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Chapter 5 – Cracks in the Armor
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-03-10 22:33:03
Bab terkait
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 6 – The Walls Begin to Crack
The days in the village followed a slow, predictable rhythm—sunrise bringing the scent of damp earth and the quiet hum of life, dusk settling in with the whisper of cool winds and the glow of the fire. It was a rhythm Adrian had never known, a life so different from the one he had left behind.And yet, with each passing day, something inside him shifted. The isolation he had once embraced like armor was beginning to feel… different. Not suffocating, not unbearable—just different.And it all started with her.Adrian woke up to the scent of something warm drifting through the air. For a moment, he forgot where he was. The wooden walls, the soft flickering of candlelight—it was a stark contrast to the cold, sterile world he had abandoned.He pushed himself up, feeling the familiar ache in his limbs. His body was still recovering, but it was stronger now, steadier.Through the open doorway, he spotted her near the fireplace, stirring a pot of something that sent a rich aroma through the s
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-15Love's Healing Touch Chapter 7 – A Step Closer
The village was still quiet in the early morning, the air crisp with the lingering chill of the night. Birds chirped softly in the distance, their songs blending with the rustling leaves as a soft breeze swept through the land.Adrian sat outside the small wooden cabin, his back against the rough surface of the porch railing, watching the sky shift from deep purple to soft orange. He had spent so long avoiding people, locking himself away from the world, but now, something was changing. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or if it terrified him more than anything else.Inside, he could hear her moving around, the clinking of dishes, the faint sound of humming. There was a warmth in the air, not just from the rising sun but from the scent of freshly baked bread, something sweet that made his stomach tighten with unexpected hunger.He had never cared for small things like these before. But now… he noticed.The door creaked open, and she stepped outside, carrying a small plate in her hands.“H
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-15Love's Healing Touch Chapter 8 – Breaking Down the Walls
The rain had continued throughout the night, turning the village paths into muddy trails. The rhythmic drumming on the rooftop was oddly soothing, but Adrian barely slept. His mind kept circling back to the girl who had somehow become a constant in his life.She didn’t push him to talk. She didn’t flinch away from him. She didn’t look at him like a monster.And that was dangerous.He wasn’t sure if he was ready to let someone in again.But it was already happening, whether he wanted it to or not.The morning air was thick with the scent of damp earth when Adrian stepped outside. The sky was still gray from the lingering rain, but the storm had passed. The world felt eerily quiet, the only sounds coming from the rustling trees and the occasional chirping of birds.He wasn’t sure why, but he felt restless. Maybe it was the way she had looked at him yesterday, standing in the rain beside him.She had offered her presence without forcing anything onto him. She had simply stood there, as i
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-15Love's Healing Touch Chapter 9 – The Fragile Thread of Trust
The past few days had shifted something between them. It was subtle, unspoken, but undeniably there.Adrian still found himself wary, still found himself questioning whether he could truly allow someone to get close again. But the girl—she was patient. She didn’t demand anything from him, didn’t push beyond what he was willing to give.And maybe that was why, slowly, bit by bit, his walls were beginning to crack.The sky had darkened since the morning, heavy gray clouds rolling over the village, promising another storm. The wind carried a biting chill, rustling the trees and shaking the fragile wooden fences that lined the small houses.Adrian stood outside the cabin, staring up at the sky. The scent of rain was thick in the air, and he could feel the first few droplets landing on his skin.“You should come inside before the storm gets worse,” her voice came from behind him.He turned slightly, watching as she pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. Her concern for him was evid
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-15Love's Healing Touch Chapter 10 – A Gentle Shift
The storm had passed, but its effects lingered. The sky was still a dull gray, and the wind carried the damp scent of rain-soaked earth. The small village was quiet, as if holding its breath, waiting for the sun to return.Inside the cabin, the warmth of the fire crackled softly, filling the space with a comforting glow. It had been a long night—one that had forced Adrian to acknowledge something he had been avoiding.He wasn’t just surviving anymore.He was beginning to live.Adrian woke to the soft hum of the world outside—birds chirping, the wind gently rustling through the trees. It was a stark contrast to the violent storm from the night before.For a moment, he simply lay there, staring at the wooden ceiling, listening. It was unfamiliar, this feeling of peace.Then, the scent of something warm and inviting pulled him from his thoughts.His gaze shifted toward the small kitchen, where she was moving quietly, stirring a pot on the stove. The soft morning light framed her, making
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-15Love's Healing Touch Chapter 11 – A Step Closer
