This isn’t how I thought this would go. Wanted it to go.

“But you left!” She screams. “You left without a word of reason and I’ve been left here struggling to cope. You’re despicable and cruel. How could you?”

She hates me.

“I told you why I left. I didn’t want to! Did my letters not mean anything to you? Show that I love you still, that I always have?”

She stills. “What letters?”

She must be joking. “The letters I wrote to you. Did you not get them?”

“I never got any letters.” We’ve stilled. After an eternity of silence and processing, she asks in a quieter voice. “What did they say?”

I step forward, grab her hand. She lets me. “I never wanted to leave. They made me. Why would I leave when I’m so deeply in love with you? Every chance I had I tried to get back here, back home. To you. I never stopped loving you.”