Soh had been hesitant, the night before, when Mateo had suggested much the same thing, thinking that she'd be in trouble for having nearly killed someone. She had much the same hesitation now, despite Mateo's assurances that she wouldn't be. "Mateo said the same thing," she admitted with a sigh. "But when I tried to tell him, I - I panicked." She remembered the way her heart had raced in her chest, the way she'd felt like she couldn't breath, the way her mind had totally and completely shut out logical thought - and she shuddered, pulling herself closer to Tal again almost instinctively.
"But I can't - I can't just live in fear. And I don't want him to hurt anybody else." She swallowed a growing lump in her throat, gritting her teeth against the stirrings of panic held at bay only by Tal's arms around her. "I just - what about me? I fought back. I nearly killed someone." And that, honestly, was the crux of the issue. What had happened to her, she could recover from. Bruises would fade, scratches would heal. But what the man's actions had forced her to do - it was that that she found unforgivable.
"But I can't - I can't just live in fear. And I don't want him to hurt anybody else." She swallowed a growing lump in her throat, gritting her teeth against the stirrings of panic held at bay only by Tal's arms around her. "I just - what about me? I fought back. I nearly killed someone." And that, honestly, was the crux of the issue. What had happened to her, she could recover from. Bruises would fade, scratches would heal. But what the man's actions had forced her to do - it was that that she found unforgivable.
