Olixander felt like he was a child again and his mother was scolding him for something mischievous he’d done that he, obviously, knew better than to do if it attracted her attention and not the governess. He remembered the embarrassment that came with that feeling, the warmth around his collar and his inability to look her in the eye. "Que vergüenza!” She’d say. “Como un mono sin modales!” Shifting awkwardly and avoiding his angel’s eye, he felt that same shame wash over him from the inside out. He really could be a monkey without manners sometimes. Especially when he didn’t think before acting.

“Lo siento,” he mumbled, instinctually. That had always been the response that seemed to appease his mother, though in her case it was because she was proud he was using his native language instead of English. In the case of his angel, well, he didn’t even consider she might not understand him. Clearing his throat, and raising his head, he tried again. “I’m sorry, truly I am.”

Stepping towards the girl, Olixander reached out a hand but hovered before ever touching her. He wanted to extend an olive branch, but he wasn’t exactly sure how. He dropped his hand to his side. “You can slap me again if you’d like,” he offered. What was it his mother was always saying? Turn the other cheek.

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