He must have seen it pass across her face, the hints of her fears. “What’s wrong?” he asked her. She only exhaled. What could she say? She’d never meant to keep her guard up around him, or to let it down. She’d never meant for lots of things to happen. When she left… She hated it, sometimes, being so aware, attentive. She knew they had these issues still, simmering beneath the surface of everything they said. She’d left. It hurt him. But she’d done it for a reason. And it wasn’t just because she loved him too much, though that had been the one that prompted her choice. It was more complicated. It always was.

-- Definition of Something Different by Arcadia