"You just have to hear it."
What the hell is he doing? What good will this do, if she will simply forget it all? He's a masochist – that's what it is. A fucking masochist that takes pleasure in driving a hole in his heart again and again and again. But it was too late now. No turning back – not now, not ever.
"I love you, Elena."
The words spill out and he could not have stopped them if he had tried. He searches her eyes for any sign of repulse, of disgust or resentment, but finds none. Instead there is confusion, and her eyes – oh, those beautiful doe eyes – look into his and he can feel her seeing right into his soul.
"And it is because I love you that I can't be selfish with you."
Because with her, the world spins and turns upside down and inside out in a roller coaster ride he cannot escape. She intoxicates him, renders him powerless in a way no woman – not even Katherine – ever has.
"Why you can't know this – I don't deserve you."
And there was no way in hell that he ever could. Her sweet laugh, her kind heart – he deserves none of it, because she was an angel and he was already damned to an eternity of misery.
"But my brother does."
Always has, always will. It will always be Stefan.Those all-too-familiar words tear at his chest, but he knows he is doing the right thing.
Her tear-streaked eyes dart to his mouth and he swore he saw her chin tilts itself up ever so slightly before his lips meet her flushed forehead. Did she think –? His chest tightens as he pulls away. Elena's eyes glisten with tears, and he's never seen anything so beautiful.
"God, I wish you didn't have to forget this…"
Because at that moment, he suddenly feels whole. He can't explain it, but he knows that at that moment, she knows, and suddenly it is like the world is right. In that instant, nothing matters more than her. Nothing ever will, which is why he must finish the job. He clenches his jaw.
"…but you do."
Two hearts shatter into a thousand pieces.