We were following our hearts

Henry led the way to his apartment and locked them in. They unpacked their groceries and put the things that needed to be refrigerated into the fridge. Henry had a radio up against the fridge and he couldn’t resist to pull up a smile as Mariella turned it on so they could listen to some music while they got going with their food preparation. Henry pulled out the salmon and started cutting pieces for them and made small slices in it so it could get evenly cooked. He found a pan and started to heat it up with some oil on it before he started to season the salmon. “So, how have you been?” he wondered and glanced towards her. He knew what he had done wasn’t alright, but besides that, what had been going on in her life and how was life treating her?


//Apartment

So, how have you been?
Mariella took a step back and placed her hands on her hips a little. Where did she even begin? She allowed herself to open the fridge back up and take out the wine, and point to the cabinets for him to tell her where the glasses were. Then she would grab them and pour up some wine for the both of them. Mariella placed the bottle on the counter. "Well, if I start at the beginning, a few days after we last saw each other. I met my biological sister, and my aunt, and learned my parents had been killed in a fire not more than a few weeks earlier," she took a larger mouthful of the wine, and wanted to skip their little chaos meeting. "Then a good friend of mine had to go over seas because of his family, which sucks," she sighed a bit, she missed having Mono at the baker. Mariella took a deeper breath in. "Oh yeah, I didn't even got to tell you the youngest of my brothers came back to live, the angel one - fitting really, oh well -" she took a deeper breath in and ran the other hand over her hair, realizing how litle she usually spoke about these things. "And, then my niece was hunted down by some hunters by the end of last month, but she is okay - she was just out helping some orphan demon kids, and shit went down, I'm telling ya, not that I was out on the field. My brother's girlfriend's friend benched me for the fight, which kinda sucked, but very well," Mariella took another sip of the wine, and then another one. "Then, my sister called me saying that she had found my other sister, which had been lost over time, crazy I know," she rolled her eyes a little breathing out. Life was totally crazy, "but, it gets crazier," she lifted a finger pouring up some more wine for herself, walking over to a free counter away from the food making and jumped on it with her glass and crossed one leg over the other.

"Then, my newfound sister told me, that my aunt is actually my biological mother, which is insane - and I didn't really know what to believe, because my aunt who was now my mother, had gotten her memories mixed all up when she went through that portal back in the day from Wonderland. So, yeah," she took another mouthful before shaking her head a little, "then things got a little bit overwhelming, which is understanding, I mean - you know," she made a small hand movement, licking her lips a little before taking another sip. "Then we went go talk, which was all good. Oh, my mum got engaged as well, to the guy who is already basically like my father - you remember I told you about Reginald, right?" Mariella pressed her brows a bit together thinking then taking a sip more. "And right now we are prepping my niece's birthday, and my brother Archie's wedding which is going to be this month - so I'm very excited." She breathed out with a warm smile on her lips, it was a lot, and she wasn't even sure if she had gotten everything covered.

He noticed how she took out the wine and pulled a little smile pointing at one of the cabinets so she could get the right cabinet in the first try to fetch some glasses. She poured them some and he stared with taking a sip of the wine. She had met her biological sister and aunt and her parents had been killed. That was a quite rough start to give him and already now he wondered if one bottle was enough for them. One of her good friends had traveled to watch his family, which was fair enough, but could be tough if you didn’t have that many that actually understood you.
One of her brothers had come back to life, which he actually had noticed back when Mariella and Henry had their argument. He had noticed how every one of them was a different species.
Her niece had been hunted down by the end of last month. He widened his eyes a little and didn’t really understand how she was holding up. Demon kids and being benched for the fight. There seemed to be a good long story hiding in there about how and what happened that day… Or days. He took a greater sip of the wine before he chose to move the salmon a bit around on the pan just to make sure they didn’t stick. Her sister had found another sister and… He couldn’t follow the family tree anymore. He leaned with his side against the kitchen counter looking at her a little flabbergasted.

But it gets crazier.

It gave him chills and he followed her movements as she poured herself another glass. He had only just taken a sip or two of his glass. If she was going to start on her third glass, he might want to make her hold back for a moment and get some more water in her system.
Aunt was equal biological mother. Insane, just like she said. Memories had been mixed up and there was a portal involved. How the hell did Henry keep track of all the things he had on his plate right now?

