Dear Reader,
Here is another short, yet emotional chapter.
Special thanks to The Scheming Turtle, as always.
The pioneer with a heart for people and a thousand stories to tell ~+~
P.S. Thank you all so much for the helpful and encouraging reviews! Please keep leaving them so I know that you are reading and enjoying the story!
Chapter 19
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
~Mother Teresa
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Some time later, Belarus and Lithuania were cleaning their house together. For some reason, this day took a bit longer than usual, and soon Belarus discovered that she had a leg cramp, which greatly disturbed her, of course. Lithuania urged her to sit down, and finally she sat down, wishing that her stiff leg wouldn't hurt so badly.
Worried about his wife, Lithuania carefully examined her leg. Since it didn't have any bruises or anything, he figured that she was just standing too long and began to massage her leg. He carefully rubbed her stiff ankle, feeling the intense tension in her muscles as he moved his fingers around and around her joint. Belarus, meanwhile, was sighing in relief at the comforting feeling of Lithuania's rubbing. Indeed, it was incredibly relaxing. Soon, her leg was starting to improve.
"Thank you so much, Toris" Belarus breathed after a few moments, "Would you mind going higher?"
"No, not at all," Lithuania responded as he moved his hands a bit higher up her leg, moving her long black skirt out of the way as he did this.
"Oh, that feels so relaxing... A little higher, please," She instructed with a grateful sigh while Lithuania obeyed her and moved his hands up her leg.
In this way, he kept moving his hands up her leg until he was just abover her knee. At this point, Lithuania froze and Belarus started at him. For a few awkward moments, Lithuania locked eyes with Belarus, unsure of what to say. Slowly, he looked down at her leg, noting how shapely it was... and pondering if he should move his hands farther.
At that point, he stood up, realizing what he was thinking, and awkwardly he excused himself from the room and quickly walked into another room and shut the door. Silently he stood against the door, slowly, heavily breathing. Deep inside, the tension came back to him: that unmet desire, that craving for something that he couldn't have began to eat at him again. Once again he recalled how much he loved his wife and wanted to get as close as possible to her... and once again he told himself that she didn't feel the same way, and it made his heart ache. He wished he could just forget all those thoughts... but he couldn't.
Then again... was it too much to ask that the woman he loved more than any other would love him back? Was it too much to ask that the lady he was always gentle to even when she scorned him would simply return his feelings? Was it too much to ask that his wife would be attracted to him? Was it really that much?
No, it wasn't... and he knew it wasn't... but he wasn't getting all that he desired... and it made him feel as if he was asking for too much... as if he wasn't worth all the love he desired.
Meanwhile, Belarus felt the tension come back. Inwardly, she knew that it was all her fault-he loved her while she... appreciated him. He desired to be everything she wanted while she... wasn't sure what she thought of him. Once again, her heart throbbed deep within herself-she wished that she didn't cause him such pain, but what could she do? If she didn't want him, how could she make herself love him like that? She didn't know how... she didn't know how. After all the kindness Lithuania showed her, which was renewed every day, Belarus knew that he deserved every part of her... but she didn't know how to give him her heart or anything else like that. Once again, Belarus was sullenly eyeing the floor, holding back tears... and it started with some routine cleaning. If only she could clean out her thoughts so she knew what she felt for him... perhaps things would be different.