[Zeve’s POV] “How childish!” He scoffed. “You have a better idea?” I raised my brows, giving him a dominance smile. He rolled his eyes, then peered into my eyes. “One. Two. Three…” He started counting my eyelashes. Controlling my smile, I grabbed the opportunity and carefully applied the ointment over his wounds while he counted my eyelashes. I dropped my eyelids to attend to his wounds on his abdomen. It was an odd atmosphere around us with his face so close to mine. But I was happy it worked. He was clearly enduring most of the pain, but he was doing it while being distracted this time. A strand of my hair slid over my eyes. He left my arm. His fingers grazed my cheeks as he tucked my free strand behind my ear. “Thirty-six… thirty-seven…” he leaned closer to me and I did my best to not react to his husky whispers. I glanced at his lips. He had some blood smeared at the corner of his lips. I bit my lower lips. I had been breathing slowly to stop my breaths from colliding with

[Amor’s POV] Zeve was dressed in a fern green lehenga that flowed from her hips to the ground. She wore a sleeveless crop top. It was backless with straps holding it on her body. A small strip around her waist and string across her scapula kept the crop top from exposing her breasts more than it already was, while the rest of her body was exposed. Her back, her waist, her neck, her abdomen. I could see her ribs below the top. A fern green net dupatta, a very long piece of cloth with thread work and embroidery, flowed till her ankles from her shoulder. Seeing her dressed in the traditional clothes of that village, I lost track of time and the intensity of concentration I was having on her. I gulped down the steam building in my body. I wasn’t able to comprehend anything at all. It was as if someone was pouring boiling water in my chest and something unknown was overwhelming me. The old lady I asked to take care of Zeve was standing beside her. They were talking about something

[Zeve’s POV] I can’t express in words how I felt seeing Venus smile again, even though it was faltering and filled with pain. I can’t explain how beautiful Venus looked holding Polaris. Can’t explain the tsunami of conflicting emotions hitting me with every thought. How do I inform her about Zahir’s condition? How do I break it to her that she can never become a mother again? Was there a less painful way to open the aftermath of such a tremendous storm in her life? I had never felt that helpless. What would my words do to her smile when she heard the excruciating truth? “Zeve, thank you so much for protecting my son…” Venus said in a dawdling voice. She hadn’t stopped crying since the moment she woke up. I knew those tears were of happiness from the reunion with her son. But beyond the two curtains between her and Zahir was the reality scarier than this beautiful daydream. I peered at the curtains slowly moving from the winds entering the hall through the windows. I dropped m

[Zeve’s POV] Once I was calmer, I felt like I shouldn’t have said most of the things I did to Amor. But that was also strangely calming, to just lash out at someone and they don’t hit you back or hurt you. Even though he was angry initially, by the end he understood that I was stressed out. It was my first time being so mad at him and him not reacting like he did in the past. He was more under control and tried to walk out of the situation when things became unmanageable for him. I could have repeated that scene with him in my mind and cringed over every word I said to him, but I was neither in that mental state nor did it matter to the least at that moment. The blueness in Zahir’s legs had decreased, but weren’t completely gone. The doctor gave mixed answers and looked uncertain. Amor said Lucella was coming, but how would she arrive so soon? It took us weeks to travel that far. Would it be possible for her to come before something bad happened? The answer to all my questions

[Zeve’s POV] The winds violently fluttered my hair as I stood contemplating Amor. He squatted near one lily, caressing its petals between his thumb and index finger. I averted my eyes, taking a deep breath. Even the insignificant things he did sent butterflies in my belly. Seriously! What the hell is wrong with me? “You said it wasn’t the fault of the lily if it expected rain, but faced the drought. You said that those tears on its petals were a sign that it survived and saved its kind. Right?” He looked at me. I nodded softly. “So… what should it do to prepare for the drought? What should it do so that no more scars add to its petals?” He asked, leaving the petals of the lily. I never thought those hands that were covered in blood almost all the time could, so gently, caress the petals of a flower without hurting them. “It doesn’t need guidance, it needs resistance, adaptability, new genes and mutation to keep up with the adversities it faces or the ones that are yet to come.