And now things got a little bit overwhelming.

He raised his brows a little, surprised that it took all of these things for her to get a little overwhelmed. For a moment he hesitated whether he rememberd Reginald or not, but he nodded a little as he thought about it. “I think you’ve mentioned him, yeah,” he said and let her continue. It was a rather grand thing that her parents had gotten engaged and it sounded quite nice. Besides from that, there was a birthday party and a wedding just around the corner… You know, the things that people usually mentioned when people asked how one had been. He swallowed a lump in his throat before he cleared it a little. “So, eh… Do we need more wine?” he wondered and eyed her half empty glass teasingly. “Sorry,” he chuckled “I’m glad you’ve found some more family and that some of it seems to find each other in engagements and birthdays,” he said and pulled a little smile before he flipped his piece of salmon, “Do you want your salmon flipped?” he wondered.

So, eh… Do we need more wine?

Mariella split her lips, no words got out as she looked down at her half empty glass. She had really went down a spiral in her ramble not realizing she had just been sipping on more and more wine. "Sorry," she apologized the same second he said the same words, pressing her brows a little bit together as she starting shaking her head a little in a softer chuckle. "Yeah, well Archie and Nora deserves it after all they've been through, makes you believing in happy endings," she chuckled a little to herself and placed the glass down again, looking at it for a short moment before jumping down from the kitchen counter again. Everything seemed to get slowly together in the family, make it wasn't how the original puzzle was made, but she liked this version much better. The version where people actually were happy and together. Mariella blinked a little bit when he asked about the salmon, and she nodded. "Yes please," she replied and took a slightly deeper breath in, washing her hands before she went on to do the final touch on the apple pie so it was ready to get baked. Luckily, it wasn't hard to do.

"What about you? What kind of adventure have you been up to over the last month?" She wondered. She hadn't seen him around, maybe because she hadn't been looking for him in the crowd after the first week, then every thing that had happened - it was just like a memory that had been brought back to life when she had seen him today. Mariella had still yet to figure out if she was here because of how she felt, or because of how his feelings affected her.

As they apologized synchronized, he shortly glanced up at her. Thinking like clearly. Henry smiled a little wider as she talked about how her brother and sister-in-law deserved the happy ending, they were getting. “I bet it does,” he mused a little. No matter who you were, everyone deserved a happy ending, right? After all, Henry didn’t really know much about her siblings, except they stood by her side and were willing to protect her. As she agreed to get her salmon flipped, he did so. Even though he was looking at the pan and the salmon, it almost felt like he knew what she was doing. Washing her hands thoroughly before she would go and make the final touch on the pie so it could bake while they ate.

He licked his lips a little as she asked about what kind of adventure he had been up to. He looked towards her while the salmon cooked the last bit. “I’ve been trying to get comfortable,” he said and gestured to his apartment. “My sister seems to feel more at home now, so that’s what I did,” he said and nodded a bit before he looked back at his cooking, “Yeah, no. I haven’t been up to that much, if I’m going to be honest,” he elaborated. He had been shopping for his apartment and had tried to do something nice on Danica’s birthday, only to get rejected. There was too much death upon that day for it to be celebrated. It wasn’t really that it saddened him, he understood why she felt that way, but he had wished he could’ve brought her some happiness on her birthday and make her forget what she didn’t even see with her own eyes. Somehow, as Henry had broken things off with Mariella, it had seemed like things had gone crashing down for himself. It was like when Mariella wasn’t there, nothing kept the bad memories away. It was like Danica’s abortion reminded him of Primrose’s ‘abortion’ and that had made him stay inside his car for a longer period of time. He poked the salmon a bit with the pallet knife before he pushed himself gently away from the stove to look towards her. He knew very well how she would’ve already have picked up on the feelings around all of the abortions. “Please, tell me if you need a new necklace,” he exhaled, “I really don’t want to overwhelm you,” he mumbled and folded his hands around the handle of the pallet knife.

