"I'm really sorry." Sophie said with sincerity then paused, gathering herself.
"You've been nothing but good to me, Stan. From the very first moment you walked up to me in that courtyard. And I repaid that by making you jump through hoops and keeping you at arm's length."
Her eyes glistened slightly, though she blinked it away before it could become anything more.
"I'm sorry. Truly."
Stan looked at her for a long moment. The apology was unexpected, and, he realized with some surprise, genuinely moving. He'd been treating Sophie as a consumption target, a favorability counter, a line item in the system's ledger. And here she was, standing in front of him with real vulnerability in her eyes, apologizing for things he'd barely registered as slights.
Something in his chest stirred, something warm, something inconvenient, and he carefully pushed it back behind the glass wall where it belonged.
"You don't need to apologize," he said. "You were being careful. That's smart, not cruel."