The days were beginning to blur together. What once felt like a temporary escape was starting to feel… permanent. Adrian had stopped counting how long he had been in the village. He wasn’t sure if that should concern him, but for now, he let himself exist in this strange, quiet world where—for the first time in years—he wasn’t despised. The girl—his only anchor to this place—had become a presence he no longer avoided. He still wasn’t sure why she cared so much. But each time she looked at him without fear, without disgust, a part of him wanted to believe that maybe—just maybe—he wasn’t as monstrous as the world had made him feel. Mornings had become predictable. He would wake up to the sound of her moving around the cabin, the scent of warm tea and bread filling the air. Some days, she would hum softly to herself—a melody that was both soothing and distant, as if it belonged to a memory she rarely shared. Adrian had begun helping her with small tasks—chopping wood, fixing things
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-16Love's Healing Touch Chapter 12 – A Fragile Thread of Hope
Adrian had spent years building walls around himself—thick, impenetrable barriers that kept people out. They had protected him when the world turned against him, when his own family had abandoned him. But lately, those walls were beginning to crack. And it was because of her. He didn’t know when it had started—when he had begun watching her more closely, when the sound of her voice had become something familiar, something comforting. Maybe it was when she had refused to treat him like a monster. Maybe it was when she had laughed with him by the stream. Or maybe it had happened the moment she saw his scars and hadn’t looked away. Either way, the walls were weakening. And that terrified him. The morning was cold, the kind that seeped into the bones and refused to leave. Adrian sat by the fire, his hands wrapped around a cup of warm tea, staring at the steam curling into the air. The cabin smelled of burning wood and something sweet—perhaps the remnants of the herbal tea she h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-16Love's Healing Touch Chapter 13 – The Walls Begin to Crumble
Adrian had spent years building walls around himself, convinced that solitude was the only way to survive. But the longer he stayed in this village—the longer she stood by his side—the more those walls began to crack. He wasn’t sure if that terrified him or if, deep down, he wanted them to fall. The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of damp earth and pine. Adrian woke to the distant sounds of birds chirping, their songs unfamiliar yet strangely comforting. The soft golden light of dawn seeped through the small window of the cabin, casting long shadows on the wooden walls. For a moment, he stayed still, listening. He had spent months in this cabin, surrounded by nothing but silence. There had been no voices, no warmth, no presence other than his own. But now, that had changed. A gentle hum drifted through the air, followed by the rustling of leaves. It was her. Adrian pulled himself out of bed, running a hand through his unruly hair before stepping outside. There she w
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-17
Bab terbaru
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 56 – A Place Called Home
The morning wind carried the first promise of fall, sharp and heavy with loam and the last summer bloom. Elara lingered by the garden entrance, shawl knotted close about her shoulders. The seasons were changing—and with them, something in herself.The creak of the cottage door stood behind her. Adrian emerged, arching back in a stretch, a sleepy grin on his face."Did you sleep?" she asked, watching as he ran a hand through his tousled hair."Bound well enough," he replied, coming to stand at her side. "You were warm. I slept beside you."She smiled quietly. "You always do."They stood shoulder to shoulder, watching a fox couple stroll along the treeline's edge in the distance, tails glinting like rubies of flame in the fog. Elara had named them weeks ago—Ash and Ember. Wild, cautious creatures. Not so unlike Adrian once was.He looked where she did. "You think they'll ever let you get close to them?""Not anytime soon," she said. "But I don't mind waiting."Adrian gazed down at her.
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 55 – Where the Past Softens
Breeze blew through treetop foliage as Elara stood at the corner of the newly cleared pathway, holding onto the handle of a shovel sheathed in wood. Sunbeams filtered through the tops of leafy branches above, sunny on her back. Adrian approached her with spools of stakes and twine."Care to dig another one today?" he asked, a glint in his eye.She turned to him with a soft smile. "We’re getting close to where the trail splits toward the river."They labored in comfortable quiet, the only noises those of birds, the soft chop of tools into the earth, and their even breathing. Repairing the old trail had become more than a project—it was therapy. It gave them time to speak, or not. To remember, or simply be.They sat for a little while, leaning on a felled log beside the boughs of an ancient oak. Adrian mopped at his brow with his arm, looking at Elara with subdued wonder."You never get tired," he told her."I get tired," she said, holding out a water canteen to him. "I just happen to k
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 54 – Between Two Worlds
The countryside was aglow with dew from an early dawn morning as Elara pushed the cottage window open, letting the fresh scent of lavender and wet earth into the air. The birds sang in the branches, a gentle chorus of life starting its rhythm. The village itself slept on, oblivious to the quiet miracle occurring over the past weeks: Adrian Lancaster's return — in body, certainly, but in heart, as well.Adrian stood barefoot beside the fence, gently petting the nose of one of Elara's goats who bleated at him lovingly. He chuckled, speaking quietly to the animal as if it were a party to something. The picture softened Elara's heart.It was hard to think of how far they'd traveled. The tormented man she first saw standing by the edge of the woods now smiled. Laughter. Alive.And yet. The change hadn't stopped coming.Adrian was standing outside the cottage, his gaze meeting hers through the open window."Morning," he drawled, in that low, husky voice she'd grown to love.Elara leaned out
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 53 – Threads of Forgiveness