There something sad about him, but she couldn't quite figure out what had happened or if it was seemly because of how things had ended between them. No, Mariella didn't wish to give herself credit for having that sort of influence. She didn't want to be the thing holding him from falling apart. And with that thought came the mention of the necklace. It made her freeze for a second as she took a deeper breath in. "It won't be necessary," she replied a bit more dismissing than she intended. "You don't overwhelm me Henry, the only reason why I acted so much up that day - was because of the stupid necklace," she took a longer and sharper breath in. "I can deal with my powers on my own, I've had all my life - and some fancy tools aren't going to make it all better, it's just an illusion and gives a false sense of comfort," she turned around to face him and breathed out. "I know you are just trying to help, but don't," she pointed out and once again took a deeper breath in. The necklace had been a nice gesture, and she truly had loved it in the beginning. It had been odd and nice, strange and terrifying not knowing everyone's emotions that intensely. But it had also been earth shattering and out of control the second it had stopped working after having been repressed for even just weeks. A power like that shouldn't be repressed. "I know I might not seem like much, but I can handle it. Okay, just let me handle it." Another reason not worth mentioning in her eyes was the fact that he had thought it could get away with lying to her while he thought the necklace was working, so was the trust even to be saved in the end? Time would tell.

It won’t be necessary. He frowned a little by how she sounded so dismissing. She tried to explain that his necklace in the end had caused more trouble than good. It was bad. Alright then, he wasn’t going to give her such a necklace again. Trial and error, that was what it was, right? She tried to cut it out for him, even though there was no need for it. She had had her powers all her life and she didn’t need anything to help her with her powers. He got it. It was a false sense of comfort… See, those words made his cheeks and shoudlers feel heavy, as if they were being dragged down. It might just be that Henry liked false comfort. Primrose and Henry had after all stayed together for a while trying to get better together, but in the end, they realized that it had been false comfort. It only made it worse.
I can handle it. Just let me handle it. He let his tongue slide over his front teeth before he leaned against the nearest counter. “Alright, I won’t make a necklace like that for you,” he replied. He wasn’t really offened, but her words had only been digging deeper into the emotions he had tried to cover. “I have been staying a lot… Doing nothing,” he explained, looking straight at her. “I am not saying that you functioned as a lifewest, but when I didn’t see you and when my sister had her abortion,” he took a deeper breath in, “It… Uncomfortable memories just made me stay. Stay in my car. Stay in here when I got the keys. I haven’t done much. I’ve almost been mentally paralyzed for a couple of weeks,” He kept his eyes on her. “My eh- ex-wife had an… Abortion… almost five years ago,” he tried to explain. He had been processing it quite well, because some days him and Primrose had been talking about things, and he had even been seeing a psychologist. But if she really wanted to know what was going on and wanted to handle it herself, well, here was the first slice of the cake.

"Good. Good," she nodded a bit as he understood. Perhaps, she had not needed to explain it in such detail. But sometimes she believed it was easy to overhear her point unless she was through with it. It seemed like something she said got to him, making her straighten herself a little bit up and crossing her arms slightly, because she could sense he had something to stay. Mariella pressed her brows a little bit together, saying she wasn't a life-west, yet by how he described it sounded like she could have been. It sounded like he had been drowning in the dark sea of depression, endless nothingness where you had no clue what to do with yourself. She could feel the sting of emotion brush over her skin like needles piercing through the flesh, making her hold her breath. Mariella held onto herself a little bit tighter, still holding her breath. She had no idea he once had been married, now that she came to think about it - she had never questioned his age either. Not that had mattered or did, but she had forgotten all sense of how his life had been before meeting her, on the term on how much he could have experienced before her - making the perspective different to her.

Now, she had no experience in losing a child - the only experience she had was being around people who had lost members of their family - like when she had lost Archie. It was still the most brutal emotion she remembered. "I'm sorry that happened to you," she finally breathed out and licked her lips a little. Some traumas were to big to and to wrecking to hold a relationship together, no matter the love. She had seen that with Daisy and Nigel. "Yo -You guys aren't talking or?" Mariella then asked carefully, because she could feel how it affected him, not that she judged him for it. It was just about one of the last things she expected him to tell her.

Henry had processed everything before he had met Mariella, but when everything had gone down, he fell too. Through time Henry had lost both his parents and his sister had disappeared. And even though it was devasting, it wasn’t the same as losing a child you had been expecting with a partner you loved. Henry had been unlucky every time he had lost someone because he was always the one to find them, covered in blood, and if they were alive, they gasped for air and hung onto life. He pulled on a sad  smile as she said she was sorry that had happened to him. He wished to reply, but he also knew that if he did, he would say something stupid. He looked up at her as she asked if they were still in contact. He shook his head calmly. “No… We’re not talking,” he replied. Her happy spirit shortly appeared in his mind. “She’s a wonderful being and all, but it just… It was quite brutal and it just hurts too much,” he explained with a little exhale before he glanced over at the salmon. It was done in a moment. “Can you pick up some plates. Second drawer,” he requested since she stood in the way for him to do it himself.

