Avos'

𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED.

Oksana knew to what extent it would change, but she hadn't predicted it would happen this way, simultaneously subtle and dramatic.

It hasn't been that long since the Shelby Company Limited charity event and with Charlie's unwavering steadiness, she could trick herself into thinking this is always the way things have been.

And out of everything- the letters, the visits, the overwhelming support, the shady requests- Tommy might be the most considerable transformation.

The day after the event, Tommy had sent her out to run some errands in a little town nearby, giving her a neat and diverse list of things she needed to pick up. It was odd, but she hadn't minded the little break from her daily activities. She drove there at her own insistence but, even so, she had sat in the car for twenty minutes before summoning up the courage to get out. A familiar sense of unease and panic gripped her, but she pushed through it.

It was like coming back to life again.

She walked through the streets, grey hair proudly displayed and a smile on her face, and nothing was amiss. She was greeted kindly, picked up the things from the list without much fanfare, and promptly returned home.

She arrived back home in a cheery mood, feeling like she was walking on air, and that's when she noticed the mattress leaning against the wall in the foyer. She had stared at it, dumbfounded, too interested and absorbed in its presence. She hadn't known why it struck her, such a random object half obstructing the entryway, sitting there with no reasonable purpose.

That's when Tommy walked in. He noticed her questioning stare and simply shrugged, mumbling through his cigarette without even breaking a step.

It was time for a new mattress.

That was it. That's all he had said before disappearing back into his office.

And that same night, he had taken her to his room, and she hasn't slept anywhere else since.

It isn't just the new mattress, though. He's not suddenly obnoxiously affectionate or disgustingly mushy like Alfie is with Grissy, but he is different.

Where he used to be a fleeting presence in the morning, he now sits with her and Charlie while they eat breakfast. He still locks himself away in his study to do business, but instead of staying in there until the late hours of the night, he makes it out in time to watch her read Charlie his bedtime story.

Sometimes when he walks by, he doesn't acknowledge her, but his fingers do absentmindedly grip the tips of her hair. When she goes to give him something- a drawing from Charlie or a letter Nora forgot to leave on his desk- he'll unconsciously brush his thumb against the tip of her nose without looking up from his work.

Slow and blinding, but the changes are there. Every day, it's a little bit more. It's another touch, another word, another admission, and it's entirely welcomed. The only problem she's facing is, ironically, herself.

She's not too sure how much she can give back.

So she's been distracting herself. Keeping herself busy, basking in Tommy's tamed affection and reserved touches without ever giving much in return aside from her own kisses and teases. He doesn't seem to mind, not at all. At least, not yet, but she is wary of the day when she'll have to be the one to give more.

Because if she were to give him that, it would mean admitting to herself that maybe, she might be, potentially...

No. She doesn't want to consider anything of the sort.