[ She wants to talk to him about a lot of things. If it's with Basilio, she feels like she maybe she can, like maybe it's okay for her to really talk. There are so many things she doesn't talk about. Mouth closed and secrets held close to the chest is how she's survived. Her life has always depended on it. The idea of disclosing any one of her secrets, of being so open is almost physically painful, but then, that's how it was intended to be, and to hell with that!

With him, she feels like she can say it even louder.

It's scary in a way, the feelings he inspires in her about things, about him. Oh, it's exciting and wild and she'd be lying if she said she didn't love it. That makes it scarier. That he might reject her, that she might lose him to certain truths is its own kind of terrifying, enough to make her swallow in that moment when it squeezes her heart.

Looking at Basilio, Nao wonders when he became so important to her. ]

Yeah.

[ She really hopes that's true. More than anything, she wants it to be true. Well, almost anything. More than anything, she wants to take his hand, wipe that worried expression off his face, and make him smile easy.

She can only imagine what he must be thinking right now. She shouldn't leave him guessing, make him wait. ]

Do you remember when we first talked on the phone around the beginning of December? When you tried to tell me I shouldn't get involved with you because of everything?