"It's more important for you to say that isn't what you said. Does it matter? It's what I heard."

Because he's still not hearing them. All these words, all these things he keeps saying, and he still isn't hearing a thing they say.

They're not surprised. They're still not. How could they be? They know how things are, now, with him. He lets them down. He lets them down, has let them down, and will continue to let them down.

"You're still not listening, either. Maybe you're telling the truth now. I won't know if you are when it's over. You'll change your mind again. It's what you do."

Or maybe he'll find a loophole there, too. Something else he said that he didn't say. Just set them up to walk away believing it.

He's good at that, isn't he?

Guilt.

It's his superpower.