We watched from afar as a couple was arguing. The man got super angry and threw something on the ground. Whatever it was it shattered upon impact. The woman backed away from the man until she was out of reach and ran off.

I looked down at Steph, "I would never treat you that way."

She met my eyes for a moment, chuckled and moved away, "Don't lie to yourself, you always treat me that way."

I gave her a puzzled look and stopped walking, "I'm sorry, but I don't recall ever being that angry that I would break something and cause you to run off."

"No. You didn't do exactly that, but you've scared me off with your anger in general. I was afraid you might hurt me and not mean to, so I ran off."

I was taken aback, "Wait, when did this happen?"

"A couple months ago was the last time and then again a couple of weeks before that. It hasn't happened recently which is good because when we first got together it used to happen almost daily," she looked away in the distance.

I gently placed my hand under her chin, afraid if I moved too suddenly she might flee. I turned her face towards mine and saw tears falling from her eyes. She was crying and she didn't even sound like it. Those silent tears I watched run down her face only added to the guilt I felt about my past.

"Darling, I'm so so sorry. I would never want to hurt you, even indirectly. I must know, though, who hurt you? Who put this fear in you that now you have the instinct to flee with just an inkling of anger from someone else?" My heart broke for her. I wanted to find the bastard that made her feel this way and put him in his place.

"No, don't worry about it. It's something I'm working on, but I can handle it," she moved away from me, beginning to walk the sidewalk again.

"Steph, I'm bothered by my behavior and I'm going to change, but your reaction is something that was learned. I want to know who forced you to learn it because they shouldn't be able to force someone else to learn that," I ran to cut her off and talk directly to her face.

"Vic. Please stop," she stopped walking away to look me right in the eye, "I don't need you worrying about this or about me. I can handle myself. I've done it all my life. I don't need you to try and save me because believe me, I've already saved myself."

She walked away and I didn't stop her. I watched her back as she kept walking into the distance. She never once turned around to see if I would follow her. That was the day she walked out of my life forever and I've been looking for her ever since.