In the following years since she left him, he'd had an overabundance of time to process everything that had been said. And, while he had a perfectly understandable excuse at the time, he's now rather ashamed of how nakedly cruel he had been. Sure, she'd ignored his wishes, but she'd done it out of love and a need to be there for him. It really hadn't been right to use her as a target to vent his pain and fear.

And then there was what happened to make her want to leave him and, well...he'd been a fool.

Eight blinks out of his thoughts and nods, looking a bit exasperated. "Completely and totally! I even have to sleep regularly now. It's such a waste of time!"

Without really thinking about it, he turns to face her and lifts her hand to his chest, where she can feel the thump of one, single heart. "This whole single-heart business is especially disconcerting. If I damage it, I don't have the other one to fall back on!"