[Direct was certainly Miles' style. His brows furrowed and he leaned back a bit. It made sense as to why he had acted in that way.]

I can understand why such a thing would be painful, especially if you had felt that you were in a similar situation before. And that the initial impulse would be to shield yourself from the pain.

We want to shield ourselves from getting hurt again. But in doing such, we prevent ourselves from experiencing things that are new and growing from it.

[He was speaking from experience. It was hard to open up to stem the urge to run. But the braver thing is always to face it.]

However, the important thing to take away is that we are different people and that even if the situation feels similar, it isn't the same. We can't control our situation but we can control how we respond to it.

Either way, I would like to maintain a friendship with you, if you are willing.