They weren't in contact, she could imagine somethings were just so painful it mirrored in other's eyes, became a reminder of everything that had went wrong. It made it harder to hold onto something if you believed pain was the only incoming from the event. But to not talking, sometimes the silence was worse, because it made both parts unable to figure out if they should or shouldn't reach out to the other. But as he then talked about her, she could feel the little spark of how he felt towards that person. It was sad, sad that they no longer spoke that this had torn them apart. Quite brutal. The curiosity was digging in her skin, but as Nigel had told her so many times before; just because she knew how people felt, it didn't mean she had to broadcast them. And Henry didn't need a reminder of her being able to feel just what he felt right now. But his sadness had completely taken her breath away for the moment. Taking a deeper breath in and looked away from him to contain herself.  

He asked if she could take the plates, and she nodded to return to get them. She placed them on the counter, not really saying much, because she had no idea what do say. There was a lot of her own emotions on how she felt about what had been going on, then there was everything about how he felt about what had happened. How he felt now. How she felt now, and then about everything he just had told her. It was hard to sort all that emotion out, so she did it in silence - after all she had just asked of him to let her handle it herself.

She had asked to deal with the emotions by herself. No, to deal with her power herself and that she could take it. So, he had given her what she had been curious about – what he had been up to and why. He couldn’t simply let gaps of story stay open, so he had of course told as much as he could, without going into any details. He took the plates she had found for him and started to serve them both salmon and the greens they had been frying.

Just as he was about to tell her that lunch was served, and break the painful silence this conversation had brought them, his doorbell rang. He frowned and handed her one of the plates, “Just a moment,” he said. He was not expecting any guests at all. Who could it be? But as he got closer he could pick up the scent. Or was it just because the memory of her had been swirling in his mind that he could smell her? No matter what, he was slow with opening the door and as he only just opened it wide enough for his body to fit between the frame and the door. “Hi,” he spoke almost out of breath. He felt like someone had hit him in his guts and his mind was already spiraling about everything and nothing.

Just a moment, Mariella pressed her brows a bit together, but with being so focused on his emotions, it was almost like a chance of breathing as she sensed someone else. She however, stayed in the kitchen, taking the pie out as if didn't need much time baking and she liked to speed up the process - she did have a few tricks in her sleeve.

Primrose had argued with herself very long about this. But she had had some time away, gotten some perspective around what had happened those years ago. Not saying she was fully recovered from the experience, but she had at least recovered enough to be able to face the music again - returning to the real world that wasn't shopping around in Brisbane like life was a vacation. But she had needed it, the break from reality. So, from that to the last couple of weeks she had spent trying find her foot in this town, she had used a location spell to find out where Henry was. Leading her to stand here at his door step, taking a deeper breath in as she rang the door. The door open and time froze for a second, and Primrose found herself holding her breath, till he broke the silence. "Hey," she finally breathed out folding her lips and felt her heart skip a beat ahead. She was so consumed by seeing him again she didn't even notice the strange scent in the room. "Surprise."

She greeted him back. He waited for something else to happen. What was she doing here? What did she want? Surprise. Okay. He pulled a little smile for her, but it felt like he had just swallowed a giant stone of sadness; weighing him down. Something about how she had turned up made him want to send her away and tell her to come by another day. “You don’t say,” he chuckled a little. Even though Mariella hadn’t met Primrose and only just gotten to know about the story they had, he was certain that Mariella would be able to sense that Henry wasn’t happy to see the guest. “Can I do something for you?” he wondered. He had so many questions. He wished to know how she had found him, why she was showing up and as he already had said, what she wanted. He truly, deeply hoped this wouldn’t take too long, or bring up way too many emotions. Not because he specifically wanted to go easy on Mariella, but because he didn’t feel like dealing with those emotions right now. Why today, of all days. Why at this hour and not another?

