Her response arrested him. For a long second he hovered, hesitant, tongue pushed against the back of his teeth. He knew what he wanted to convey, but not how to phrase it to really get the message through to her.

"We don't have to go to these sorts of parties," he eventually said, after discarding two other versions. I wouldn't love you any less for not being interested and I wouldn't love you any more for trying. Best to steer clear of the concept of love, he had decided.

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