Her Eyes

Twelve

To much of her dismay, Esmae was outside again.

It was early in the morning when she felt Nikolaos rustling in bed, letting out a light whimper and stretching to snuggle into him. Nikolaos would sigh lightly but stay in bed for another five minutes to satisfy the leaf before escaping once she fell asleep again.

It was a common occurrence that happened each morning.

With each passing day, Esmae grew more attached to Nikolaos, following him around the house and staying at most a foot away from him. She simply didn't want to be alone, and his company was comforting to her.

Nikolaos understood this fully, giving into each and every request she had. They were never hard for him to accomplish. Most of the time, she only wanted to eat an orange and struggled with peeling the skin or wanted to help him with cleaning around the house.

She didn't learn to cook much despite watching him intently each time he did, but she learned how to use a microwave and the stove. She decided against using the oven, almost burning the house down when she tried baking pre-made cookies.

Now, it was a few days before Nikolaos would attend college again, and there were some things he needed to prepare for Esmae before suddenly leaving her alone for hours each day. Thankfully for him, Esmae enjoyed painting. When she wasn't clung to his side, she was in the art room, painting on the floor or by the windows where rain dripped from the sky.

The weather was still rainy and windy, though it calmed down from its initial high winds and strong storms. The pair were inside a technology store, warm and dry, protected from the outside weather. Nikolaos decided to buy a phone for Esmae so they could communicate over long distances. The woman stuck to him at all times, only responding when he asked her to choose a phone case.

Of course, she chose one covered with orange slices. They were becoming her favorite thing.

Over the course of the few weeks Esmae and Nikolaos shared, they became closer, more friendly, and more intimate. It wasn't anything drastic, only light kisses from Nikolaos on Esmae's head or long cuddles and hugs when they watched TV together or before they fell asleep.

It felt strange to Nikolaos. He only knew such intimate acts happened with those in relationships, but somehow with Esmae, it didn't feel wrong. Rather, it felt perfectly okay.

When they finished buying Esmae's phone, they headed to the car, Nikolaos shielding Esmae from the light rain and ushering her inside before going to the driver seat and buckling himself in. After turning on the car, allowing warm air to flow through the interior, he turned to Esmae who stared curiously into the bag.

"It's yours," Nikolaos said, pulling out the new phone, "with this, you can call me whenever you want. I can speak to you through this – or text, whichever one you prefer." He turned on the phone, Esmae facing him and staring at the glowing screen.

She learned a lot about the world within the weeks she became a human. She could read at a standard level, though her grammar wasn't the best, and she understood the customs of London and was beginning to learn how to navigate it on her own. However, she never left Nikolaos' side.

It was her mission to make him happier, and it felt like she was succeeding. He was laughing more with her presence, and he always had a smile on his face when their eyes locked. Her beating heart quickened when they were together and funny feelings danced in her stomach when he called her foreign names and played with her hair.

"Esmae," she whispered to herself, typing in her name when the phone asked her to. She didn't set a password because she had no reason to, and added Nikolaos' phone number in her contacts with his help, tapping the phone icon by his name.