"I really don't know what "I love you" means. I think it means "Don't leave me here alone."
"You know that I love you." And despite herself, Coraline nodded. It was true. The other mother loved her. But she loved Coraline as a miser loves money, or a dragon loves its gold. In the other mother's button eyes, Coraline knew that she was a possession, nothing more. A tolerated pet, whose behavior was no longer amusing."
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Source: Coraline. Book by Neil Gaiman, January 24, 2002.
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