Hesitantly

“That is a bit reassuring, but I am still the first human, mice are not humans, so while it is a bit comforting, I’m not so sure about going ahead", she's holding herself well, but I can still untangle SOME sadness in that pitch.

“It's your choice, Chloe", I shrug.

Turning around to gaze into her pupils, I

“Chloe, you’re my best friend, words cannot express the anger and sadness I felt knowing how your parents mistreated you, how they abused you, how you could not afford to live a happy life and how you are still struggling, if anything were to happen to you because of the machine, I will destroy it, I absolutely do NOT want anything bad happening to you, I would rather destroy my work that I created by working all day for 1 and a half years than see you be harmed.”

solemnly stated my honest feelings, with the words coming out of my mouth before I could even finish thinking them..hmm, was this a gut reaction?

With worry in her eyes, she says, “No, I don’t want you to destroy the machine, can I just have a few minutes to think?”

Sure, I said. Maybe this is all too sudden for her? I haven’t tested it on any human, but whatever may be the outcome, I just want to see her be happy.

“Can you please just hold me? I haven’t seen you in so long, and I missed you, I don’t care if you haven’t bathed in over a year, if I were to come out of the machine a disfigured mess, one of the last things I wish to remember is your warmth, how you felt.”

With that, she came into my arms, and the smell of lilac once again surrounded me. Chloe is so precious and pretty, I wonder why her parents and so many other people rejected her, and continue to reject her. I hate how this world treats my best friend, I hate how she gets treated.

Patting her head, I then start running my hand through her hair, and savour the feel of it, like its smell, her hair also feels great, it is so smooth, and so easy to run my hands through, she takes good care of her hair, if her hair smell wasn't enough to tell.

No words are exchanged, yet I feel as if I am talking to her; we don’t need to speak in these few minutes.

Unbuckling herself from me, her eyes seem a bit different compared to before.

“OK, I’m ready”, she said, sounding determined.

[BTW, I deliberately did not write anything after 'I' in "Turning around to gaze into her pupils, I", because I want the reader to also feel how he felt at this moment, I want the reader to also have that feeling of saying the words before actually thinking them, and so I thought that having the dialogue be in between would be a good way of emulating that, please tell me in the comments what you think about it!]