it more gently. But he feels frayed apart, all his transgressions and errors washed up like so much wreckage around him. ]
Alina, you are...
[ A searching pause. He is so tired, and she is so many things, all of them so important. ]
You are my wife, [ feels insignificant even as he says it aloud. ] My partner. I don't want to do anything you mislike.