Everyone who approached me for this update, thank you! I would not have gotten the drive to write this chapter without you♥️ It would be even better if you could show that same enthusiasm in the comment section as well :)
Also we completed 50k ✨ I still can't believe it😭
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"And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me."
~Edgar Allan Poe
🎶 Manchala or Eurielle
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The midnight mist enveloped the twinkling sky like the darkened thoughts fogging his mind.
His mind was a stormy sea of emotions as Dev stared ahead into the nothingness, the moon's silver light casting a sombre glow upon his troubled countenance.
Bruno sat beside him, whimpering. He sensed his owner's misery.
His own words haunted him.
For there was no greater truth than that. He had known it when he had gazed upon the innocent beauty for the first time, enraptured by her, and every day since that Dev had spent in her proximity, he had come to believe that.
But he shouldn't have said it out loud. Indirectly he had confirmed his grandfather's suspicions, and what was worse was that he didn't regret it. It felt somewhat freeing to admit it out loud.
A long beep came from the phone that made Dev flinch. His grandfather cut the call.
What else did he expect?
There was no place for emotions in their life. His grandfather had drilled that thought into his head. He had been very insistent. Especially after his daughter had loved a man who had ultimately destroyed them. He had warned Dev from repeating his parent's mistake.
"Focus on your goals and never let anything or anyone interfere with your plans. Emotional fools don't win wars," he had said.
And Dev just went ahead and broke that very rule.
He exhaled harshly, feeling his pocket for the familiar plastic box and his lighter. A single unlit cigarette rolled between his thumb and forefinger before he lit it.
Dev could still feel his grandfather's disappointment in waves, and it grated on him.
His grandfather was like a second parental figure to Dev, who had taken in the battered and traumatised nine-year-old under his tutelage when his own family had betrayed him. Gave him a home and raised him into the man that he was today when his own mother couldn't look after him. He had protected his mother and gave Dev a purpose to live for, taught him the ways of the world and trained him so that one day he could conquer it.
