"That’s not what we want to hear, Pannis," Catherine said, her spirit seemingly reviving, the despair and pain in her eyes gradually fading as she straightened her back, stepping closer to where Pannis stood with a solemn expression. "You should understand, we don’t need an apology. A pale, powerless ’sorry’ doesn’t solve anything. What we want to hear is sothing else."
"But I can’t say what you want to hear," Pannis laughed at himself mockingly, shaking his head. "Everything can no longer be changed. What’s the point of saying things that are destined not to happen? I’ve already broken a promise once, I don’t want to break another, so I’m sorry, I can’t fulfill your request."
"Can’t say it?" Catherine erged completely from her previous dejection, taking another step forward, scoffing. "You think so because you don’t even know what we want to hear."
"Huh?" Pannis subconsciously looked up in confusion, realizing that Catherine was now close by. He involuntarily stepped back, defensively, and asked in disbelief, "I don’t know?"
"Exactly, you don’t know," Catherine, seemingly encouraged by Pannis’s reaction, resud her confident smile, staring him down. "We all know what’s on your mind. You feel sorry for us, you feel you have let us down, you are guilty about the promise you made not long ago, you regret not having distanced yourself from us sooner, you’re even reevaluating why you entered our lives, why you planted that oak tree on the mansion’s lawn that represents you. Am I wrong? Ha, you think you should have never given us hope from the start, you think you’ve broken a promise, you believe we are blaming you, thinking what we want to hear is for you to promise once again, promise to abandon your responsibilities, to co back to us. Am I wrong? That’s why I said, you don’t know what we want to hear, because you really don’t know what we want now."
Watching Catherine suddenly take a stronger stance, Pannis felt his mind couldn’t keep up and stepped back again, stuttering, "No, isn’t it like that? If, if, without , you all wouldn’t have to suffer this... agony of separation, nor feel sorrow for it."
"Right, just like that. Of course, we wouldn’t need to suffer the agony of separation, because we’ve long been dead," Catherine retorted without hesitation, stepping boldly forward until she was face to face with Pannis, her teeth clenched. "Do you need to think it through for you? Shall I tell you what would beco of Vivian without you? Of Lina? Of myself? And that fool over there, she’s already been a ball once, so I don’t need to discuss her anymore."
"You can’t say it like that," Pannis, now with nowhere to retreat, could only respond with an awkward smile, scratching his head, "Fate is sothing no one can predict. Without , maybe you would’ve been better off."
"That’s exactly how it should be said because what I’m saying is the truth, not the ’maybe’ you ntion," Catherine rudely interrupted Pannis’s sophistry, extending her arm and slamming it against the corridor wall beside his face, her voice still fierce but eyes shimring with gentle light: "Do you think we bla you? Do you think we regret? Do you really believe your own existence should not be? What do you take us for, huh?"
"Okay, okay, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have thought that way," Pannis, who no longer cared about guilt or regret, found Catherine’s current deanor completely different from her usual rational and strong attitude. Such a dominant posture made Pannis want to question her sanity. However, the little wisdom that remained stopped him from asking such a foolish question, and he tried to press himself against the wall while grimacing, "Calm down, let’s have a peaceful conversation."
"Hmmph, I tell you, you’re completely mistaken," Catherine snapped without changing her stance, maintaining her imposing presence. "You have absolutely no understanding of us; you have no idea that, to us, you are like a gift from the Deity. We have thanked the Deity countless tis for bringing you into our lives. Do you think we just say that without aning it? No, we really feel that way, and not only because you’ve saved each of our lives or because you’ve shared your most valuable experiences with us, not even because you’ve shared your enviable social relationships with us. The main reason is that you’ve brought us countless days of happiness, your presence has made every adventure, one might even say every day of our lives, full of laughter and joy."
"Actually, I think, even without , you all could be just as happy," Pannis persisted stubbornly. "All I brought was endless trouble, like, without , there would be no need for you to get involved in one troubleso matter after another."
"Yet, we like these troubles; we like you," Catherine confessed unabashedly and powerfully, "We like how you are, your personality, your pranks, everything about you. Over the years, we have never regretted letting you into our lives, not even once. And yet, you’re telling us now that you regret it? Do you really regret bringing us those precious mories we cherish so deeply and never wish to forget? Is that right?"
"That, that," Pannis, who had never found himself in such a scenario, was at a loss and could only say awkwardly, "You know that’s not what I an, I just..."
"I don’t care what you an," Catherine moved even closer, her gaze fierce as she enunciated each word through clenched teeth, "What we want to hear from you right now is, ’I, have, no, regrets.’"
"I, I, I, of course, have no regrets for the happy mories I brought you all," Pannis stamred in his defense, "I just..."
"Enough, that’s enough," Catherine shouted, cutting off Pannis’s words as he looked at her in astonishnt, once again taking the initiative to kiss him on the lips.
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