"You shouldn't blame yourself for something like that! It's not your fault! It's actually your mom and dad's fault!" Rae interrupted.
"What? How is it their fault?" Elissa was shocked because he stood up for her.
"I mean, it's their fault because they're the ones who wanted a kid. I mean, if they didn't then they would have just gotten an abortion, or just not have...well...done it to begin with," Rae explained. Elissa just looked at him for a little bit. "Do you not get how a baby is born?" Rae looked disgusted when he added, "Do I need to explain it to you or something?"
"No!" Elissa kind of screamed.
This time Rae looked at her for a little while. Then he laughed and added, "Good. I wasn't exactly sure if you knew or not, since you were looking at me like that, and weren't saying anything."
"Yeah, I guess I should have said something," Elissa agreed. "But I was still shocked."
"Shocked? Why would you be shocked?" Rae asked.
"I was shocked because no one's ever stuck up for me before, or defended me like you did," Elissa explained.
"Oh, that was nothing. I just couldn't believe that you would blame yourself for your mom's death. It really wasn't your fault, even if she died while giving birth to you," Rae comforted her.
Elissa sighed, "It's still partially my fault though because it was during my birth that my mom passed away."
Rae put his hands on her shoulders again, and yelled, "Listen to me, Elissa! It's not your fault! Your mom probably wasn't doing too well when she did give birth to you. I know she wouldn't want you to be beating yourself up like this if she were alive!" Rae was looking her strait in the eye, and shaking her lightly, trying to make her realize the truth.
Elissa didn't say anything for a while. She just looked between both of his eyes, and trying find something to say, but no words came to her. She moved her lips a little, but no words came out. It was almost like she couldnt speak. He stayed looking into her eyes, waiting for her to say something.
"Please, Elissa he started. "You cant blame yourself for things like that. It wasn't your fault. It's not like you could have stopped it, or prevented it from happening..." Rae explained, and loosened his grip on her, and quit shaking her.
She was stunned. She didn't want to say anything, and even if she did, she couldn't think of anything to say. She looked at him, and a few tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Raes eyes grew from stern to soft, as he said, "Elissa, I'm sorry...it's none of my business, and...I didn't mean to make you cry. Please don't start crying because of my stupid self."
"It's...not you..." Elissa choked out.
"What do you mean? I started yelling at you, and now you're crying about it! I shouldn't have even gotten into your business. I know you didn't want to talk to me about it," Rae explained.
"No..." Elissa started.
"What?" Rae was confused because she hadn't wanted to tell him about it, but he practically made her. At least that's what he thought. "I thought you didn't want to tell me about what's wrong."
"You're right. I didn't want to tell you about it," Elissa admitted.
"Then why'd you say, no?" Rae asked her.
"Because I'm glad I ended up telling you after all."
Rae looked at her for any signs that she might be lying, but detected none. "Really?" he asked her.
Elissa nodded her head, and said, "It's the truth. I didn't think that anyone would care so much. But now I know that you really do care, and it makes me realize that what I've been doing with my life, I shouldn't have done. I should have actually told people, and then maybe I would have gotten some help before it got this bad."
Rae smiled, and said, "I see I was wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you were really just someone who just wanted to block out everyone from your life."
"So you did just feel sorry for me!" Elissa got up, making Rae's hands slide off of her shoulders.
