I learned to recognize the small subtleties in his voice, I used them to guide me, decide what mood he might be in and most importantly; Lies.
I knew he'd lock up when I mentioned it and here he is. His right leg bounced up and down, dried leaves under his boot crunched and the wind blew the rest away.
All his scars became visible just then and there, from the small cut on the lower right corner of his lip, to the barely visible scar under his left eye.
I thought I would have known every inch of his skin by now, draw him with my eyes closed, every dip, contour, ripple, vein...
He commanded my attention as he locked gazes with me. I fought back the urge to move onto his lap and cradle his beautiful face between my breast.
With every fiber of my being I suppressed the tears as he drew his bottom lip into his mouth. I knew that apology was coming as soon as his cold hand brushes against mine.
My heart clenched and I shot out of my seat, " Oh my God."
" I love you-"
" What have I done?"
Why don't you get it? I can never be good for you! I am worthless" I said trying to hold in my tears. There was no way he was going to see me cry.
"They are beautiful to me. I don't see a single reason why you should hate them" he said moving his wheel chair closer to where I stood.
"This" he said bringing my hand where I had some faint scars and kissing them. "Would always be a story to me of how you survived."
He looked at me. There were no lies in them, just his pure truth.
"I love you Aren" he said. For the first time since anyone said that to me, I believed it.