"I'm not writing it off," he said, his voice still quiet. "I can't tell myself not to love you, no matter how impossible it all seems. But Gen, I- I can't ask you to give everything else up, either." Julius wondered, honestly, if she knew what that really meant. "My whole life, my family- we've worked for every inch of what we got. And when that wasn't enough, we had to depend on our luck or on the generosity of family. Gen- you deserve better than a life left up to chance."