No!
Harley snapped back to her senses and abruptly took a step back.
"Harley?"
Inside the hospital room, Joker had thought he had already persuaded Harley and that she was starting to figure out how to open the door. But soon, everything outside went quiet again.
Joker could not help urging her, "Harley, baby? Hurry up and open the door! To hell with this damned door keeping our love apart!"
"Puddin’."
At that name, Joker's lips immediately curled upward. There was not a trace of amusement in his eyes, but his voice turned syrupy. "Yes, darling, I'm here. Have you run into a problem? That's all right. As long as you find a way, you can definitely..."
"Puddin’," Harley interrupted him, something that would have been absolutely impossible before. "You said you loved me."
"Yes, of course," Joker answered without hesitation. "I love you most of all, my little Harley. No one loves you except me."
In the past, those words would have moved Harley beyond measure. Then, with a single word from Joker, she would have walked through fire for him, sacrificing everything to accomplish her lover's goals.
But now, stripped of the rose-colored lens of infatuation, Harley could clearly hear the carelessness and impatience in Joker's tone, as well as the emotional manipulation hidden behind his "love."
"No one loves me except you..."
Harley murmured the words again and lowered her head.
"Yes, but that's all right. I love you, after all. Even if you have all sorts of flaws, even if you're oversensitive and boring, even if you're always clumsy and cause me trouble, even if you ruin everything instead of helping... that's all right. I love you. I can accept all your flaws."
"You can accept all my... flaws?"
"Of course, poor Harley. If not for