He huffs out a short laugh, one devoid of much humour. "Fair enough. I'm sorry if I went too quickly and freaked you out. Like I said before, if you're not comfortable with anything any time, just tell me, and we'll stop."

That's the best thing to do to avoid scaring Lorenz off, isn't it? Or at least, it's the best idea he has for now.

"It's just that... it hurt to think you cared more about gossip than anything else. You don't have a single thing to be ashamed of, Lorenz."