[ Her heart hurts, and he feels every bit of it. Mark pauses before reaching out to take her hands, even if it's only over her sleeves. ]

Hey. [ His voice is soft, trying to inject some levity back into this. ] I think I could take you.

[ It's a joke, and a stupid one at that (even if he thinks there's a kernel of truth in there — because the whole point is that he's dangerous).

A beat. ]

But you don't have anything to apologize about. I just... I didn't want to make it a big deal, you know? Maybe that wasn't fair of me... but I didn't want to chance anyone stopping me. [ Hella. ] When all it takes is one bite...

[ He trails off. Huffs a humourless laugh. The cards were stacked against them all along, weren't they, and there's just something so overwhelmingly sad about all of this. ]

You're right. It isn't fair.