She looked at him and scoffed, shaking her head and looking away. She did not want this, she hated this. She did not want him to make her feel relieved for a little when and then come back later to crush her heart and hurt her again.
She did not want him to compliment her or hold her hand and tell her to stop crying, all she wanted was the truth because honestly she had a very strong feeling in her heart that frankly there was someone else. even though she did not want to believe it.
She did not want to believe that Mero would ever hurt her intentionally, but she just could not stop but feel like it was better to face the truth and move on.
"Do not say those things when you do not mean them Mero..." said Nora as she sniffed and removed her hands from his grip.
"No, no, I mean it Nora, I really do, what makes you think otherwise?" asked Mero in worry as Nora looked at him.
"You actions say otherwise... I know that you would never want to hurt me intentionally for that matter but... you indifference is making me afraid, it is driving me insane. I thought that I needed to give you some distance but it is hurting me... I never thought that I would turn to become a woman that someone would call needy but..." said Nora as she took a deep breath and paused.
"No, no you are not a needy woman Nora, far from it. I really care about you, I really do, and I want you to be happy." said Mero as he reached out of Nora's hands again and she allowed him.
"You have every right to feel this way and express your concerns to me." said Mero.
"Well it is not enough Mero, I am tired of feeling this way, feeling so left out and neglected. Believe me, I never thought that I would spew such words out of my mouth but here I am." said Nora.
"Your behaviour towards me as of late even caused me to ask the others about it, and they claim that it is just your nature, but I feel like it is not just your nature." said Nora as she shook her head and Mero sighed in guilt.
"Look I... I love you Mero... I know that it sounds brazen for me to say out loud, but I really do. I have no idea when or where I fell in love with you but I did and I was really looking forward to our future together... but what is going on between us right now makes me feel otherwise." said Nora as Mero felt his heart clenching.
He knew Nora and she was usually a very quiet person who rarely spoke her mind out, but here she was confirming the truth that he already knew and Wura was certain of.
He felt like the worst person in the world. Here he was with a woman who loved him and was bold enough to confess and yet he could not even bring himself to love her the same way. The way she deserved. He hated that he had to fall in love with someone he could never have while here she was longing for him.
"Nora... thank you for telling me how you feel. I really appreciate it..." said Mero as his voice suddenly trailed off.
"But?" asked Nora as she could sense a contradiction following.
"But I... there is something I have to tell you..." said Mero as Nora felt her heart beating in her chest. This was it, the moment she dreaded the most.
After everything that had been said between them, and the conversation he had earlier with Wura, Mero knew that there was no sure time to end things with Nora then now.
Do not get him wrong, it hurt him deeply to have to hurt her in this way... in this manner, but he had to be truthful to her and himself. She deserved to know the truth. The least that he owed her was honesty.
"There is... I... am in love with someone else." said Mero softly as Nora felt her heart drop as her worst fear had come to a reality.
She could not even breathe anymore. Her eyes went blank and the expression on her face emotionless. She just sat there looking at Mero with a blank expression on her face.
"I am sorry Nora, I really did not mean to hurt you this way, or anyway at all, but this is the truth... I love someone else." said Mero sadly as he who had been in countless battles found it hard to look into her eyes.
"Oh..." said Nora after a long moment of silence. Mero had started to get worried at her silence and he could not help but have a wave of relief wash on him when he finally heard her voice.
"I see... I guessed as much..." she replied her voice apathetically.
"Thank you for telling me Mero..." she said as Mero looked at her with panic written all over his face.
"Is that all you will say?" he asked in worry.
"What else do you want me to say?" she asked blankly.
"I do not know, shout at me, scream at me, hit me for hurting you, do anything that makes you feel better, but please do not just look like that, so calm." he said as Nora did not react at all.
"I am not someone violent. Besides, it is not in my place to punish you like that. It is not like I was your wife and you were unfaithful, we were only in a mere relationship, it was nothing as serious as me claiming you when you never belonged to me in the first place." Nora replied.
"Please Nora, I beg you, do not act this way." said Mero as he squeezed her hand, seeing her act so cold was definitely worrying him and the fact that she asked for no further information was allowing guilt to tear through him.
"Act what way?" she asked as she pulled her hands out of his grip.
"Do you not have questions that you want to ask?" asked Mero.
"None..." she replied.
"Are you sure? You deserve to know everything I promise to answer your questions no matter how difficult. It is better that I explain everything now rather than later so please ask... please..." said Mero as Nora looked at him coldly.
"When did this happen? When did you fall in love with someone else?" she asked as Mero could feel his heart beating in his chest, he felt like something was crushing his heart.
"It has been a while now... I just never realized until a few weeks ago." replied Mero as he felt obliged to tell her the absolute truth.
"So you mean when you went to Windharm with her majesty?" asked Nora as Mero nodded.
"So that time apart made you conclude that you did not love me." she said as Mero shook his head.
"It is not that I do not love you Nora, but my heart belongs to someone else." replied Mero as Nora scoffed.
"I care a lot about you Nora." said Mero causing Nora to frown.
"But not in the way that I desire." she replied.
"I just feel so stupid, all this time you were interested in someone else and I was too blind not to see it, how naive could I have been??!" asked Nora to herself with a cold chuckle.
"I am sorry Nora, I never meant to hurt you." said Mero.
"Oh please stop saying that Mero, stop, you say you did not mean to hurt me but you did, you did hurt me, this hurts me a lot, so stop saying that." she said loudly as Mero had never seen her this angry before.
"I know that I hurt you, I know that I betrayed you, could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?" asked Mero as he felt worse remembering that he was yet to reveal that the woman who had his heart was Wura.
"Oh please Mero, just stop... you have no right to ask for my forgiveness right now, there is even nothing to forgive in the first place." she said.
"Nora, please." said Mero as he begged.
"Just answer me this... the woman that has your heart... do I know her?" asked Nora seriously as Mero went seriously silent.
His eyes darted around before landing on Nora's face as he sighed, the least that he owed her was the truth and this was a fairly simple question.
"...Yes..." he replied with a sorry sigh as Nora felt her heart shattering.
"Thank you for your honesty. Goodbye Mero." she said before standing up and leaving as Mero called out to her but she ignored him.