It was both painful and gratifying to hear her protest. He'd been thinking a moment ago that he didn't know what he'd been trying to achieve in talking to her, but maybe it was just this. He'd told himself they ought to be able to talk as acquaintances, casually, but had he ever really expected that? Maybe this was the real best case scenario from this interaction: just hearing that he wasn't alone in the sentiment of wishing everything had been different. Drowning in nostalgia, the both of them — had he expected anything different from a wedding?

"Maybe," he said with a small, sad smile. "But it doesn't change anything, does it?"

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