It was far from her intention of being rude in her way of speaking, and she could sense he was far from delighted from her turning up at his door step. Primrose took a deeper breath in and folded her lips a little bit together. "I'm sorry, if this was a bad time - " she apologized and her whole demeanor changed a bit more insecure than before. "I - I just needed to talk to you," she confessed. Now Primrose had been clouded in trauma after they had found their sons dead body only a week after he had been cut from her body. It had been added to one of the most traumatic events of the hybrid's life, and she had isolated herself shortly after. She had been dismissing of Henry's emotions and needs in it, clouded of her own pain. But then imagine how she had reacted, when she had recovered some of the truths. That it all had been covered up.

The second Primrose had returned to their sons grave, and had been sitting there for a while it was like something hit her, and she had went on to research it. Not having told any in her family, because she did not want to think she was back at square one in the recovery of this. So, she had been looking for proof. Because she couldn't return to Henry with something half done, she would appear insane if she wasn't right. Because one thing was they had gotten closure, their son had been dead, you could move on from that - but to find out he was alive out somewhere not with his parents, that was perhaps the most dreadful feeling she had ever had, and it ached in her bones. "We were set up - he is alive," she breathed out, she felt her heart skip a beat ahead. "I wouldn't knock on your door if I wasn't sure," Primrose assured him. Primrose knew she could ask her father, she could ask her mother - she could ask every single member of her family to help her get him back, but there was no chance in helle she wouldn't include Henry in this. "We can get him back." She took a file out from her bag, with photos of the woman who had taken their son, well she remembered her face more clearly than anyone. It was photos of her, but as Primrose had placed her hand on the file and siphoned the magic that was on the file, all the pictures where the woman had been on over the last years, there was a child on the pictures next to the woman - their child, their son. "I just found these few days ago, she is in town."

Though Henry wasn’t delighted to see Primrose and he had tried to hide the dissatisfaction, she had noticed anyway. She looked insecure. What was going on and why had she shown up? He didn’t really say anything to how she guessed it might have been a bad time. He narrowed his eyes a little as she explained what she wanted – or needed. “Okay?” he breathed out wondering what it could be, frowning a little. He is alive. Henry closed his eyes and was about to turn away when she suddenly assured him, and he stopped himself from turning. He looked at her with hurt in his eyes. He didn’t want false hope. He feared so much that whatever she had figured out was fake. Slowly he turned towards her as she said they were able to get him back. Henry wanted his son, but at the same time, he wondered, what kind of trauma wouldn’t their son have experienced by now?
His gaze went from her face to the bag where she pulled out a file. He didn’t really know the woman on the photo, but she matched what Primrose had described to him. The description fitted the woman who had taken their son. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed the child on the pictures. Even though Primrose mentioned that the woman was in town he kept looking at the pictures for a moment. “How can you be sure that this is our son?” he mumbled and opened the door a little bit more so Mariella and Primrose could see each other. He looked up towards Mariella. “This is my ex-wife, Primrose,” he looked towards Primrose and nodded towards Mariella, “This is Mariella my…” He presses his lips into a thin line, “friend,” he finished. Even though he wanted to call her something else, he didn’t even know what it would be. He looked back down at the papers and photos, flipping through them a bit. “I don’t know, Prim…” he exhaled and glanced up towards her, “What would you do? If he is ours he’ll probably believes she’s his mom,” he shrugged and felt slightly defeated. What were they going to do about it five years too late?

It wasn't easy. It had never been easy, and she was used to it. To fail, she was used to fail over and over again, used to lose and lose, as if she was sitting in this evil circle. To lose two children under 25 years, both kidnapped, ripped from her within hours after they were born, of course she was frightened, scared and yet, she still held onto that little hope that she had found. Just the small little spark, because if she lost it, she would lose everything about herself she still held dear. Primrose understood his doubt, what ifs and how things could and would go. It  could even be dumb right dangerous, when not knowing your enemy. And most of all she knew, it was most likely her family roots there could be to blame for this. Because not only had their soon looked to be a trybrid, but she was from two very long and powerful bloodlines - even her powers were at value to many.

