is this real life :: lotus

Wil was eating. Probably one of the best things, she thought, about this whole crazy thing, was that she and Grey and Lotus now had a literally endless supply of food. And she could eat it literally whenever she wanted.

She ate pizza in bed, she ate strawberries in the bath. Yesterday she had eaten a doughnut as she sat in on a meeting with Grey and Noor about the different districts of Dian. Noor wouldn’t let her touch any papers because of her jellied fingers.

She also had a secret stash of canned items in the back of her large, walk in closet. Old habits died hard.

Currently she was eating some sort of apple tart (made especially for her by the chef) as she sat in a greenhouse on the Dian estate’s massive grounds. She took a bite of the tart, resisted drooling, and then looked behind her as she heard the glass door cream open. Lotus walked in, looking as handsome as ever.

“Lotus! Come have a bite of this!” She waved him over eagerly. She’d just been repotting some of her favorite flowers before she’d taken a little snack break.

Lotus was eternally grateful for Wil and Grey. They had barely the clothes on their back when they had taken him in. Wil could have left him to die on the street, Grey could have forced him to leave their tiny apartment, and yet they (mostly Wil) had accepted him and allowed him to join their small family. Now he was living inside of a gigantic, lavish, Overloridian estate. Sometimes he'd just wander the halls, exploring the rooms and getting lost in the many twists and turns. He couldn't be too sure, but he felt that his life was never this... expensive. Not even the before.

Ever since they moved into the estate, Wil and Lotus had been spending a lot more time together. Whenever she wasn't sitting in on meetings with Grey, she was with Lotus, and he realized how happy that made him. Whoever he was in his past, he felt that no matter what he would have fallen for Wil. He was pretty sure that she felt the same way, but neither one had ever admitted to the other out loud. Lotus had decided that today would be the day.

It was easy to figure out where Wil was. She loved the greenhouses, and that was where he found her. When he slid through the door, Lotus grinned as Wil called out to him, and he hobbled over, leaning on his cane for support.

"What is it?" He asked, as he studied the tasty little pastry that Wil held in her hand.

Wil tore a piece of the tart off and held it out in front of Lotus’ mouth. “Open,” she instructed with a smile. Lotus opened his mouth on command, and Wil popped the piece into his mouth.

She waited for half a second before gushing—“Isn’t it the most delicious apple tart you’ve ever tasted?” The chef here at the estate was the best cook Wil had ever met (though, admittedly, not many clio had ever cooked for her) and he kept her sated in sweets. She loved him.

Lotus obediently opened his mouth as Wil held a piece of her treat in front of his face. He bit down and involuntary raised his eyebrows in surprise as the sweetness touched his tongue. He was fairly certain that he never had one of these in his life, but now he felt like he could eat them forever.

“That’s really good!” He said, after swallowing. “I may have to go get my own!”

Lotus leaned forward, putting all his weight on his cain, and grunted as he slowly lowered himself on a seat beside Wil. He studied the table before him, admiring all of the plants that she had been tending to. He loved his new life here, in the Overloridian estate, but he definitely missed working at the flower shop with Wil. He reached his hand out to tentatively rub a flower petal between his thumb and pointer finger.

“This one is beautiful,” he said. “What’s it called?”

“It’s a brambleren,” Wil said, looking at the way Lotus gingerly touched the petals. He was so delicate with plants, and so gentle and loving. A soft boy with a mysterious past. Wil thought she might love him.

“My favorite part about it is that it has this tough name, like it should have thorns or something, and it has a bright color, like it should be poisonous, but really the petals are so sweet they use them to color desserts.” She reaches past him and plucked one of its bright red petals off. “Open,” she instructed again, holding it to his lips, when he complied she put it on his tongue, and watched as his expression turned from suspicion to bliss as the petals melted on his tongue, tasting like sugar.

Hesitantly, Lotus opened his mouth but was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness that touched his tongue. Before Wil had dropped her hand, Lotus had grabbed it in both of his. His heart was pounding, and he wasn’t sure of what he was about to do, only that he wanted to do it.

“Wil, I...” he stammered, while gazing lovingly into her eyes. “Er...”

It was as if his amnesia had suddenly taken away his ability to speak. He smiled shyly, then reached only one of his hands up to cup Wil’s cheek. He waited a moment, giving her a look that basically asked, “Is this okay?” When she didn’t pull away or speak, his hand slid behind her head, his fingers weaving through her hair, as he leaned forward. When their lips met, it felt as if they fit together perfectly, as if the Amelian Gods built them purposely to find one another, to fit together as a puzzle.

When Lotus pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers and smiled, all the while never letting go of her hand.

“You kissed me,” Wil said, her voice pitched in happiness. She pressed her forehead to Lotus’. “I’ve named you and now you’ve kissed me. Do I get to keep you?” she asked. She had a silly smile on her face and butterflies in her belly.

As happy as she was to have followed Grey to Dian, as pleased as she was that Grey had a purpose and a calling, she couldn’t help but feel a small longing for a piece of that for herself. Nothing fancy—she’d never pictured herself rich or famous or important. But sitting here in this garden with Lotus made her feel like she had a purpose, too. She’d saved him, and now he’d kissed her. It was like a fairy tale.

“I want you to kiss me again.”

“You can definitely keep me,” Lotus replied, as he pulled away to stand. “And I’d love to kiss you, again and again.”

Though he had to lean on the table before them for support, he took Wil’s face in both of his hands as he stood over her, and kissed her more deeply and passionately than the first. He could have kissed her like that forever, but his leg began to ache and he needed to catch his breath. He sat, but kept his face close to hers and whispered, “I think I may be falling for you...”

“You are?” Wil asked, feeling like her heart could burst. “You make me so happy. I just...I can’t believe I found you, and now we are here.” It seemed unreal—the whole lot of it. How could she be so lucky? To have randomly met this hardworking, precious boy, and to have a loving, caring brother who just so happened to be the freaking Overloridian of an entire eilemaiden. If someone had told her how quickly her life would have turned around, she never would have believed them. It was all too good to be true.

How lucky was she?

Lotus was feeling just as lucky as Wil. What were the odds that this beautiful, kind, and hardworking woman would stumble upon a broken boy in an alleyway? Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve this life. His past was still a blur, but he definitely didn’t think he was a well-to-do citizen. His sleep was still plagued with nightmares of Clio dying or being beaten. Sometimes he’d be the victim, other times he was the perpetrator. No matter what happened in his dreams, he always woke up screaming or in a cold sweat. Trying to think about his past always brought out dark emotions, and immediately his elation melted into sadness and regret.

“I’m sorry,” Lotus sighed, as he sat back in his chair. “Sometimes I don’t think I deserve this...”

He reached out to tuck a strand of stray hair behind Wil’s ear. Gods she was so beautiful! If Lotus knew anything, all he had to do to feel better again was to think of Wil’s smile, and his dark moods would float away, if only for a little bit.

Wil shook her head. “Grey and I have talked about this a lot. It’s a little scary going from Stonecraft to Dian. And we are so, so lucky. But it isn’t something we don’t deserve.”

She leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. “You are good.” She didn’t have the right words to convey how deeply she knew this to be true. “And You are cute.” She kissed him again and smiled.

“Let’s go get some more pastries from the kitchen.”