Agnes dreamed of a field of flowers and a jar overflowing with honey. Yet it wasn't the sweetness of the honey nor the beauty of the flowers that caused her to smile. Rather the man waiting at the center of the field with his head spun to gold by the sun. And the smile that melted her insides into a heated pool flowing downstream.
She ran to him and hugged him. And then she didn't care about a thing in the world.

When she woke up, she was still enveloped in the security. If only it could last...
He was still asleep, breathing deeply and softly with his long lashes brushing his cheekbones.
Against her index finger, their feel was like the feather of a dove.
The bridge of his nose straight as an arrow and his lips soft to her touch.
No wonder the women flocked to... soft lips like his she would desire to kiss over and over again.
She hoped her first kiss would be with someone with such lips. Maybe with his nose and jaw too. Also having the same eyes as his wouldn't be too bad.
For him to look at her just as Adris was doing that moment.

"Adris!" She shrieked snatching her hand from the flames.
"I was ...." The words couldn't come out.

"Were you thinking about kissing me?"

Maybe.

"No."

His smile faltered.
"Who were you thinking of?"

She rolled away shaking her head and her feet touched the wooden floors.

"I was thinking that I need to be useful to you so you don't sell me."

"Agnes, you are not a servant, I don't own you."

That was worse. If he didn't want her where would she go?
"I need to use the bathroom."
She sighed her mind spinning with thoughts of what was her future. Maybe she should please Adris so he'd keep her even as a servant. With such little worth would he even help her find love still? She was debased and disrespected by her grandmother- her own family. Now how much more Adris. He would never respect her as he had done before.

Agnes listened intently, she heard voices downstairs.
Adris and another one of his female visitors. She was having a life crisis and he was using the house like a brothel.
Her heart dwindled at the fact.
She straightened her shoulders and stared at the brush in the distant, her mind wondering when her heart had held out enough to even be disappointed in him.
"Adris, there's so much rejection I can take; I have my dignity."

"I told you, my friend needs me."

Agnes pushed the door open her interest highly peaked. She felt a rush hearing him reject the woman for her sake- his friend.

"Does she have your cock in her hand? You're fucking that whore now! That has to be why you don't want me anymore."

How crass. She acted contrary to what she said, whining was  not dignified.

"She's not even beautiful. What do you see in her?" The visitor continued to argue.

"I don't have to justify myself to you. Get out."

When the door slammed Agnes tiptoed down.
Adris was in the kitchen putting fruits in the bowl. He got strips of meat and set them on the table.

"Agnes..."
He saw her hiding and scoffed.
"Are you hungry?"

She joined him at the table.
"Who was that?"

"No one." He saw her face.
"You heard?"

"Everything. Thank you for still thinking of me as a friend. So don't worry I won't take advantage of your hospitality. I should find a place by tomorrow."

His expression was blank.
"Okay. If that's what you want but you aren't taking advantage of me."

The berry's sweet juice burst in her mouth as she chewed pensively while watching his face keep the same look.
Wasn't this what he wanted?

It was. The next day, Adris and Agnes directed the carpenters with the small furniture around the new house.
"Are you certain, Nessie? We could get a bigger place." Adris said to her examining the house which looked more like a room than a house. But he'd paid so she didn't want to use him to such extent. He'd helped with the furniture, food that would last weeks and even new clothes. He showed he truly didn't own her.

"Any bigger and I'd really have to be your servant."

The helpers left with waves and bids of farewell and they were alone.

There was silence.
"So now you have your own place."

"Yes."

"Nice. Since we're done here..."

Agnes pushed dust with her toes.

Then Adris took her hand in scrutiny.
"I wondered how you could carry such heavy things clearly you're a hard worker."
But he didn't let her hand go.
"So rough and strong."

"Not feminine?"

He shook his hair.
"Not in the least. But they are pretty. And look how small they are compared to mine."

"If my hands were as large as yours I would have buried myself." She laughed.
Not truly. No, she wouldn't  bury herself but being strong boned with large things and a fat behind, hands larger than the average man would only be the last straw that broke the donkey's back for her. She imagined the fresh insults her grandmother would line up just based on that.
Her heart pinch her when she thought of the old woman.
She wondered if she was doing well now that she'd gotten rid of her headache. Agnes hoped she was. Maybe it was an insane thought.
Thinking of her grandmother only made her chest ache with sorrow.

"What's with that face?" Adris' thumb pushed down her pouted lips. "We're happy so let's celebrate."

So he took her away from her house and they returned, breatgkess and faces flushed from the wind with a jar of stolen wine and sat under the stars, gazing at the million diamonds in the vast darkness.

"How does someone get there?" Agnes asked Adris.
With his head tilted to the side he replied,
"The gods place you there."

"I know but does everyone become a star or is there a process. Who do I have to bribe?"

Adris laughed probably because he realized how inebriated she'd gotten to ask such a silly question.

"You really want to be one?"

She nodded.
"My parents are up there. When I become one then I won't have to be alone."

His warm fingers cupped her face and he touched their foreheads.
"How do you make me so sad?"

Agnes chuckled, "I'm terrible company nowadays."

"Yet I want to be here." He replied.

She heard the words from his mouth yet they made no sense.

"I don't get it either."
He opened his eyes and she saw the fine moisture.
"So don't be sad or you'll move my heart."
His heart? Hers was pounding to a fevored rhythm just by his words.
It was letting her imagine something impossible.
"Adris?" She whispered.

"Fuck. I'm sorry" He muttered.
Her silent short breaths were stolen by his lips when they sought hers.
Her first kiss.
Agnes was unaware her body had taken over when she moved closer and hugged him.
His lips were gentle as she'd imagined. Soft just like when she'd touched them.
She let him kiss her and she savored the sensations roiling through her system- they were wonderfully thrilling.
Madness! The name of her disease- it was madness.
They both pulled away, Adris' gaze more searching than anything else.
"Well then. Goodnight." Agnes said, got up and retired under her covers where she prayed Adris would disappear.

"Sleep well." He said.

Her prayers were answered. Yet her stomach sank.