- No, Sofia. You didn’t do anything.
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I know that now.
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He looked at me straight.
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But I need you to understand something. When you told me you were sick, I didn’t even think about your fortune for a second. I just thought that the man I love might die.
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I felt my eyes get wet.
↓ - I know.
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And when I left, I didn’t run away from you. I ran after a solution. Every night I prayed it wouldn’t be too late when I came back.
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I got my head down.
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I am so sorry.
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I think you’re sorry, Andrei. But that doesn’t erase what happened.
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I have approved.
↓ - I know.
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He took a deep breath.
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“I can’t just go back to the relationship I had before.
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Her words hurt me.
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But I didn’t try to convince her.
↓ - I understand.
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Sofia looked at me for a few seconds.
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I never said I never wanted to see you again.
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I raised my eyes.
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What do you mean?
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“I want to see if the man who did it can learn to be different. But I don’t want grandiose promises. I don’t want expensive gifts. And I don’t want to rush.
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I felt a timid hope.
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I am willing to wait.
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Sofia shook her head.
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I don’t want you to wait as if I owed you something. I want you to work on yourself, whether you and I will ever be together again.
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I have approved.
↓ - That’s what I’m going to do.
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In the coming months, we started to see each other from time to time.
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Sometimes I went for coffee.
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Other times we walk in the park.
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I didn’t try to buy his trust.
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When Sofia told me she couldn’t come, I accepted without asking questions.
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When she wanted to spend time with her friends, I didn’t mind.
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And when she needed to talk about what had happened, I would listen to her, even if it hurt to hear how much I had hurt her.
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In the meantime, we continued therapy.
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I began to understand that my fear of being used came from the way I had grown. In my family, almost every relationship was assessed by money, status and advantages. People were looked at with suspicion, and generosity was often confused with weakness.
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Sofia didn’t grow like that.
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For her, love meant being present.
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Be careful. Be careful.
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Don’t let the man beside you when it’s hard for him.
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I needed a painful lesson to understand something she already knew.
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