Shiyo Kagane

Shiyo sat on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling, her hands resting on her still-swollen, still-tender lap. Even though it had only been a few weeks since giving birth, her body felt foreign, as if it still didn't quite belong to her. The room smelled of warm milk, freshly laundered blankets, and the faint lavender scent they used to soothe babies.

The mixed-race children slept in their twin cribs on one side of the bed, carefully wrapped in light muslin. One made a small sound as he breathed, the other frowned as he dreamed. Shiyo looked at them tenderly, but inside, something weighed on her. Usser no longer touched her. Since the babies were born, he had become more protective than ever… but also more distant. It wasn't just the scars from birth, or the stitches that pulled when she moved. It was his gaze. He no longer scanned her. He no longer desired her. Not like before.

~/She hugged herself, covering herself with the thin robe that barely protected her from the early morning chill. The mirror at the far end of the room reflected an image she barely recognized: her paler skin, her swollen chest, the soft dark circles under her eyes marked by sleeplessness. Her still swollen abdomen. Her altered silhouette.

☁️: "Is that how he sees me now? Just as the mother of his children? Not as a woman anymore?"

A lump tightened in her throat. She knew Usser loved her. She knew it. But every time she tried to get closer, he looked away, or wrapped himself around her like she was made of glass. Like she'd shatter if he wanted her. And then, even surrounded by the peaceful sound of her babies sleeping, Shiyo felt alone, as if something inside her had shut down.