The ridiculousness of her action catches him by surprise, and he cannot help but let out a short laugh at the way her cheeks are stuffed by the crammed pastry. The smile brought by the laugh lingers as he starts to respond, “Sadie, that’s not what I meant and you know it. Please don’t choke.” Benjiro reaches with his free hand to get her drink and offer it to her. Being stared down however, he falters and his smile disappears. It is so hard to deny her, especially when their relationship has been built on a foundation of honesty and trust.

Finding his resolve to not dump his personal conflict on her weakening, Benjiro reaches his hand up to rub at his face with fingers disturbing his hair to let the longer strands cast over his forehead and one eye. As his fingers trail off a cheek, he looks unusually weary under the faint shadow from his dark hair. His voice comes out much quieter when he finally broaches the matter reluctantly as he looks back towards Sadie without meeting her gaze, “...I don’t know how to tell you what happened without making you worry more. Especially now that I have had a chance to understand it better myself.”