The sun shone across the estate gardens, and the rose bushes threw long, dew-wet shadows. Adrian leaned against the weathered veranda railing, hands around it, staring out to sea in contemplation. The memories of last night still thawed his chest — not hurt, but a silent, whispered kind of peace. He had faced his past for the first time in years and lived.Behind him, the door creaked open and closed softly. Elara padded across the stone floor in her slippers, a shawl draped over her shoulders.“You’ve been out here a while,” she murmured.“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted. “Too much in my head.”She stepped beside him. “Regrets?”He shook his head slowly. "Not regrets. Just... wondering how it might have been. If things had gone differently."Elara didn't respond immediately. She allowed her hand to fall into his, their fingers interlocking."Perhaps it was always going to be this way," she said. "So that you would understand who you're actually meant to be."Adrian stared at her. "And
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 52 – The Road Back Home
Dawn the following morning, and a gentle mist drifted between the trees, wrapping the cottage in sleeping tranquility. Adrian stood on the edge of the garden, fists at the pockets of his coat, looking east. Beyond those hills was his old world — his world that he had abandoned, his world that had cast him out.He sensed Elara before she spoke a word."You sure you want to do it today?" she inquired softly, striding over to stand next to him, wrapped in a scarf at her throat and holding a teapot.Adrian nodded slowly, his gaze still elsewhere. "Yes. I think I will. If I don't do it today, I'll never get a chance to break free."Elara didn't prod him. She just held out the tea and wrapped her arms around his shoulder. "Then we'll go, then. You don't have to do any of this by yourself."She'd said it before — in words, if not necessarily exactly in words, on days, however many — but every time she spoke the words, something new and whole itself together inside of him.By late morning the
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 51 — Threads of Tomorrow
The morning after Adrian's sweet overture of honeyed words, sunlight seeped into the cottage, depositing a golden, warm glow on the wood floorboards. The fire had burned for hours earlier, but its heat lingered – in the quilt that kept them close, in the contours of Adrian's body pressed against Elara, and most of all, in the air between two people who had at last, fully selected each other.Elara woke, eyelids slitting over light. For what felt like forever, she listened only — to Adrian's quiet breathing beside her, to bird calls distant out there, to the quiet stillness of home. Her hand tightened reflexively, reaching for the ring still proudly on her finger, tangible proof that the previous night wasn't a fantasy.She turned over, her eyes on him.His sleeping face no longer creased with the pain and self-loathing she'd witnessed daily in his eyes. His face still carried a shadow of loss, perhaps always would — scars took more than a day to heal — but love had tempered him. He wa
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 50 — A Promise Beneath the Stars
It came the next day, shrouded in pale mist. The fields far out beyond the cottage sparkled with silver mist, and the world was hushed, shut.Adrian had gotten up early, and couldn't sleep, a raw hurt of pain in his chest. Not scared, only — but a raw sensation that something huge had to be told, had to be told.He looked over at Elara, still wrapped in the quilt, her peaceful face sleeping. His heart ached with love. Regardless of how many mornings he had with her, he never got used to waking up with her. She was the best of every morning, the reminder that despite all the ugliness and hurt, he could be loved.He moved closer, drawing a kiss to her forehead then resting on the bed, slowly settling back onto it.Today there would be a difference.Today, he promised himself, he would show her something — something better than those smooth words of comfort or fumbling kisses. Something she would remember in years to come.Adrian settled into houses woods ahead of time, migrating until h
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 49 – Whispers of a New Dawn
The bridal-day romance that poured on afterward seeped into days like slow, iridescent fog.Adrian and Elara fell into such a smooth, easy pace, that they felt the universe had plotted to achieve this for them. The tiny cottage, that little nest of lonely silence for Elara before Adrian's arrival, resounded now with happy laughter, soft late-night conversation beside the firesides, and moments of deep wordless love.Adrian woke up every morning early, before the rest of the family. Then he'd discover that he was happy to just stay there, observing Elara sleeping next to him. Her chest moved with deep breaths, her hair a golden light over the pillow, her hand always naturally curled against where he was. He'd draw tiny patterns on her skin, memorizing every freckle, every curve, every scar that had shaped the woman who'd rescued him.Sometimes he questioned whether he had worked for any of it. If someone like him — a failure, sick, and alone — had indeed worked for such happiness. But
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 48 – A Promise Sealed by Stars
Their honeymoon evening, their very first ever was a most beloved dream suspended halfway between reality and fantasy.Arm in arm, Adrian and Elara returned through the meadows to Catherine's cottage, their footsteps unhindered and unencumbered. The sky was ablaze with stars in a lovely scattering of light, and the fading resounds of music and laughter from the village carnival still clung to them behind. But here, amidst this new stillness of the fields, there were but the two of them — wife and husband, bound together by vows spoken in hushed tones beneath the old oak.Adrian kept her a step or two away from the cottage, and with this arm around her waist, pulled her into his arms. In starlight, he looked at her face, too full to grunt out one word. With his thumb drawing along the line on the ridge of her cheek in gentle, light-feather motion, Elara gazed."Are you real?" he roughly demanded, as if he was afraid of waking to find this one of his bitter dreams.Elara smiled, the ski
