Valentine's Day? Please, don't remind me.

Alright, if he was sure, then she wouldn't push it anymore. She would trust him, and believe what he said about being fine. Hopefully he wasn't lying, and if he was, then, well... there was nothing she could do about it. He probably had his reasons if he wasn't telling the truth. "Good, I'm glad, then," she said to him, offering another smile. She didn't bother to bring up how she had been doing, because it was obvious she hadn't been doing well. She had just been crying, after all, and still was.

She decided she could ask now about his mouth guard. "Why are you wearing that?" she asked him quietly, pointing slightly to his mouth guard with her index finger.

Cordelia watched as he scraped on the floor, and blinked after reading the whole sentence. 'Vow of silence'? What the heck? He had promised himself that he wouldn't talk? Well, that didn't make any sense, really. "A promise to never talk? Now, why would you do a thing like that?" the woman asked, quite curious. Her question could sound a little bit rude, but she honestly wasn't trying to be. She just wanted to know.

What the boy hadn't realized was that him not telling her would make her worry even more. She swallowed, bad situations that could have happened to him immediately entering her mind. The woman sighed and shook her head, convincing herself that none of the thoughts that had entered her head were his reasons for refusing to use his voice. "Kid? Come on, really, tell me. Maybe I can help. Besides, why would I tell anyone, and who would I tell? I'm trustworthy." She offered him a smile, doubting that would make him tell, but hoping it would.

The woman frowned. She was getting even more worried now. "Well... can you at least tell me why you won't tell?" she asked him softly. She would have laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, but seeing as how both of her palms were still kind of bloody, she didn't really think it would be a good idea. She waited for a response, wondering if he was ever going to talk. Not just to her, but to anyone... it had to be hard to be silent all the time...

Her eyes widened upon seeing this and more tears seemed to pour from her eyes, though she wasn't sobbing anymore. Something was his fault... not unlike herself. "What was your fault, kid?" she asked softly, looking back to him now instead of the words he had written. It was apparent that she cared, that she was concerned, and that she wanted to help him as best as she could — the problem now was if he would allow her to know, or if he would allow her to help. Cordelia still didn't think he would, but she could hope, couldn't she?