There was a pause. He just looked over at her as if he had misunderstood what she had just said. It wasn't the first time she had told him. Of course, the first time has been the least pleasant. He had ignored it back then only to lose an eye to her sort of display of affection. At first he remained silent again, trying to decide if he should ignore her or respond to her. And there was always that brief flickering moment where he really wondered to himself if he felt the same way about her. It just wasn't something he was going to allow himself to admit still.
"Don't." Don't love him. It was the best for both of them. She didn't have a reason to and it didn't make any sense to him. Just a few minutes before he had her sobbing in the corner. The whole basis of where her feeling began was hardly something anyone else would have fallen in love over. Yet he did feel himself regretting his command quickly after he said it.
Michel took another bite of his stew, trying his best to keep ignoring it and move on before anything else was said or done. In the back of his head, he was wondering if she could find a way to take out his other eye with the spoon she was given. It wasn't impossible. He could've certainly done it if he wanted to and she was just as capable. However, he eventually came to the split decision that it was a risk he was willing to take. Swallowing and setting down his utensil, he leaned over and left a kiss on her cheek, just missing her lips.
"You're an idiot and your stew is terrible." Lies. But the mixed signals hopefully wouldn't give her the wrong idea. Whatever that was going on in his head.