“That he asked you to marry him. You refused, and then it was over.”

“Is that what…?” She scoffs. “Of course.”

“He doesn’t blame you, Minami.” The last thing I want is to create trouble between her and Conor. But maybe it’s too late. There are several parallel lines on her usually smooth brow.

“Cool. I mean, it’s true. But does he say why I rejected him? Did he explain that he was absolutely unknowable? That I had to pry every word out of him? That he was so damn secretive and shady about his upbringing, for a long time I suspected he’d spent time in juvie for setting an orphanage on fire, or some equally abominable thing? Did he tell you that my biggest issue in our relationship was the total lack of communication about his wishes and needs? Please, tell me he at least bothered to give context when he said that we broke up because I rejected his proposal.”

I blink at Minami, before calmly replying, “He didn’t say any of that.” She rolls her eyes, but her demeanor changes when I add, “But he did mention that he thought it was his fault. That he was broken to begin with.”

Her expression softens, head falling back to look at the sky, chest heaving deeply, once. “I could really use a shot, right now.”

“I’m sure Axel has something in his room.”

She laughs. Breathes for a few moments, following the rhythm of the cicadas. “Really, I am sympathetic to Hark’s rich-white-boy trauma. His family, they messed him up good. Hark’s mom…for some reason I truly cannot fathom, this lady actually loved her cruel, cheating, abusive piece of shit of a husband. And Hark’s younger brothers—they should be preventatively locked up before they start a scammy memecoin or run someone over in a meth-fueled bender. And his father, of course, was a sadistic, manipulative shithead who treated his family like cattle. Hark’s lifelong mission statement is Don’t Be Like Dad, and he’s a control freak about that. But maybe because his mom was this fragile, ever-suffering woman, that’s how he sees his partners. Someone to nurture and take care of, but…”

“Someone to protect, as opposed to someone to share a life with?”

“Yes! For years, he was holding back on…pretty much every single level. If something happened in his life, I was the last to know. The only emotion he felt comfortable displaying was anger, and he just poured it into his work. And for a while I told myself that it was fine, but then I realized that all this love he professed to feel for me was just…convenient. He wanted to be with someone who wouldn’t rob him of his control, like his dad had robbed his mom. He wanted to live with someone he could live without.” She closes her eyes. “Still, I told myself, I can fix that. I can fix him. But I couldn’t. He had to fix himself. And when I told him that it wasn’t working for me, that I couldn’t continue that way…”