Finally, he looked into her eyes and she took a sharper more deeper breath in. But looked towards the files again a short second after, she worked with this sort of thing, she was used to put pieces of puzzles together. "Call it a mother's intuition - hope, or the fact that he looks just like you," she breathed out. Primrose knew it could sound delusional, like she was just trying to put things together - and maybe in some aspects she did. "Why else hide something with magic like this, why go through all this trouble, if not to make sure we couldn't find the clues." Mariella stepped closer, mostly feeling like she was stalking them in their private emotions, which was a normality for her - but it didn't always feel fair to the other people in the room when she didn't know them. But as she came closer and Henry presented them to each other, she smiled at Primrose holding out her hand, and the hybrid took it giving it a short shake.

Mariella felt like she had seen Primrose before, but she couldn't just pin point where, so she didn't ask. To be honest, Mariella saw many faces on a work day. It seemed like rather private manners, and she wasn't sure if she could even be here for this conversation, it didn't feel right, it didn't make her feel comfortable to force Primrose to talk about such important matter with her here. Also, it reminded her so much of Nigel and Daisy, that it did hit her hard in the gut. "Would you rather he just stayed with her the rest of his life?" Primrose raised her brows a little bit, surprised, maybe jumping to conclusions from his words too fast. Mariella folded her lips together taking a deeper breath in, the intense emotions in the room bound to break. "I was thinking about figuring out all the information before doing anything, I'm afraid if she sees me or you - that she will flee by the sign of trouble, and then it's back to square one. But if you don't want to be a part of this, more of this - now you have a time to back out okay?" Primrose took a deeper breath in, maybe a little blunt, mostly caused by the lack fo sleep she had.

Mothers’ intuition. It sounded foolish and full of false hope. He looks just like you. His jaw tensed a bit noticing small things that could be tied to his genetics. Henry thought it was another foolish false hope. But even though he knew it was foolish, the hope pulled him quite intensely. He wanted to know. He wanted his son to be alive and be there. He wished to be there for his son. It tightened around his heart as she tried to defend the clues. “I-I don’t know,” he stuttered a little feeling a slight pressure from how it felt like Primrose really wanted to figure everything out immediately. It was like he was supposed to have the answer for everything and he hadn’t even had time to process the fact that she had been standing in his door.

Henry looked shocked up at Primrose as she suggested that the boy who could possibly be their son stayed with the woman who had raised him. “What?” he exclaimed almost out of breath. “No, I mean…” He shook his head, “If it is our son, we have to figure out if he is in better hands with us or her. We can’t just take him away from the woman who raised him just like that,” he make sense of the words he had spoken just moments ago. “He would just believe that we kidnapped him.”
She’ll flee by the sign of trouble. It was like his throat tightened. It felt dry. “I don’t… I-” he was flabbergasted on how she just put him on the edge that he was either going to be in on the search or not. “F-fine,” he agreed, “We can try. But,” he looked over at Mariella before he looked back at Primrose. He wanted to tell Primrose that they should wait just a couple of hours, but as his eyes landed on his ex-wife, he figured that he might not be able to even eat by now and everything might just be tense and awkward by now. “Do you want to do something today, or do you need a place for planning or?” he asked, still processing everything.

We have to figure out if he is in better hands with us or her, she took a sharper breath in. "You cannot be serious?" Primrose took a sharper breath in, "I couldn't care less if she has raised him. She bloody stole him," she could feel the volume of her voice starting to increase, clearly distressed by the thought of Henry thinking that their son would be in better hands by anyone else than them - and out of all of them, the woman who had cut their child out of her while she watched, while she had instructed her how to. "He is a child. He needs his parents -"  She took a deeper breath in closing her eyes for a moment to collect her stressed out thoughts. "He - Sorry," she whispered, knowing he was just in as much pain as her about the loss.

"I have an apartment a few blocks down. I - uhm, I was thinking that whenever it suited you, we could make a plan," she licked her lips a little. Everyone who knew Primrose knew she was to restless to not do something, know she had most likely her entire space filled up with files and clues. Mariella took a deeper breath in and licked her lips looking towards Henry. "Maybe you guys should just talk this out. I can't be here right now," she confessed with a lower voice. One thing was the intense emotions, the second thing was it wasn't her case. And she wasn't involved with Henry anymore, so it was best in her eyes if she just took off. "I will just call Archie." She turned towards Primrose. "I hope you figure everything out." She gave Primrose a smaller smile before she moved towards the door. Because even if they hadn't eaten yet, she wasn't hungry now and it was a lot to hold.

Primrose looked after Mariella leaving the apartment. "I'm truly sorry, I didn't mean to come and ruin anything."