Venx-203 Access

For the first time, he doesn't pull away. She cleans the wound by candlelight. Her fingers tremble near his cheek. He looks up at her — not as a boy, but with the eyes of a man who has seen death.

By dawn, something shifts. The storm subsides. They are still tangled in blankets, exhausted. Aya realizes: she has been treating Kai as a reminder of her loss, not as a living person. And Kai has been punishing himself by rejecting her love. VENX-203