Nina sat in front of the sewing machine with her back straight and her hands resting timidly on the cloth stretched beneath the needle. The wooden stool felt small beneath her, yet the warmth behind her was impossible to ignore.
Judas stood close. Far too close for her fluttering heart.
His hands came around her slowly, guiding her fingers into place. He adjusted the angle of her wrist, then pressed lightly on her waist to straighten her posture.
His movements were gentle, patient, almost tender. But to Nina, they felt like warm lightning spreading under her skin.
Her ears twitched with every touch. At first, she panicked.
Her breathing stumbled as her tail puffed in panic before curling tightly around her leg. Her thoughts tangled like a frightened hamster.
Husband is touching me. So close. Too close. What do I do? Should I stop him? Should I stay still? Should I… let him?
But every time she even thought of distancing herself, Judas leaned in just a little more. His breath brushed the back of her neck when he spoke.
His chest pressed faintly against her shoulder as he shifted their position.
His voice was low and warm as he explained how to steady the fabric. She could not remember a single word he said. All she could feel was him.
Gradually, his tenderness washed over her panic. Her shoulders eased, her ears lowered, and her body leaned back against him, shy yet accepting.
He was her husband. The man who chose her when others turned their faces away.
The man who smiled at her instead of mocking her ears or her bloodline.
The one person who promised she would never starve or be discarded again.
If he touched her, then… it was fine. She wanted to let him, wanted to be close to him, as close as her second skin.
Judas moved his hands again, guiding her fingers along the cloth. When he slid his palms down to her hips to adjust her posture, a small gasp escaped her.
Her skin warmed as if someone had lit a fire inside her chest.
She let herself melt, eyes half-lidded in fragile bliss. Until his hand slipped beneath the hem of her clothes.
Not entirely. Just enough for his fingers to brush the bare skin of her navel. They curled around her belly button, making goosebumps rise all over her body.
Nina's entire body locked in place.
"Mmnh…" A tiny whimper escaped her lips. His slight smile reverberated to her skin through his chest as her ears flushed hot.
One hand on her belly button, Judas moved his other hand to just below her breast and took a sharp inhale at her neck.
"Puppy, you are so sweet."
The hands moved up, but froze midway. Nina's breath stopped in that instant. A cold fear erupted inside her.
Because his touch found the scars.
Faded lines. Twisted curves. Dozens of marks carved into her skin. A map of pain she carried but never spoke of.
She kept them hidden beneath her clothes. She never let anyone see them. Not even accidentally. She prayed every day that no one would ever discover them.
But Judas's fingers unknowingly traced the edge of one of the marks.
Oh no. Please no. Not there. Not those.
If he sees them… will he think I am ugly? Will he think I am damaged? Will he look away?
Her chest tightened until she could barely breathe.
Her hands clutched the bottom of her shirt, preventing it from lifting even a little. Tears gathered instantly, blurring her sight. Her tail wrapped around her leg so tightly it hurt.
She trembled.
If he knows why these marks are there… if he knows what happened to me and what I have done… will he hate me?
Her breath stuttered. Her throat closed. Her entire body shook with the effort to hide the pain.
She wanted to disappear. She wanted to vanish before he could see.
"Let me go…" she said through her teeth.
Please don't see them.
But what she feared seemed to be happening as the gentleness in her husband disappeared, replaced by something akin to cold anger.
His hands around her tightened.
"Nina…"
Her tears slipped down her cheeks before she could wipe them away. She kept her head down, shoulders trembling.
Nina did not turn around to answer.
She only sat there shaking, silently pleading that he would not find the truth beneath her clothes.
*
* *
Judas had not planned to lose himself.
Not this much.
At first, he only wanted to guide Nina's hands, to help her learn, to enjoy the way she leaned against him with shy trust.
But her warmth pressed into him so naturally that desire crept in before he realized it. Her scent brushed his senses like soft berries and morning dew.
When she gasped softly under his touch, something inside him stirred. When she trembled, his breath grew heavier.
When she leaned into him, he felt his restraint begin to thin. She was so warm. So soft. So eager for even the smallest affection.
Her sweetness made his heartbeat pound in a way he did not entirely understand.
His hand traveled without thinking, gliding beneath her clothes. His fingertips traced the smooth curve of her navel, then began to rise slowly, searching for the shape of her ribs and the soft contours above.
She had melted against him, with her tiny, cute whimper. He had felt her desire for him when her body arched ever so slightly into his touch.
Desire had clouded his mind. He wanted her. The girl who looked at him like he was her entire world. All of her.
He wished to tell her she would be the same to him. His entire world.
But then his fingers brushed something wrong.
A raised line. Then another. A twisted curve where skin should have been smooth.
Judas paused. His breath caught.
He explored gently, unsure at first. Then the truth unraveled beneath his fingertips.
Her abdomen. Her stomach. Her sides.
All of it.
Scar after scar.
Cold spread through him, sweeping away every trace of desire in an instant.
His heart clenched painfully as he lifted her clothes slightly to see, but she immediately grabbed the hem, holding it down with trembling fingers.
His chest tightened.
What he had touched was not a single old wound. It was pain carved over years. Suffering etched into her skin like a cruel story. This is the end His pulse surged with shock, then anger, then something far heavier.
Who hurt her like this.
What monster did this to such a gentle girl.
Nina trembled violently in his arms. Her head lowered, ears flat, shoulders shaking as if she expected him to pull away in disgust.
"Let me go," she whispered, her voice strangled by fear.
Judas froze.
"Nina…" His voice quivered.
Please… do not look. Please… do not hate me.
"Silly girl.."