The air inside the room had become stifling under the weight of those unspoken words.
As the sound of Kelen's footsteps faded behind the heavy wooden door, Zara pressed her palms against the brass handle. Click.
The sound of the latch falling resonated through the hollow house like a sentence. Zara closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cool timber.
A few moments later, she turned the latch again. The door creaked open, and she stepped out into the gloom of the corridor.
The hem of her white frock brushed against every step as she descended—thump... thump... thump...
The silence was so profound that the rhythm of her own breathing felt loud.
She reached the dining table and collapsed into the very chair where Kelen had sat moments before.
She spread her arms across the table, her gaze fixed on the massive iron main door that Kelen had just sealed from the outside.
That door no longer felt like a protector's shield; it felt like a cruel barrier. Zara slowly lowered her head onto the cold wood of the table.
Behind her closed eyelids, Kelen's stone-like face and the clinking of his chains haunted her.
"Does he truly not understand... or does he simply refuse to?" she thought, her voice a mere whisper.
Her words struck the walls of the empty room and bounced back to her.
"What I want to say... the ache behind my words... does it all just get drowned out by the noise of those chains?"
She jerked her head up from the table. There was a restless energy in her eyes that wouldn't let her stay still.
She rose and moved toward the kitchen. Her hands pulled at the cabinet doors—creak... clatter...—searching for something.
Anything that could soften the bitterness of this night—an old tin, some forgotten sweet.
She opened the refrigerator door again; the blue light stung her tired eyes, but inside was the same emptiness.
The thing she craved most at this moment was nowhere to be found. "Tomorrow," she promised herself silently.
"Tomorrow, I will go out myself and get it. No more waiting."
She grabbed a cold bottle of water from the corner of the fridge. The condensation on its surface sent a shiver through her fingertips.
She turned back, cutting through the long silence of the hall as she headed for the stairs.
With every step, the fabric of her frock swept the dust from the floor.
She opened her bedroom door, stepped inside, and shut it firmly behind her—thud. She was back in her cage.
She twisted the cap of the bottle—crack...—and drank greedily. The cold water slid down her throat, but it couldn't quench the fire burning within her.
She set the bottle on the small nightstand beside the bed. A second later, she let herself fall backward onto the bed.
Her body sank into the softness of the mattress, and her eyes stared up at the wooden rafters of the ceiling where shadows danced.
Lying on her back, she listened to the rapid thrumming of her own heart.
While outside, the night of Vespera waited to pull her into its dark embrace.
The softness of the bed absorbed Zara's body, but her mind drifted beyond the walls of the room, into the dusty layers of time.
She closed her heavy eyelids, and amidst the silence, an old sun-drenched afternoon began to emerge.
The curtain of memories rose, revealing the old, safe streets of Vespera.
In the middle of a bustling marketplace stood a young boy—Kelen. He held the hands of two young girls.
One of the girls, with a strange spark in her eyes and innocence on her face, tugged at Kelen's finger.
"Kelen Bhaiya! Can you come to school with us tomorrow? We had to bring our parents, but..."
Kelen bowed his head and looked at his little sister. "Alright, Mia," he said tenderly.
Mia's face lit up as if she had won the greatest victory in the world.
Then the girl standing on the other side, who was about the same age as Mia, pulled Kelen's other hand with all her might.
"Can you come with me too? I asked my big brother, but he refused..."
A very faint smile appeared on Kelen's lips. He placed his hand on the girl's head.
"Alright. I will come with you too. I will meet your teacher instead of your parents."
Hearing this, the second girl—Zara—jumped with joy. "Really! Okay!" Zara's voice dissolved like sugar in the noise of the market.
Kelen's gaze suddenly fixed on Zara, who was chirping a bit too much in her happiness.
"Zara, don't do any mischief in school," he warned, becoming a bit stern.
Little Zara furrowed her brows and rested her tiny hands on her waist.
"What did I say? And what did I do that you are scolding me like this?"
Standing on the other side, Mia couldn't stop her laughter seeing Zara's flustered face.
Mia tried to cover her mouth with her hand, but fountains of laughter broke out.
She began to laugh loudly and suddenly turned and ran into the marketplace crowd. "Why are you laughing, Mia!"
Zara's cheeks turned red with anger, and she lunged after Mia without a second thought.
In the middle of that sun-soaked market, a small 'war' broke out.
Two friends—a laughing Mia and an angry, foot-stomping Zara—vanished behind the shops.
Kelen remained standing there, his steady shadow lengthening on the scorching road.
Just then, a young woman emerged from the wooden door of a nearby shop.
She looked at Kelen and offered an invitation in a soft voice, "Why don't you come inside and sit? It's very sunny out here."
Kelen glanced for a moment toward the alleys where Zara and Mia had gone.
And then began to move toward the cool shade of the shop with the young woman.
Suddenly Zara, who had stopped abruptly while chasing Mia, caught sight of Kelen.
Seeing that woman so close to Kelen felt like a bolt of lightning inside her.
She left Mia right there and dashed toward Kelen with the speed of the wind.
She gripped Kelen's strong hand in both of her tiny palms.
There was a strange stubbornness and possessiveness in the grip of her small fingers.
"Come on! We're going home!" Zara said in a loud voice, her eyes throwing a challenge at the young woman.