𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

✿ 𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚝 ✿

A/N: I know this story might seem cheesy, but I wanted to experiment with heavy poetic romanticism and angst themes. These are short stories, so I don't know how well it'll blend in, but I'll see what you guys think. I feel this genre might be "corny" in a modern sense to some, so let's imagine these people during the Renaissance Era or something lmao.

✿ She stares at her reflection in the mirror. Caressing the marks of her stomach, feeling the stripes of skin protrude from hers. 'Why can't I look like the other girls?' she thought. She sees beautiful women every day, and she can't help but wonder, 'what if.' What if he sees them, associating her with beauty and sexiness because she makes herself readily available to him?

She gives him the attention he craves from those beautiful women. She can't help but see him holding them. Coveting them. How they may feel so soft, smell so lovely and feminine. Skin so smooth, it felt fragile; like it'd be ruined if they were touched. She wants to feel untouchable, although her lover worships her body like the temple he saw it as.

She can't bear to think she isn't feminine enough to be a spectacle. She tears up, unable to stand the thought, but the reality is ever apparent. She'll never be enough. A tear trickles down her satiny cheek as she leans against the bathroom counter. 'Why do I feel so empty?' she thought, remembering he makes her whole because he sees something she does not. 

She feels his strong hands snake behind her. Her breath hitches, and she wipes her tears to hide her despair. He wraps his arms around her, admiring her face in the mirror. "What's wrong, my love?" he whispers, burying his face in her neck to take in her sweet scent. She feels terrible; he goes above and beyond to show her the same beauty he sees. "Nothing," she blunts.

"Tell me what it is. I want to make it go away," he mutters, peppering kisses on her neck and shoulders. He caresses her sides, making her pull forward to escape his grasp. She doesn't want him to feel what she feels. He'd surely chip the beautiful painting of her on the canvas that is his gaze. What makes her incomparable will become what she lacks. He will see her for what she is.

"No," she says flatly, the burning in her throat intensifying as she holds back tears. "Nothing that upsets you deserves to make space in our world..." he declares as he slowly steps toward her. "Your pain is the greatest bane of my existence." She tries to move away, but her heart tells her to let him in. "I'll allow you to see," she utters, pulling up her nightgown to reveal her stomach.

She desperately searches for a sign of disgust in his eyes but can't see anything. Suddenly, he smiles, easing the pain in her heavy soul. "Even without riches, I am still the luckiest man on Earth. Such a beauty," he admires before pulling her into an embrace that could envelop the world. "I love you more than the Sun and the Moon love the sky." With that, she cries.

Tears of sheer contentment. She can't help but wonder where her flawed thinking emerged. How she could convince herself the man in front of her didn't desire her. She is the woman he covets. "I love you too," she whispers, feeling him caress her jaw, prompting her to look into his deep eyes. He takes in her features, pulling her into a kiss soft enough to die for. ✿