The Four Letter L word

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As Love entered the lab, she felt the warm feeling of being at home after a long time. Love had messed things up for the whole tribe all together and she knew it. Keeping her head low, she quietly moved passed the hallway to not be noticed by anyone. Entering Zee's laboratory, Love saw the old man's back towards the door she'd entered from. With pin drop silence Love tried sitting on the chair, to think of a way to handle his anger. 

"Love, how are you?" Zee asked without turning.

"Zee...you scared me," she said laughing.

"We were worried..." he said but before he could finish his sentence, Love interrupted, "I'm good...agency doesn't know anything about me or us in fact," she said.

"For now, at least," he said.

Love nodded.

The old man walked towards his cabinet and took out a few cookies. Handling them over to her, he poured her a freshly brewed cup of coffee. 

"Have a cookie, it's chocolate," he said smiling at the little bud. 

"Thanks Zee," Love said remembering the old days. Zee's cookies were always special, and were only given to special people on special occasions. He baked and cooked only when he wanted, and only for who he wanted. And Love has always been the one person, privileged enough to taste the ravishing crisp chewy chocolate cookies. While the others girls had to accept the fact, Zee tried to make them all feel equally important, but that is what it is. Zee had been rough, and dry towards Love as well, only to get the best out of her. And even though the old man tried to sound tough and like nothing had happened, he had not slept the entire night thinking about the child who was in trouble. Love had been like a daughter to him. The little ways in which the two cared for each other weren't even noticeable, but those little, tiny things were always there, intact, just the way they should be.

Love finished the cup of coffee, and after complementing Zee's extraordinary skills, she moved towards her room. The rooms in the laboratory weren't anything special in terms of furniture, just the regulars, Hi-tech lightings and wardrobes. But what was special were the tiny things she'd collected along her life. The little diary in the top shelf of her old forgotten cabinet, or the snow globe Hope bought for her as a Christmas present, or the little miniatures of monuments she collected, as a hope to see the world one day, one day when all of it is finally over. Until now none of this seemed important, or essential. But a few hours of uncertainty in her previous case made her evaluate her priorities. She had evaluated her priorities before once, but things didn't turn out to be the way she'd expected them to. But this time, facing her biggest fear, made her cherish the little moments of happiness, and satire she had. Those couple of hours made Love ravish her relationship with every person in her life. A smile crept on her lips thinking about her sisters, the seven sisters. It wasn't only her, who had given up so much in life, just to do what had to be done, and just to be who she was supposed to be. All seven of them had given up on dreams, and aspirations, and the slightest possibility of being in love, having a family to call our own. And even when they had each other, did they really have each other. 

None of the sisters really know what was going on in the little walnut. None of them had the time to think. All they did was react, save, kill, repeat. And that was what life offered them. Whether they liked it or not. 

Standing under the streaming hot shower, with every drop that touched her skin, tension was lifted. As the body wash and shampoo was flowing downwards in the direction of the water, it took away all the stress in her muscles. The back wasn't stiff anymore, and she didn't smell like a skink anymore. Wrapping a towel around her after soaking the skin dry, she blow dried her hair. After a long time, she was living the present. Enjoying the hot air from the front of the hair drier. Inhaling the lavender fragrance as she rubbed the body lotion on the skin of her arms, back and legs. Wearing a satin night dress, she tied a knee length kimono around her waist. She looked at herself once in the mirror, admiring her face, hair, and physique.