E.E. Ottoman

“He was silent for a moment, then said more quietly. 'But I know what you are talking about. I've felt like that before too. To be intimate with someone and feel not right afterward, too vulnerable and too seen.' He took a draw on his cigarette. 'I spend so much of my time not being seen. Explaining and quantifying myself.'

'Making myself small and unseen,' Madeline said. 'Unthreatening and unremarkable.'

'In everything,' Victor agreed. 'So, to not have to do that to be accepted without a fight, it can be almost painful. Getting what you want and not knowing what to do with it. I am good at being hurt and bad at being loved.”
― E.E. Ottoman, The Companion

“Then she left him to it and went to find a washroom to freshen up.”
― E.E. Ottoman, The Companion