Finally Simone had let herself see what had been lingering on the fringe of her consciousness. Honest with herself at last, she just couldn't bring herself to fulfill Michael's wishes any longer at the expense of her own.  She couldn't and wouldn't dash her own hopes, deny her own feelings and quell her own desires any longer.  No matter how deeply buried in her subconscious they had been — having worked themselves up to the surface demanding consideration, acknowledgment … daylight, she would claim them now.  The lyrics of a song wandered into her mind, '…contempt loves the silence, it thrives in the dark, the fine winding tendrils that strangle the heart.' Not poetry, which often invaded her thoughts, but fitting and true none the less.

The finality and reality of choosing the life she was supposed to want was bearing down on Simone.  All the implications.  What it really meant — the ultimate denial of herself.  So, this really wasn't a simple question. It was a verbal battering ram that was being pounded against Simone's carefully constructed walls. So cleverly engineered that they not only kept Michael and others out, but they kept her in. Somehow they even managed to block her own conscious thoughts and conceal from her the truth. Truth that even she herself could not handle, until now.  Sitting here amidst the rubble of her crumbled walls, she started to somehow feel grateful. 

As Michael looked up at Simone while closing his menu, having made his choice, he leaned forward gently touching her hand to snap her out of whatever daydream she was in, he asked "So, have you decided?"  At the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand, Simone brought her eyes back to him, pausing a second while multiple emotions raced through her mind but were undetectable on her face, inwardly amused at the irony of his chosen words, she smiled sweetly and said "yes, I have." 

Completely aware, that he was completely unaware of the fact that she was not really answering the question he had asked her, but rather making a statement,  she looked on him with a sort of detached fondness.  Sad at the thought of hurting him she determined to delay it at least for tonight and return the favor he had granted her earlier.  They would just have a nice evening out together.