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She stiffened. "Did you just call me Elle?"
"Yeah..."
"The last time you called me that, it was when..."
"My parents had died," he finished, "yeah. You were crying because I was sad, and I had to console you instead."
She let out a shaky breath. "I don't like that such a pretty nickname is associated with grief."
"That's one way to look at it." He sipped on his coffee.
"What's the other?" She drew circles on the rim of her mug, waiting for her coffee to cool down.
He inhaled a deep breath. "Care. I call you Elle when I want to show you how much I care about you and what you mean to me."
She sighed, then nodded against his shoulder. "It's only fair that I should have a similar nickname for you, no?"
He smiled softly. "To show what I mean to you?"
She nodded again.
"Go on."
She hummed. "How's Chris-py? Or Chris-cross?"
He rolled his eyes, though she couldn't see him. "No."
She paused. "I got a good one, wait. Brace yourself." She waited. "Ludi-Chris."
He bit the inside of his cheek to prevent a smile. "You're such a smart-ass."
She let out a breath of a laugh, then took a deep breath. "I wanna go home."
He gulped. "Just stay here."
"What will I do here?"
"Just stay, okay? Abby might come tomorrow. I'm here. I don't want you to be alone."
"And what will happen if I'm alone?" She straightened.
"I don't know..." He looked at her, unable to figure out why it bothered him. Maybe he didn't want her to be alone in a house filled with memories of her deceased parents. It just didn't feel right to him.
Giselle sighed. "Don't do this."
"Do what?"
"Don't treat me like this. I wanna go home. If you don't want me to be alone, just come along. Don't imprison me." Giselle put her cup on the table in front of her.
"You're not imprisoned," he protested, then sighed. He was too exhausted to argue. If she didn't understand that he was doing all of this out of love, then he didn't have the strength to explain it to her. "Okay fine. Do as you wish." He put his mug beside hers and got up to walk away.
"Wait." Giselle stood up as well. He turned toward her. "Why do you do this?" Her eyes filled up with tears.
"Do what?" His brows merged.
"You don't have to hurt me when you're hurting. Don't you realize that I'm already on the edge of a breakdown?"
He frowned. "Elle, I don't wanna hurt you. That's the last thing I'd ever do."
