“Then learn,” she urged, her voice cracking with the weight of her own vulnerability. “Learn with me. Or tell me you can’t. Because I’m at a crossroads, Louis. I can’t keep pouring my heart into a chasm that you’re unwilling to bridge. I can’t keep fighting a battle for a future you’re too afraid to grasp.”

The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the soft whir of the projectors. Cheryl watched him, her heart pounding, every fiber of her being aching for him to break through, to give her a sign, a promise. 

She saw the war raging within him – the terror of repeating his past, the yearning for a future with her.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, his gaze fixed on her, raw and exposed. “I… I want to,” he finally managed, his voice barely a whisper. 

“More than anything. I want to fight for this. For us.” He took another hesitant step, then another, until he was standing before her, close enough for her to feel the warmth radiating from him, the subtle scent of his unique cologne mingling with her perfume. 

“I just… I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

“Then let me be strong for you,” Cheryl whispered, her own hand reaching out, mirroring his earlier hesitation. This time, she didn’t pull back. 

Her fingers brushed his arm, a spark of electricity arcing between them. “But you have to let me in, Louis. You have to let me help. You have to choose to try.”

His eyes, dark and expressive, searched hers, a silent plea for understanding, for patience. He didn’t give her the grand, sweeping declaration she might have once dreamed of. 

He didn’t promise an immediate end to his fears. But he didn’t retreat. 

He stood there, trembling slightly, his gaze locked with hers, and in that moment, Cheryl saw not just his fear, but the immense, fragile hope beneath it.

She knew this wasn’t an answer, not yet. But it was a beginning. 

A hesitant step onto a shared path, away from the lonely crossroads. The choice, she realized, was still hers to make, but for the first time in days, she felt a flicker of possibility, a fragile, cosmic bloom in the vast, uncertain void. 

She needed more, much more, but for now, this raw, unspoken plea from the man who saw the universe in light, was enough to hold her at the edge of her decision, waiting for him to truly show her the way.