Chapter 128: But They Were

No. She wasn't okay. She was never okay and she may never be. She rubbed her chest, the pain intensifying with every passing second. The corners of her mouth attempted to lift into an assuring smile, but it didn't work. She couldn't do it. 

"Stella, tell me what exactly-"

"I hoped!" She broke down. "It was okay when everyone looked at me like that or when they thought the same thing about me, I didn't mind at all and in fact, I had gotten used to it. But Valeric…I don't, I don't know. I just somehow wished he didn't look at me the same and that he didn't think the same as they do. That weak thing that could never do anything for her, always having to hide behind somehow, waiting to be saved, to be helped, could never amount to anything and was just as useless as what she was, that was what their eyes always said." 

"I thought I'd gotten used to it until he said it to me. That I was weak." 

"What?"