It was dawn, well before the first cock crow.

Kuukuwaa opened her door and stood outside.

It was an ungodly hour, the hour of the spirit, the hour when most people in Densua would not venture outside.

The sky was dark, with no moon or stars, and she wondered if it was going to rain or if the weather was also mourning with her.

She smiled ruefully as fresh tears pricked her eyes again.

How had this happened?

When had it happened?

Surely it was madness to have such sudden and fierce feelings for a man who was for another.

She sighed miserably and crosses the yard to his door, pushed the door open and entered silently.

She was wearing a nightie, one she had bought second-hand from the seller at Nankese, a village not far from Densua. This was the first time she had worn it.

It was short and provocative and see-through, accentuating her incredibly beautiful curves.

She had covered it with a big cloth though, and so it was hidden.

She found him propped up in the bed, his back against the headboard.

One lantern was on, playing gently on his bare chest. He was wearing only a pair of shorts, and she stopped at the sight of his masculine body, at his hairy chest, at his incredible beauty.

His arms were folded across his chest, and there was a sad expression on his face.

They looked at each other for a long time, and then she walked forward and stood looking down at him.

“I see you, Kuks, the fairest of them all,” he said in a gentle voice.

His words brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away with a mighty effort.

“You’re not sleeping?” she asked tremulously.

“Hasn’t been able to sleep.”

“Why, Zack?”

“I don’t know. My soul is troubled.”

She sat down slowly on the bed, reached out and took his left hand, and then she gently pulled out his ring finger.

It is there…faint now, but clearly discernible.

A round line around his ring finger. Her heart gave a mighty jolt, and she began to shudder.

She raised horrified eyes to his face and saw her pain reflected in his, and suddenly she knew that his heart was also in turmoil.

“You’re married!” she cried in a tortured whisper.

He looked at her, and for a moment his lips quivered, and a fierce sadness made his face even more beautiful.

“I prefer not to look at it that way, Kuks.”

“And in what way do you prefer to look at it, Zack?”

“I assume that once I’m not wearing the ring it means I’ve not worn it for some time. It means I might be divorced.”

She shook her head gently, and a silvery sheen of tears rolled down her gorgeous face.

“If it was a valuable gold ring, then the boys who brought you here from the next village might have stolen it!”

“I prefer not to look at it that way, Kuks!”

She looked at him, startled now.

“And in what other way are you looking at it?

“I’ve been thinking that when I had the accident I wasn’t wearing a ring, that I might not have been wearing the ring for a long time because I might be divorced!”

“Stop it, Zack, please stop it! You can’t hide from the fact that somewhere out there, a shattered wife and maybe grieving children are wondering where you went! You have a family out there, Zack!” she cried sharply. “Wife, children, parents, friends! All worried sick about you! Please, right now, you have to remember! You have to force yourself to remember, especially your wife! Surely, she is one you cannot forget even with memory loss!”

He sat up suddenly, thrusting his face forward, and she saw clearly the pain on that face, and the longing, and the hope and the fear!

“Can’t you see I’m scared, Kuks?” he asked in a fierce whisper. “Can’t you see, ever since I saw that ring print on my ring finger, that I’ve been depressed, that I’m in a lot of pain? Can’t you see I prefer not to think too deep for fear of finding out there is a wife? Can’t you see confirmation of that fact fills me with dread, with pain, with fear?”

“And why? Why should that be so?” she threw at him.  

“Because I see you, Kuks. That’s the only reason. Because I see you!”

Kuukuwa began to shiver as she gaped at him.

Zack fell back slowly unto the bed, and reached out for her, taking her arm and pulling her close to him.

She gasped as she suddenly found herself in his arms.

He was lying on his back, and her body was lying half across him. Then, he spread his legs and pulled her gently.

She went to him willingly, and suddenly she was lying across him fully, her legs between his, her body on him, her head on his chest and her heart was pounding so much that she thought it was going to explode.

This is the first time she had been this close to a man.

She raised her head, looked into his sad eyes and smiled even as tears rolled down her face and scorched his chest.

“I see you, Zack.”

He nodded with a smile, and his huge arms went around her.

Gently, she put her head on his chest and she thought that was the most comfortable and sweetest place she had ever slept.

She slipped her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, pressing her body close to him.

Zack’s hands rubbed across her back, and she shivered as the sweetest of earthquakes rocked her body. Then, she felt her nipples going hard, and a sudden throbbing between her legs, and she squirmed uneasily across his body.

A few minutes later she felt him against her lower belly, pressing furiously, hot and angry.

“You feel me.”

“Tell that snake to relax. He’s not going anywhere,” she said with a little giggle.

He laughed softly, deep from his chest, and she loved the way his laughter vibrated in her whole body.

She had never felt this urge ever in her life! The urge to abandon herself, to spread her legs and allow that heat to cool the fire raging through her.

She had always been repulsed by this physical contact, by the fear of an erection anywhere near her…

But not now!

Not this dawn.

Her whole body tingled and craved this man. She wanted him in more ways than one. She wanted that unity, that powerful finality, but deep down she knew this was not the time. Tonight, they can only share warmth, and console each other, trying to find a soothing balm for the pain in their hearts.

After a while, she felt the erection going down, and his arms loosening a little.

A while later she felt his regular heartbeats, and she knew he was asleep, finally.

She had brought him peace, just as her heart was, only for the moment, at peace.

Knowing that he felt her pain, shared her pain, and lived her pain brought relief to her heart.

Kuukuwa came awake with a start when she felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder.

She opened her eyes with difficulty, turned her head, and saw the amused face of her stepmother peering down at her.

Terrified, Kuukuwaa tried to bolt up, but the kind-hearted woman smiled with a shake of her head, indicating the gently-snoring Zack.

Kuukuwaa smiled ruefully and gently tried to get to her feet.

Zack’s arms tightened a bit as if he loathed to let her go, but his sleep was too deep, and his arms fell off.

Kuukuwaa got out of the bed and stood facing the woman.

“Saw you coming in at dawn, my daughter. Woke up and saw the light of the day creeping. Thought you wouldn’t want your father to find you here.”

Kuukuwaa hugged her warmly with gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you, Mama. But…”

“I knew nothing happened, dear. Otherwise, he still wouldn’t be that hungry.”

“What?”

The woman gestured towards Zack’s shorts with a protruding chin and a funny look on her face.

Kuukuwaa followed her gaze and saw that his erection, once again, was pushing angrily up against his shorts.

Both of them giggled at the same time, and then quickly they left the room.

There was a song in Kuukuwaa’s heart as she ran to her room and as she fell on her bed with a sweet smile on her lips.

“Oh, Zack…I more than see you!” she cried happily.