[He is right, in his estimation of how it might go if he were to say he was proud. Even to hear that he was happy... it is a fraught thing. Sometimes she can hear it. Other times... like now... she feels like she has already peeled back and explained so much already, left feeling tender and defensive in its wake. Even though she knows... it is necessary, that they must come to know each other in more than one way, that she must... speak. ... For this morning, it is enough.]
... Wide awake.
[Her remaining eye focuses on him. On the softness in his smile. ... She almost wishes she could give him something like that. It would reassure him, wouldn't it? It would make him feel... Fingers slide across the mattress, hesitating... and then moving to brush a wayward strand of hair off his forehead.]
no subject
... Wide awake.
[Her remaining eye focuses on him. On the softness in his smile. ... She almost wishes she could give him something like that. It would reassure him, wouldn't it? It would make him feel... Fingers slide across the mattress, hesitating... and then moving to brush a wayward strand of hair off his forehead.]
... Have you read all the books in this room?
[She hadn't known he meditated every morning.]