"No," he says, more quickly this time. "That's not—I need you to listen."

He closes his hand around hers, keeping it in a firm grip—one that says he has no intention of letting go.

"I didn't realize how I felt until now," he says, though for the moment he still hesitates to voice what exactly he means—fearing that maybe he's misinterpreted her feelings somehow, since it's not like that would be terribly new. He looks at her beseechingly, wanting to confirm he's not being even more stupid than he thought.

"You... feel it too, don't you?" he asks softly, for fear his voice might betray him even more than everything else is. Because there's definitely a point to that.

Why is confessing even harder now??