The lovers

Bliss

"Uff", Zozulja sighed as she fell on the couch. She was exhausted. That's no surprise either, considering that she worked through the whole day with almost no breaks.
She just layed there for some minutes, rubbing her temples from time to time.

Since Asra left the shop to work at the castle with his parents, Zozulja felt like the customers were just piling up on her.
Suddenly she heard the door of the shop open.
"Please don't let it be another customer", she thought.

She slowly rolled off the couch onto the floor. Layed there a few seconds until she finally stood up, walking down the stairs to the shop. She tried to smile since she was prepared to meet another customer.

But then her facial expression lit up dramatically.
"I'm home, love!"
She almost ran down the stairs now, moving away the cutrain at the end of the steps until she finally reached the figure standing in the shop. She bumped into him, almost throwing him over and hugged him tightly.
"Oh...what did I do to deserve this welcome?", the man asked softly as he looked down at Zozulja, hugging her now aswell.
"You don't know how happy you make me right now Julian", she answered, her head laying on his chest.
"Have I been gone for so long that you started to miss me so deeply?"
"No..well yes..but it's just that this day has been full of work, I'm just happy to see you. You always cheer me up when I'm down", she said looking up to meet his gaze.

Julian started working as a doctor again, not far away from the shop but he always started work early so the only time they could really spend together were the evenings. Zozulja felt desperate. She almost missed the times where a bounty was on Julians head, she felt like they spent more time together back then.

The soft voice of her lover drew her out of her thoughts.
"Well is that so?", Julian smirked at her "then just lay back on the couch, I'll take care of you" he took her cheeks in his hands and leaned down to give her a kiss. She immediately returned the kiss. They were just standing there, not wanting to let go of each other. How Zozulja missed his touch, his chilly hands, his lips on hers. She felt like she was in a vortex full of love and caress. She never wanted to leave this moment. But they eventually did, standing there breathless.

"I'll close the shop, you go up and make yourself comfortable on the couch. Would you also like some tea?" Julian said. "Yes please!" She said, giving him one last kiss until she went up again, falling onto the couch.

She layed there eyes closed. She felt herself falling asleep as suddenly something was moving around on her belly. "Oh hey Malak", she smiled slowly petting the crow. She didn't even notice him before, he must come in with Julian. The crow sat down, enjoying the pets of Zozulja. She just looked up to the ceiling, daydreaming.

"You alright love?", his voice brought her back to reality. "Uh..yeah sure, don't worry" she replied. The doctor smiled down at her.
"Well, here's your tea aaand I also made you some soup, Mazelinkas recipe of course!"
"Thank you dear"
Julian put both on the small coffee table. Zozulja got up, Malak flew onto Julians shoulder. She took a few sips of the tea and then turned to the soup. It wasn't a very good soup as she expected since Julian was never a really good cook but she ate it anyway.

"Come here, dear" Julian said softly as she finished her soup. Zozulja moved over to him, laying down with her head on his lap.
Julian started to talk about his adventures again, always telling jokes inbetween. Zozulja laughed and giggled. She loved his stories it always made her happy hearing about them. It was true bliss. Julian played with her dark brown locks from time to time.

Suddenly great tiredness came over her. Still listening to Julians stories and jokes but eventually she dozed off in his lap.

When she woke up she was in bed. Julian must have carried her here when she fell asleep. She reached over to her left to feel if he was still there. He was. She moved over to cuddle with him, leaning her head against his bare chest, her arms wrapped around him.
This must have woken him up, because he also wrapped his arms around her now.
"I love you Julian", she whispered.
"I love you too Zozu"
They both leaned in for a kiss, then they fell asleep again.