I do not know how I never noticed it before, this subtle shift in color, this strangeness, something almost inhuman. But now suddenly it struck me. I felt my heart begin to race, panic rising to the surface. I fought to keep it back. To maintain my expression. I did not want him to suspect.

I did my best to smile but even I knew it was a paltry at best effort. I watched him watching me, so calmly. He knew I knew I thought to myself. Then another thought dawned one me. He wanted me to know. This is why I have never noticed before.

“Who….What..Are You?”

I stammered not able to bare the silence anymore.

For a moment it did not seem as if he would say anything. He just kept that penetrating eerie stare upon me. It took all my will power not to squrim in my seat. I didn’t want him to see me as frightend.

Finally a look came over him that seemed almost dissapointed? As he began to speak slowly as if it were hard to say the words.

“You know who I am. Nothing about who I am has changed. I wanted to tell you sooner but I did not know how. At first I didn’t think you would believe me and then well I was worried you would act just like this. I was hopping if you did get to know me better then maybe you would be more accepting.”

A tumulet of mixed feelings ran through me. A part of me was angery. Angery that he mislead me, angrey that he was blaming his deception on me. A part of me was hurt that he did not trust me enough to tell me bu then again a part of me saw the truth. Would I have ever responded any different?

“As you have already guessed I am not quite human. We, my people have been living among humans for a long time. We are refuguees from another planet. There was a great war, a colony of us managed to escape and earth is where we landed.

Of course meeting you, falling in love with you, that was never planned. I mean I guess these things never are planned but one of our rules was to never reveal ourselves to humans. But I needed, wanted you to know the truth. I couldn’t keep this relationship going with such a big secret.”

To say the least this is a lot for me to process. There is a lot for me to unpack and I have no idea how to feel about it. Any of it.

“What would happen if they found out you told me?”

Out of the thousands of questions swirling in my mind this is what popped out of my mouth.

“I would be executed. As far as I know it has never happened before but I don’t know how they would handle you. Not to interefer with or harm a human is another one of our rules. They might figure if you went around telling people no one would believe you. I don’t know. “

I was silent for a moment. He risked his life to tell me the truth but also concelead his whole idenity from me and left me to an unknown fate. Am I glad to know the truth? Or do I wish he said nothing?

“I need some time.” I said at last. “There is a lot I have to consider. So many questions I don’t know where to begin. I need some space to make sense of it all.”

He nods in understanding. “It is to be expected. Take the time you need.”