If a touch could spark, there would be a flame, like that of a candle, steady and consistent, overwhelming hot. To be near each other means often racing hearts and sometimes nervous jitters and the bashfulness of two young people in love that aren't always sure how to express their love and try to contain it in every little gesture.
A brush of fingers together. Holding hands. A kiss under the pale moonlight glow. A glance when they are positive no one else is looking. And sometimes passionate affection with reckless abandon, and the drop of that high with the low of did someone else see that?
It's hard to find words for a love that braves distance, braves even the cold weather that falls on a reunion, braves letter writing, and braves the balance of protecting a royal reputation. All of this and so much more.
And here, Shirayuki stands with Zen, her heart aching for him, not in any sexual way, but in the way that nothing seems to draw two hearts together and two souls together like she wants them to be. It's a feeling beyond words and a feeling that only Zen has ever evoked in her, and the realization that perhaps the closest she can get to expressing this feeling, bringing the connection to reality, is their wedding night that she hopes will one day be.
A feeling like red carnations and patience, a feeling like holding onto hope when life gets hard, because that is when hope gets harder and more stubborn, more resilient.
Her heart aches for him, and sometimes she even catches in a look on his face, a gentle brush of his hand against her cheek, a kiss when they are alone, that his heart aches for her too.