27-10-2025, 10:14 PM 
		
	
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 But Naveen told himself. “I won’t betray her trust. She trusts me. That’s more important than anything else. I’ll honor it.” He stood firm, muscles relaxed but alert, aware that the quiet trust between them was fragile and invaluable.
After a final splash to rinse away the last traces of salt, sweat, and sand, she stepped out of the spring, the water dripping from her hair and arms into the stream below. She reached for her sun-drying shawl, and dried her and put it back for drying.
She took her cloths close to drying and already lighter and fresher, and slipped them back on, the fabric cool and soft against her skin. “It’s incredible… how alive this makes me feel,” she thought, grateful for the sunlight, the stream, and this quiet, ordinary act that had become a small triumph in their uncertain world.
Through it all, she felt Naveen’s presence nearby,steady, unobtrusive. It wasn’t that she expected him to watch, but the silent knowledge of his respect made everything feel safer, easier. That quiet trust,how deeply it had settled between them,was palpable.
Kavya looked back toward him, her eyes soft, her gaze carrying the calm of the stream, of respected privacy. “Thank you… for giving me space,” she said quietly. “I really appreciate it.” Her words were simple, but they carried weight, acknowledging the kindness and respect that had quietly blossomed between them. “I feel… seen, in a way I haven’t in days,” she admitted silently.
Naveen gave a faint, warm smile, not looking directly at her. “Of course. Always,” he replied, his voice steady and sincere, resonating in the silence between them. “She deserves it,” he thought simply, “and I want to give it freely.”
Once she was settled, she stepped aside. “Your turn,” she said gently, her voice almost too soft for the brightness of the morning. “I wonder if he’ll feel the same relief I do,” she mused quietly, almost to herself.
Naveen stepped forward, kneeling to rinse the sand from his hands first. The cool water spread over his fingers, easing the grime of the beach.
He moved with an ease born of experience, of someone who had cared for others before, but now only had himself and this fragile companionship.
When he bent to rinse his hair, the sunlight warmed his back, casting shadows across the muscles in his shoulders and the curve of his neck.
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