"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Anatoly said hurriedly, a deep flush of his own starting from his neck and steadily rising up. Belatedly, he was putting two and two together and coming up with the realization that he had yet again been an oblivious fool. "I didn't mean... to make you uncomfortable. This is your place. I can go."

He stood slowly, his eyes downcast and his arms crossed to keep them from trembling. "I don't want - to lose what we have. Our friendship. So... I will go."

It was the right thing to do and yet he found he couldn't take that first step back.