Seeing him come downstairs, she timidly leaned into her great-grandfather's embrace, and then watched him defensively, as if he were a man-eating beast. He saw the look in her eyes and felt a sudden, slight ache in his heart. He then sat down quietly not far away, still pretending to read the newspaper.
She had finished her apple and stopped crying. It seemed she had forgotten the unpleasantness from earlier and continued to play by herself, here and there, but always far away from him.
Occasionally, she would turn her head and glare at him fiercely, her eyes brimming with grievance and reproach. Once he looked up, she would quickly shift her gaze away.
Throughout the afternoon, he kept hoping she would come closer to him, but until she left, she never once came near him.
That night, he often thought of her, and somehow, his body reacted. The feeling was foreign and thrilling; he wasn't unfamiliar with adult videos and just used his hand to take care of it.
