13.Oct.17, 12:16 AM
Madiquel cuddled against her father, comfortable and warm where she was held on his lap, feeling for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime like a child again. Her breathing was low and regular, the girl little more than asleep where she sat, listening to Jajojin’s heartbeat where her head was settled against his chest. It was that closeness that let her feel the trembling and the way his heartbeat sped up suddenly, out of the blue. But Madiquel, with a child’s unwitting intuition, knew it was because he was suddenly thinking about Denath. And that it was something she did.
She didn’t draw the conclusion that it was from the simple expression of love. Why could love cause fear?
Madiquel leaned away slightly, looking up at her father with red and puffy eyes, her lips turned down slightly in a childish pout – not at his words, but at her feeling of failure that she’d upset him. His gentle suggestion had her sighing softly, but she didn’t argue. Jajojin didn’t have the ordering finality that her mother did, but Madiquel read deeper into the soft words and saw the instruction there. Go to sleep, child. So she leaned up, placing a gentle kiss on her father’s prickly cheek and tightening her skinny arms around his neck in a fierce hug. A moment later, and she slid off his lap and made her way to her little cot. It wasn’t much, but it was hers.
Moments after laying down, Madiquel was deeply asleep, her left hand curled up under her cheek.
She didn’t draw the conclusion that it was from the simple expression of love. Why could love cause fear?
Madiquel leaned away slightly, looking up at her father with red and puffy eyes, her lips turned down slightly in a childish pout – not at his words, but at her feeling of failure that she’d upset him. His gentle suggestion had her sighing softly, but she didn’t argue. Jajojin didn’t have the ordering finality that her mother did, but Madiquel read deeper into the soft words and saw the instruction there. Go to sleep, child. So she leaned up, placing a gentle kiss on her father’s prickly cheek and tightening her skinny arms around his neck in a fierce hug. A moment later, and she slid off his lap and made her way to her little cot. It wasn’t much, but it was hers.
Moments after laying down, Madiquel was deeply asleep, her left hand curled up under her cheek.