When she finally brought the medicine home and sat beside Desmond on the bed, he looked at her face for a long time.
He could see everything she was not saying.
“You worked double shifts,” he said softly.
“You needed medicine,” she replied, opening the packet.
“Grace…”
She looked up.
“Why?” he asked.
Just that one word.
She was silent for a moment, then answered carefully.
“Because when I stood in that ceremony and made a promise, I decided that whether or not I chose this life, I was going to live it with my whole heart. That is who I am.”
Desmond was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was different, lower, as though something inside him had changed forever.
“You are the most extraordinary person I have ever met.”
Grace simply handed him the medicine and told him to take it after eating.
After he recovered, something shifted between them.
In the evenings, Desmond began asking about the silver bloom. At first the questions were simple.
“What does it smell like?”
“How deep are the roots?”
“What exactly do you think it can treat?”
Grace would glance up from her notebook with surprise, then explain carefully, and he would listen with complete attention.
One evening, she caught him watching her with an unreadable expression.
“What?” she asked.
