"Because I love you, you idiot!" Daphne practically screams, throwing her hands into the air in frustration.
"Love?" Blaise echoes, brows knitting together in confusion. "You... What?"
All his life, he's heard his mum whisper that flimsy, nonsensical word to husband after husband. It had never meant anything, just a promise to throw away and forget. Now, faced with that word again, he doesn't know what to say. The word still holds no meaning, no warm connotations that are meant to be universal.
It's just a word. Just a silly, stupid game he's seen his mother play a hundred times.
"Sorry," Daphne says, slumping slightly in defeat. She pushes her hair from her face and draws away, and Blaise is sure he see a shimmer of tears in her eyes. "Just forget I said anything."
Easier said than done, Blaise thinks as she pushes past him, disappearing into the common room. Now his mind is racing with a constant echo of that word and a deep regret of if only.