was older, with skin toughened by sun and storm, and a quiet strength that drew Elias in. Over the weeks at sea, their shared watches under the starlit sky had blossomed into something more—a silent understanding, a heat that simmered beneath the surface of their professional duties.
He reached out, his hand calloused but gentle as he cupped Elias’s cheek. Elias leaned into the touch, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The world around them—the ship, the sea, the endless sky—seemed to fall away, leaving only the two of them in the deepening twilight.
"I’ve never felt this way before," Elias whispered, his voice barely audible over the rush of the waves. "Neither have I,"