Her Eyes

Fourteen

It was a quiet evening in Nikolaos' cottage home. He and Esmae ate dinner not too long ago and enjoyed a few moments together in silence.

Now, the college student was working on assignments late into the night. The reading assigned to him had yet to be completed, so after his shower, he sat by his desk, turned on his computer, and put on his reading glasses as he read.

Esmae on the other hand, was cleaning up the painting supplies downstairs, remembering to place the paints into the large closet where the other art supplies were. She left her creations out to dry, learning from Nikolaos long ago that they weren't meant to be touched and handled immediately.

"It must be handled with care and love if you want it to shine brightly," he once said. The words stuck with Esmae ever since, and she applied his teachings to her everyday life, taking care of even the smallest objects with the most care and love, hoping they would stay as perfect as she saw them.

She hopped upstairs, skipping steps and singing to herself. Her mobility had gotten better and so did her voice. It wasn't as faint as before but was still soft, a permanent feature that made up her identity.

The leaf had already taken a shower a while ago, now wearing her sleeping attire with her hair braided behind her. She learned how to do it by watching a video. Most of what she learned was through videos recently because Nikolaos was too busy to teach her himself. Still, he would spend some nights lying beside Esmae, simply talking about the wonders of the world and listening to Esmae's stories.

Tonight, the dryad didn't want to sleep alone. Nikolaos told her to "go ahead" and sleep before him, but she couldn't fathom the idea of lying in bed alone, so she walked into his office quietly, standing behind the student and watching him as he worked, fiddling with the end of the large sweater she wore. It was Nikolaos', of course.

"Esmae," Nikolaos said, noticing her presence behind him through the faint reflection his screen gave off. He turned his chair slightly, parting his legs and spreading his arms. The woman instantly wrapped her arms around him, sitting on his lap comfortably.

He hugged her warmly and went back to reading, rubbing her back up and down while squeezing her sides periodically. There were such times when the two sat in utter silence, simply enjoying each other's presence.

There were times when Esmae wanted to talk, to improve her skills, but she didn't have the motivation to do so. She would sit in silence for hours, listening to Nikolaos mumble to himself or hearing the sounds nature produced outside. She grew up with such silence for 21 years, she was used to it.

Nikolaos worried for Esmae when she was quiet. There were times when she went the whole day without speaking, but he quickly realized that she saw nothing wrong with it and was perfectly okay. He grew to be okay with it as well, not dwelling on the fact that she sometimes cried in silence when she showered. He wasn't much of a talker to begin with and didn't know how to comfort people well, but Esmae didn't mind. She liked the hugs he gave her after her short spurt of sudden emotions left her with tears streaming down her olive brown face, feeling fuzzy and comforted by the small action.

There were times like that, not often, but times nonetheless, when Esmae's thoughts would overwhelm her and she struggled to understand why. She once searched it up but was met with medical websites that tried to diagnose her. She didn't know what a diagnosis was and didn't like the other symptoms that fell in line with the disorders she read about.

Nikolaos was unaware of her internal struggles because she never told him, worried that her suffering would cause him unhappiness. Esmae could never allow that. She would sacrifice everything if it meant seeing him smile each day, so she held on and told him she was okay even when she wasn't.