Fortunately he had the fortitude Sophia lacked to put them out of their misery. Tension dispersed between them like a puncture in an air balloon, with enough force to cause her to draw a small step back as he extinguished his cigarette. Preparing for his imminent departure.

Sophia kept her expression impassive despite his words, and in spite of the swell of emotion tightening her chest. She tucked her arms closer together as though it could keep these feelings from overflowing. Absently, she still rolled the cigarette holder between fingers, cigarette long extinguished. There was nothing she could possibly say in this circumstance, nothing that hadn’t already been said or could amount to much better. The moment echoed with the same finality with which she penned her final discarded letter back to him - whatever you wish to come of this, I leave to you. This answer was quite clear.

At that moment, the lights flickered on and off to signal the show would resume in the next few minutes. Sophia let out a short, strangled sounding laugh. “Such impeccable timing,” she remarked blithely. Beyond this moment, if she was sad at all, she would not let on. In fact, she looked nearly serene. There was no reason to be sad after all. They addressed this respectfully, and cleared the air between them. That was all she wanted, wasn’t it?

“You’re welcome. Take care, Mister Dempsey,” she tilted her head towards him in a graceful nod, and turned away to face outside the door and relight her cigarette. It would be nice to stay here alone awhile, she thought to herself. The gentleman wouldn’t fault her if she took a few extra minutes to return to her seat.

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