Ethan nods when she says she knows, and he stares at his own hands for a moment. There were complications and distance and misunderstandings. There was his father-- Finding out about his father, he distanced himself and went back to his avoidance and his running in this intense way that no one could have been prepared for. He never knew that was waiting there for him to find out one day, and it destroyed so many of his relationships. Ethan was just relieved Elena was still there when he-- when he finally came back, that she was ready to take him back with open arms and to listen to why-- to what happened that made him hide to start with when they'd always been in each other's lives more and more.

Ethan looks over at her when she lifts her eyebrow like that, and then he looks down, releasing a breath before he nods. "Yeah, a bit. I was convinced you didn't feel the same, and maybe you didn't. I never.... brought it up," he says, shaking his head, and the regret is clear in his voice. Even if she hadn't felt the same, he wanted her to know, but just... never said. He takes a drink from his glass as he looks at her when she explains. The tiny smile on his face widening except when she mentioned the ball.

"Yes, that was... the moment that I realized I was in love with you," he says softly with a tiny laugh as he shakes his head a bit, because he is slowly realizing he just said that out loud for the very first time. But it seems like she may already know. "But we never had a Storm of any kind, and-- ...what comes after the and?"

There's a tiny smirk that widens on his face as she picks up her drink again.

He is thinking maybe they kissed for the first time. Not-- not realizing how explosive it would be in those settings, completely private, no interruptions, after all the building (three damn years).