"I know it's not who you are, but it's shaped it and it still does." she responded, quietly. "I don't hold any of your actions against you or blame you for anything that happened, but I don't want to watch you struggle with it.
Despite the entire situation, he was still trying to protect her. Protect the image he had of her and she didn't feel like she lived up to it. How could one person be everything he said she was?
At his declaration of love, she felt all the emotions she had been holding back well up in her chest almost painfully. "You're always there when I need you...I just...want you to be able to say the same." she responded, her voice shaking and a tear escaping it's confines, followed shortly by another. "I don't hate you. I can't."