[She hadn't expected that saying as much would distract Matthias so thoroughly--but she won't complain about the fact that it does. (In truth, she'd expected questions. What does that mean, have you kissed people you didn't want to kiss, things like that. Only now, when he seems blessedly unperturbed about the idea that she's never wanted to kiss people before, does she realize he doesn't see the things she sees in herself.) The fact that he smiles at her like somebody handed him a sack of gold coins makes it easy to accept, his assumption that this is a compliment and not a fact.
And it is, she realizes, a compliment. No one else has been worthwhile--only Matthias. While she doesn't quite smile back, in that moment, she does look at him with an affection that (by her standards) isn't hidden at all.]
He does. [Emboldened by that, and by the desire to get across all of Mhavos' finer qualities, she adds:] If you ever have questions, he can answer them.
no subject
[She hadn't expected that saying as much would distract Matthias so thoroughly--but she won't complain about the fact that it does. (In truth, she'd expected questions. What does that mean, have you kissed people you didn't want to kiss, things like that. Only now, when he seems blessedly unperturbed about the idea that she's never wanted to kiss people before, does she realize he doesn't see the things she sees in herself.) The fact that he smiles at her like somebody handed him a sack of gold coins makes it easy to accept, his assumption that this is a compliment and not a fact.
And it is, she realizes, a compliment. No one else has been worthwhile--only Matthias. While she doesn't quite smile back, in that moment, she does look at him with an affection that (by her standards) isn't hidden at all.]
He does. [Emboldened by that, and by the desire to get across all of Mhavos' finer qualities, she adds:] If you ever have questions, he can answer them.