He isn't the only person who would ever matter. Rey could. She does, except that she's tried so hard to make herself utterly inaccessible to him. She had made him feel seen, briefly. She had given him the strength to kill Snoke. And then she had abandoned him for not being good enough, just like everyone else in his life.

She can't even guess at how many times he's cursed himself for still caring about her, but he does, even now.

He hears that sob. More importantly, he feels it, that painful sadness reverberating in the space between them. He doesn't understand it, but the urge to comfort is reflexive. It wouldn't be for anyone else, but it is for her. He reaches a hand out to gently rest on her shoulder before he has a chance to think about it.