"I have not been as open with those closest to me, it has proved challenging." There was a wall that had built up around him over these years alone and without the faces of his past, it wasn't hard to understand why he had turned back to this. "Their faces alone bring me grief."
His submissiveness to her was great enough that he took her words carefully, and into consideration. No one thus far had been able to convince him of taking a stronger action towards the nightmares and post-traumatic stress that he faced today. Even now, admitting himself to such a weakness was unacceptable, but he realized now in her words that perhaps it was time to take the action after struggling for months with the idea.
His face contorted, the sting in his eyes no longer able to keep locked up, and the stream of tears hit his cheek freely. Without even saying any more, his mother was able to pull out his deepest emotions as if she knew before asking. "They know, dear mother, but I trust in their happiness more than my pain."
She hadn't prepared him for it, and his struggle with two clashing worlds was a challenge for him to face like no other.