He encountered a lot of indifference, and the only tenderness actually frightened him. He refused everything, but the tenderness in that man's eyes really made him unable to give up.
Just this once, just this once. He chose to indulge.
Many years later, he was bruised and bruised, remembering that night in 1993, the man's expression when he said he loved her.
He discovered that the person he loved had died on the night of 1993.