Whispers Beneath the Cherry Blossoms

kiss, but it d

campus that felt like a secret space of the world. The old radiator hissed like it knew what was happening behind those thin walls. His fing

orehead to hers.

like deep rose. "I've bee

peak after th

ch, maybe, they had. There was no awkwardness, no stuttering uncertainty. His

her? Like he was star

e back curled against his chest, their l

down her spine like h

eel it?" h

ked into th

ll, like something in

dded s

the sex, us. The exact feel of your arms around me, the scent o

r shoulder. "You're not losin

fted. The petals stop

ing, Evelyn s

elyn sat on his ledge wearing one of his oversized button-down shirts, the scent of his skin

ms are changing,"

or t

't just a memory. I th

ning o

s when we try t

nd took her chin gent

ome. I'm not l

ious he sounded. Like she wasn't just a girl he

to the tree

anches twisted like claws. Evelyn stepped close, l

his tree before

at her. "What

said. "I

velyn gasped, holding her hand back, but the tree had already respo

od-

hed up and

n his hand, turning no

ched, not just from Victor,

r had long since turned cold, but she couldn't stop touching her body, marking ev

ed mirror, her re

ment, she didn

white-robed, wide-e

hoed behin

. The body remembers. And t

t there was

asn't sa

searching for anything about the Binding Rite. Most of it had

box mislabeled as "East A

expected to see clothes and stuff, but no. It wa

ed it, re

emple, a maiden in white, a priest on his knees with h

calligraphy

ding Rite must burn the b

swallow

he blos

t together, and he realized too late that he may

outside in a thin robe,

memory of w

ike razor-thin silk. She stood barefoot beneath the tree, br

ummed in

like hers, but olde

om deman

opped to

ssed in ceremonial robes. It wasn't Victor, nor

t

st from

had once b

ut his lips

beloved. Love hi

n scr

r's bed, gasping,

lm her, but she pushed aw

streaked w

he

d, too stunn

d him in

" she whispered.

night, the cherry tree outs