This is L.o.v.e. like it should be

XI. Company's psychologist (2nd visit)

"Let’s pick back up where we left Miss Ava, when your relationship started, were you both aware of each other's plans and goals for the future?"

"Kind of", Ava sighed once again.

"For how long were you two together?"

"Almost three years."

"During those three years, did you ever talk about long term plans together?"

"We did... One night, he tried to run away from me and I told him: I'm here, I'll wait for you. And I'm still here, waiting for him."

"What did he answer?"

"I don't remember much of that conversation, honestly. But I do remember, days later, having his arms wrapped around me, and he promised he would be always there."

"Miss Ava, in your day dream, why is that always your question, how can he think that you didn’t love him?"

"I don't know..." Ava sighed making clear it was hard for her to answer to it. "Last time we talked, he made me feel like I failed him. Like I didn't make him feel loved."

"You keep saying you failed him, what about him? Does he think you failed him?"

Ava hid her face, before answering. "Last time we talked, he was so angry at me." Ava bit her lip to keep the tears at bay. "He even said... I'm sorry, doctor. His words are hard for me to repeat."

"Take your time, Ava."

Ava took a deep breath, and looked up, she stared at the light fixtures in the ceiling, gathering the courage she needed. After a moment, she repeated Julien's words: "Thanks for wasting three years of my life."

"Do you think he meant it?"

"I don't know. He was different. In the first five, six months everything was so perfect. There wasn't a single thing I would change, I wanted more and more time together, I just couldn't get enough of him. But I didn't let it show, because I didn't want to scare him away, so I played hard to get, just to keep him around and interested in me. Damn, I was and still am so addicted to him, despite all the time I was away in these last months. I just can’t describe how much I love him."

Ava shut her eyes, just to see Julien's smile.

"I miss him badly...", she continued.

"You said he was different, in what way was he different?”

"After five or six months, I felt he was getting more distant... He stopped updating me about his daily life. Every time I asked about his day, he would just say nothing noteworthy happened, so he didn't really have anything to talk about. But it wasn't just that."

"When you pointed out he wasn’t talking to you anymore. How did he react to it?"

"The first couple of times I brought it up, he would get really angry and defensive about it. Claiming nothing had changed and I was smothering him. And then, all of a sudden, he started talking to me again. Like those fights had never happened, and we were back to where we were before. But that didn’t last, a couple of weeks later and he would get distant again."

"When he became a different person, why did you think he was different?"

"I don't know. Nothing made any sense; all I could think was that I did something wrong, that I didn’t show how much I loved him, that I hurt him."

“Miss Ava, do you mind if I call you Ava? I think you’ve shared enough with me so that we can do away with titles or honorifics.”

“Of course, doctor...”

"Please, call me Paul. So, Ava, did you ever stopped to think that you were the one being hurt?"

Ava's lips opened, but she wasn't able to give him an answer.

And again, the now familiar alarm chimed from across the room.