[ The words hit him like a punch to the gut, both in what's being said and the way they're said, a resignation to something that shouldn't happen all the time. His had reflexively curls a little tighter, from surprise and unhappiness, before loosening again.

He can't understand the exact pain this man must be going through, his own personal relationship experience sitting at a big fat zero, but he can sympathize with the loss of a loved one. The photograph in his coat pocket is a reminder too of all the people he's lost over the years. ]

That's a cruel joke to play on anyone. I'm sorry. [ Trite words for an awful situation, but they're all he has at the moment. ] It must have been unpleasant, for you to remember it so vividly.