: What is one way to write about feeling someone's sadness? For example: I sensed as if he became sad from the way he spoke after telling him that I would go with her.

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I sensed as if he became sad from the way he spoke after telling him that I would go with her.

Try describing the "I sensed".

What is your character observing exactly? Let he be our eyes looking at this person's sudden sadness.

In this situation, I would focus on your main character (the one observing here) and how he makes his realization bit by bit, sign by sign. "His voice was now softer, his words seemed to come out of his mouth with effort, now, like he was fighting within against thoughts I did not predict. His eyes no longer looking straight at me, no longer telling me of his enthusiasm, but looking within for the blurred, lost self-confidence."
(Excuse my poor English, no native here).

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This is a question of show vs tell.

It's easy to say that he became sad, but if you write it like this it also easly sounds cold and distant. If that's what you intend - good, keep it that way.

You can create a more emotional approach if you show his reaction, like

I saw his eyes widening as I told him that I would go with her. He mumbled something that sounded slightly like 'okay'. But the way he avoided looking at me afterwards, fiddling around with the pencil he always carries in his pocket, gave me the sense that he might not be okay with it.

With the details of his reaction you can in a way control the emotional reaction of your reader because sadness shows different in each one of us. Some react angry, some apathetic, some immediately begin to cry and others don't show any immediate reaction but become quiet and withdrawn into themselfs if they have a moment without external stress.

Use this situation to build up the characters. How does the one being told react, how the one telling. It is a good opportunity to let the reader know something about both of them and their relationship.

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