"Does it hurt?"
He looked at the fingerprints on her chin, feeling a bit sorry, and couldn't help but ask.
Iris Harris, held by him, suddenly laughed because of his question.
"Brandan, what are you doing?" She seemed a bit puzzled and amused, "I really need to sleep, can you stop bothering me?"
Brandan Hyde spoke directly, "I just... I didn't mean to hurt you... I just..."
"You just, hurting me has become second nature to you."
Brandan Hyde was stunned like he'd been electrocuted, frozen in place by Iris's words.
He wanted to say it wasn't true, he just... just...
Just what?
When she didn't want him to touch her, he used force; when she didn't want to exchange for Viola Harris, he coldly mocked and pressured her. What she said didn't seem wrong, mocking her, ridiculing her, hurting her had become instinctive in his blood.
Being nice to her seemed like an impossible task.
