Adrian's breath caught as Alexander's thumb brushed his jaw—too soft, too intimate, too dangerous.
"Stop," Adrian whispered, though the word had no strength behind it. "Don't… don't say things you don't mean just because you feel guilty."
Alexander leaned in anyway, the heat of his body invading Adrian's fragile space. "I mean every word," he murmured, blue eyes burning with a wrecked, desperate sincerity Adrian had never seen before. "You think I'm heartless enough to be untouched by losing you? Adrian –"
"Stop," Adrian flinched as if the confession itself was a wound.
"Please," he whispered, voice shaking, "just leave me alone."
"I want nothing to do with you," Adrian added tiredly.
Truly, he no longer wanted to be with Alexander. He had realised that unrequited love can be dangerous. But instead of him to lose himself while seeking love, he'd rather lose the love and find himself.
