Mudblood- Tom riddle

"It was preposterous. Absolutely absurd to think that Tom Marvolo Riddle could even feel. He cared for her. You could see it in his eyes whenever anyone other than him called her a filthy mudblood. She was no one. She had nothing special, nothing that could interest a person like him. She was no extreme beauty, was no exceptional prodigy that he just had to have. She was not sorted into Slytherin or two houses at once. Only simple, little Ravenclaw. She was average, just like the rest of us. If any she was below us because of her horrible blood status. Which is why I can't seem to understand why he could love her