Shadow Dancing | K.TH

A Thousand Thanks

"I guess— you're just— an orange."

"What?"

He laughs out the single word, tone incredulous as he exclaims again. "I'm an orange? Where did that come from?"

"You have a cover— a very thick one, you know. On the outside. It hides the soft and squishy person you really are. And people judge just from what they see— an impenetrable orange, when it's really just concealing the sweetness inside."

My eyes are only slightly open, my voice sounding monotone from sleep. I suddenly feel truthful— descriptive. Very descriptive. And brave, to call V an orange.

Not many survived if they told him that.

"You're too cute."

In the corner of my hazy vision, I see a silhouette rise from the couch and approach to cover my eyes. In the glimmering darkness, I can make out the shadowed contours of his deep set eyes, his flawless nose, and his cherry lips with the unique curve.

"What— did you say?"

"Nothing, Tzuyu."

If it's nothing, then why was he smiling so widely? He looks so happy that I worry that his lips might split anytime soon— it could've been the happiest I'd ever see him get.

"You look good when you smile." I comment truthfully. By now, I was at a state of saying anything that came to my mind. My lips were moving on its own— forming words that I'd die before saying if I wasn't so out of my mind.

"I'd love it if you smiled more often."

"Little princess— so adorable." I protest in a voice that borders a babyish whine as he pinches my cheeks lightly, stretching them to make me seem like a real baby.

"Hey— stop it."

My words are so slurred that it's a wonder he understands what I'm saying.

"If you wish. Go to sleep, Tzuyu. You look tired."

"I'm not tired." I protest, the words sounding like they fit better coming out from the mouth of a baby instead of a eighteen year old girl.

Then the shadow tilts, and something soft grazes my forehead.

"Yes, you are."

Curious about the wondrous sensation, my fingers gradually find his sleeve. Once my tips brush the soft material of his shirt, I grip it with the best strength I could summon while on the line between asleep and awake.

"Can you do that again?"

An incredulous laugh echoes from mere inches away, and I can practically see him shaking his head between my half-closed eyelids. The heaviness in the back of my mind grows even further, immersing my body with a trance of sleep.

It's only the grip on him that keeps me awake.

"You're amazing."

His words are so faint that I wonder if what I had heard was what he had really spoken. My fingers tighten around his sleeve as he shifts, afraid that he'd leave.

The logic side of my brain was asleep— it was only pure instinct that drove my actions. What I'd always wanted to do— and there wasn't any worry of consequence to stop me.

"Thank you."

He laughs again, a soft wind in the silver air, and I feel his fingers bury into my hair, pulling the locks back to reveal my forehead.

Instead of on the forehead that I expected, V suddenly changes courses to my lips. A drunken smile pulls at the corners of my mouth as he lingers before pulling away shortly.

"Thank you." I repeat, the expression meaning gratitude and so much more. It would be impossible to explain how thankful I was to this man in front of me, even if I had a million years and an infinity amount of words to choose from.

And sometimes, simplicity was the best way to get a message across.

Happiness flits from the top of my head to the tips of my toes when I feel his warm hands work with the blankets, adjusting them to cover every inch of my body. I feel like a child— receiving the care that I'd never received as one.

And then his hands leave me, and my eyelids slide close— finally letting sleep pull me under.

The last thing I hear is the soft noise of him settling back into his chair before everything descends into darkness.