Page 148 of Introvert

I nodded. "I know we haven't known each other long.And love is big word.But I've always thought you should tell people when you love them. I'm not sure when it happened. I don't expect anything from you, Felix. I just love you."

"I didn't expect that, princess."

"Like I said, I just thought you should know."

"I…don't know what to say."

"That's okay," I said and meant it.

"You beat me again," Felix murmured.

"What?"

He took my hand and stared intently into my eyes. "I want to say it. I do. I feel it, princess.At least, I think I do."

My eyes watered, seeing the pain in his, knowing the cause.

"I've never felt like this,been trying to tell you for a while.But the words won't come."

He laced his fingers with mine.

"I…" Felix grimaced and shook his head. "I feel the same, but I don't deserve you."

I knew he thought that because his dad made him doubt himself. But it wasn't true.

"Felix." I waited until he met my eyes then sent him a soft smile. "You don't have to say it."

"But—"

"I know you love me."

"You do?"

I nodded, realizing with a sudden clarity, that it was true.

He hadn't told me.

But he hadshownme in so many ways.

"I have aquestion," I said. "Did your dad ever hold your mom's hair back when she was sick?"

"I don't think so," he said."He always left when one of us was sick."

"When she was nervous, did he check on her to make sure she was okay?"

He shook his head.

"Would he punch a creep in a bar for touching her?"

Felix stayed silent. His eyes filled with understanding.

"Would he get on a plane and fly—even if it made him physically ill—just to see her again?"

"Princess…" he said.

"You showed me in so many ways," I said as a tear fell from my cheek, my feelingsbubbling over because he loved me. It was there in his eyes. It was in every move he'd made until this point. "I know, Felix. You don't have totell me."

Felix brushed the next tear away with his thumb, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

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