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Chapter 7 – A Step Closer
Last Updated:
2025-03-15 15:11:22
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Love'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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Love's Healing Touch Chapter 14 – A Bond Strengthened
The days that followed were different. There was an unspoken shift between them, something delicate but undeniable. For the first time in a long time, Adrian wasn’t just existing—he was living. And it terrified him. The morning was peaceful, the kind of stillness that came before the world truly woke up. The air was crisp, and the faint scent of pine lingered as Adrian stepped outside. She was already awake. He found her by the garden again, kneeling in the dirt with her sleeves rolled up. A few strands of hair had fallen loose from her braid, framing her face as she carefully tended to the plants. He didn’t announce his presence, but she seemed to sense him anyway. “You should be resting,” she said without looking up. Adrian leaned against the wooden railing of the cabin’s porch, crossing his arms. “So should you.” She smiled softly, brushing the dirt off her hands before standing. “I like taking care of things.” Adrian wasn’t sure why, but the way she said it made his che
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Love's Healing Touch Chapter 15 – The Walls Begin to Crumble
The days continued to pass, but something between them had changed. The air was different—heavier, charged with something neither of them could name. Adrian wasn’t sure when it had started, but he felt it. And so did she. Even though he tried to fight it, the walls he had built so carefully were starting to crumble. It had been raining again. The sky was still gray, heavy with the promise of another storm. The ground was damp, and the scent of wet earth clung to the air as Adrian stepped outside, inhaling deeply. The fresh air felt good. He had spent too many days inside, confined to the small cabin, suffocated by his own weakness. But stepping out into the world didn’t make him feel better—it only reminded him of how much had changed. His body ached. Not from the virus, but from something deeper, something that refused to heal. Adrian had always been strong, always in control. Now, he could barely walk for more than a few minutes without feeling drained. It frustrated him. No
Last Updated : 2025-03-18
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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
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 47 – Whispers of Forever
The following days melted into a sun-drenched haze of joy. Elara and Adrian's engagement was the subject of conversation in the village, and it spread like wildfire. Catherine's doorstep every day hosted new faces of guests—neighbors with gifts of small tokens of goodwill, bouquets of fresh flowers, fruit baskets, handmade work of exquisitely embroidered napkins, and even expertly made cradles for the baby of the near future.Elara was engulfed by the best kind of strangling. She had been so isolated, with nothing to converse with but her beasts, in the quiet of the forest that she stood there mute at this flood of care. But she was conscious of Adrian's hand holding on to the rigidity of his unyielding form.Adrian steered the adoration in a subdued aplomb. Even crowds still shaming him, even the wounds to his heart still smarting painfully when strangers spoke his name too loudly, he never let Elara escape from him. Every handshake, every hug, every well wish was reminder: they were
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 46 – The Unspoken News
Golden morning light streamed through Catherine's windows and kissed wooden floors. Elara drummed her fingers on the rim of her teacup while seated at the table. Adrian stood a few paces away from her, a sign of his frustration.It was to be their day, that day they had selected, that day they would share — the tiny, cherished miracle that lived within Elara. To voice it, to share it with another human, was both terrifying and thrilling."Maybe she'll cry," Elara chuckled to cover the void, a quivering smile spreading across her face.Adrian growled and backed away from her, his hands to the fronts of her shoulders. "She cried when she saw me yesterday. Wouldn't surprise me."Elara turned her face to look up at him. "Are you ready?"Adrian halted. Not that he wasn't thrilled — he was. But this was going for a life he'd never been foolish enough to dream for himself. Family. Duty. Hope."I'm ready if you are," he said at last, his fingers pressing into her shoulders with a gentle force
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 45 – A New Beginning at the Village Square
The next morning, Adrian woke up at an early hour, sunlight pouring across the quilt bedcovering. Elara slept restlessly beside him, breathing untroubled, arm hanging loose on his chest. Empty-headed, he smiled, brushing aside a lock of hair from beside her forehead.It was the day he'd meet the rest of the village—those same villagers who'd left him when he'd most needed them. His chest was bound with nerves and resolve. He wasn't that same broken little boy who'd run from this place. And he wasn't going to approach them alone.Slipping out of bed carefully, Adrian dressed and headed downstairs, where the smell of fresh bread greeted him. Catherine was already bustling in the kitchen, her sleeves rolled up, a smile lighting her face when she saw him."You’re up early," she said, setting a plate down on the table."I couldn’t sleep much," he admitted, pulling out a chair.She nodded, comprehending. "Welcomed some of the villagers yesterday afternoon after you'd gone," Catherine gestur
Love's Healing Touch Chapter 44 – A Journey Toward Forgiveness
The morning was clear and bright, a piercing contrast to the previous night. Adrian perched on top of the little kitchen table, thumb tracing Catherine's letter between his fingers. He hadn't slept, his mind racing too hard to permit him. Elara, always in tune with him even when asleep, stirred and sat beside him at the table, and pushed a hot cup of tea over to him."Your mind's been made up, has it?" she panted, voice heavy with sleep even now.Adrian nodded. "I have to go to her. I have to go see my people. Not because I owe them anything. But because. I think I must."Elara's hand on his, holding him back. "Then come with me."He looked at her, shock washing over him once more. Wherever this path took them, Elara would be there. Always.With the sun in their faces, they had stuffed into a small pouch provisions one would need. Adrian remained in the doorway, not actually hesitating to unzip it and emerge into the world that had spurned him before. This time, he did not go out alo
