Maria chuckled softly after hearing Ray's ambiguous request to her.
"What do you really mean?" she asked.
Ray scratched his head, busying himself with something unclear to reduce his current level of awkwardness.
Ray chuckled for a moment and replied, "Sorry, I just wanted to appear cool in a situation like this. Was it cringy?"
"No, actually it sounded poetic, and I think it's cool! Especially the atmosphere around us right now is very supportive," Maria responded.
Ray felt happy to hear that answer from Maria. However, he still doubted the truth of Maria's statement. But all the doubts about Maria actually arose from his own self-doubt. Realizing this made him feel useless because he had betrayed the promise he made to himself. He had promised himself that he would change and not doubt the actions and steps he wanted to take. But in reality, it was quite difficult for him to keep that promise perfectly.
