Chapter 118 | First Connection
Trauma freezes you. It locks you behind a wall of your own making, but who you are is still waiting on the other side of the ice. - Neil Gaiman
...
Dexter realized at this moment that he had made a mistake.
A really terrible mistake.
He had dragged her out here against her will into the rain as if three years of suffering wasn’t enough to kill whatever life she had for the rain.
Guilt surged through him like ice water. He immediately went forward, opening his mouth to apologize and quickly drag her back into the house when he saw it.
It was her lips, and they had actually curled upwards.
And it wasn’t curled upwards into a sneer as he had expected; it was a smile!
She was actually smiling!
Dexter’s breath caught in his throat, and the guilt and panic he had been feeling at that moment evaporated in an instant.
Her smile continued to widen as she tilted her head upwards, letting the rain pour on her face.
Somehow, the smile wasn’t as radiant as what he had seen in the interview and contained a hint of sadness. But it was the most genuine smile he had witnessed from Mira since he set eyes on her.
Then, slowly, two glowing orange spectral arms materialized behind her.
They unsteadily reached out into the downpour and scooped up handfuls of rainwater, bringing them back and gently pouring them over her face, neck, and arms.
She closed her eyes and scooped more as the arms continued to gather rainwater, letting it cascade over her.
Mira’s smile widened even further as a cute giggle escaped her lips.
Each handful seemed to wash and melt something within her.
Through it all, Dexter stood behind her, completely forgetting that he himself was getting soaked as his jaw hung slightly open in pure shock.
Had she actually giggled?
In all the time he had known her, he had never once seen Mira like this. Not once.
And the sight of the quiet, devastating beauty of this woman giggling in the rain made Dexter’s heart tremble with something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
No matter what happened to a person, the essence of who they were could never truly be destroyed. It could be suppressed, locked behind walls of anger and bitterness and pain, but it would always remain.
And with the right spark, it could always shine again.
...
Selene, who was standing beneath the overhang, had a soft, quiet smile on her face.
"So that’s what you look like. You’re perfect."
She muttered as the vibration from the rain hitting Dexter’s body perfectly outlined his face and his figure. Everything was extremely detailed as she saw him clearly for the first time.
---
Dexter stood behind Mira in the downpour, completely soaked to the bone, yet he couldn’t feel the cold.
He was entirely too stunned by what he was seeing.
Even after 5 straight minutes of watching Mira play in the rain, scooping water with her spectral arms like a child, he still couldn’t believe his eyes.
Slowly, Dexter reached out and gripped the handles of her old wheelchair. The feeling seemed to bring Mira back to herself.
She immediately tried to wipe the joy from her face, attempting to rebuild her icy walls. But it was too late. Her lips didn’t cooperate with her, still locked in that perfectly radiant smile.
She felt Dexter’s gaze on her, and it was hot and intense.
Mira turned around and glared at Dexter, her crimson eyes narrowing with as much menace as she could muster, which, given the smile still ghosting across her face, was not nearly enough.
"What are you looking at?" she snapped.
Dexter stared at her. His mind went completely blank.
He looked at her rain-soaked body, her flushed face and those pretty crimson eyes glaring at him, and spoke without thinking.
"You are really beautiful."
It was like a stone dropped into a still lake.
Mira froze.
For three years, no one had called her beautiful.
For three years, she had been the disabled talented heroine.
No one looked at her and saw beauty. No one looked at her like Dexter was.
And now this infuriating, reckless, stubbornly kind idiot was looking at her like she was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen.
A deep crimson flush bloomed across her pale cheeks as her cold demeanor cracked.
She tried to retort or say something, but nothing came out.
Dexter saw the blush on her cheeks and her bashful eyes.
A sudden, reckless, playful impulse that he couldn’t resist surged through him, and he smirked playfully.
Mira’s eyes widened further. Her blush—if possible—deepened another shade. She looked away sharply, her jaw working, her spectral arms retracting against her sides as though she could somehow make herself smaller.
"What are you trying to do?" she demanded, her voice cracking slightly on the last word. She cleared her throat, trying to recover. "What are you planning?"
Dexter grinned.
"What don’t you guess?"
He tightened his grip on the wheelchair handles.
Then, without warning, he took off running as he pushed her around the backyard, spinning her in circles.
Like a father pushing a child at a park.
Mira wyws wiended.
"Don’t you dare drop me—" she growled in a commanding tone.
It was at that moment the wheelchair hit a puddle and sent a spray of water directly into her face.
Mira sputtered and blinked as the water fell down her face onto her clothes.
Dexter froze instantly and then burst out laughing as he pointed at her stained face.
Mira’s lips twitched and then, against her every will, Mira actually laughed.
...
From the window of the neighboring one-story building, Tessa watched them, and a small smile spread across her freckled face.
"Dexter," Tessa murmured to herself, leaning against the window wall. "You’re cute."
She felt a swell of warmth in her chest as she watched Dexter play with Mira, laughing like a kid.
For a moment, Tessa almost thought the two people actually married for love and not because of a silly contract.