After some time, the sun’s rays reached Viora too, and as soon as they fell on her face, she turned her head to the opposite side.

"Urg..."

Her body tensed up for a moment, her hands clenched into fists and her arms straightened.

"Mmmm..."

Gradually, she relaxed and moved her hand to wipe the drool on her face, which might have been the first thing she felt after regaining a little bit of consciousness.

’I think she is waking up now,’

Subconsciously, I turned my head away from her and started looking at the roof. I don’t know why, but I just did that without even thinking.

’It’s not like she can see me looking at her. So why am I turning my head?’

I turned back to look at her and noticed that she was opening her eyes. After a few blinks, her eyes were now fully open. But unlike yesterday, she didn’t keep her gaze in one direction.

This time, she moved her face in my direction and, as if she could see, she looked straight into my eyes.

"Wu...Jan..."

In that instant, a chill ran across my body. Hundreds of thoughts began to surface in my mind.

’Was she able to see me?’

The idea of her being able to see was too good to be true. But the way she looked at me now, straight into my eyes, wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

"R... O... wak..."

When I heard those words, I stopped my imagination and focused on the reality that was right in front of me.

"Yeah, I am,"

I said and sat up on the bed. Last night, she told me her name, and now she was the one trying to talk to me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if she needed help with something. Maybe she was hungry. After all, it was morning, and she had only eaten a bit of rice yesterday night.

"Do you need something? Like breakfast?"

I asked, but she just shook her head slightly in denial. She didn’t want food. Then what did she want?

"Okay, then tell me what it is that you want."

For a moment, she stayed still, and after a few seconds, she raised her hand and pointed toward the window.

"Dat..."

That? I looked at the window and came to the conclusion that she wanted me to close the curtains. Maybe because the sun was biting her skin.

"Alright, you want me to close the window, right?" I stood up and walked to the window. However, before I could pull the curtains close, she spoke up again.

"Ne..."

She said no. Why would she? Wasn’t this what she wanted? Or was I interpreting it wrong?

I walked back to her bed and stood in between the sun rays and her. Now, her face wasn’t illuminated by the direct sunlight, but her hand still was.

"If you don’t want me to close the window, then why did you point at it?"

I asked and waited for a reaction or an answer.

"S...on..." she whispered so low that if I wasn’t standing close, I would have missed her words. "Haw... Luk..."

She moved her hand, on which the sun’s rays were still falling, and turned her palm toward it.

It was then I understood that she didn’t want food, nor did she want the window to be closed. She only wanted to know how the sun looked like.

My heart squeezed at her request.

It was such a simple thing. Something everyone in the world could see every day without even thinking about it. But for her, even this was something she had to ask about.

"You won’t mind if I sit beside you and then explain it?" I asked, and she just tapped her hand on the bedsheet twice.

I sat on the edge of her bed and glanced out of the window, looking at the sun for as briefly as I could. Then I began to explain the view to her.

"The sun is like a big, golden circle in the middle of the sky. In the morning, it’s so bright that if you could see it, it would feel like a warm hug for your eyes."

Following my words, she tilted her head and let the sunbeam fall on her face. She closed her eyes and began to visualize the scene I was explaining to her.

"Imagine the color yellow," I continued to tell her whatever my mind could come up with the best.

"It’s the color of a lemon. But the sun is deeper. It’s gold. It’s the color of being happy. When the sun touches the clouds in the morning, it turns them pink and orange, like the flowers in the garden downstairs."

"Pink..." Viora repeated after me, and a smile appeared on her lips. "...Flo...wer?"

"Yeah, sometimes it does," I glanced at her hand. "But right now, it looks like it is hugging your hand,"

My last words made her shy, and she pulled her hand away from me. I was just saying that to make her understand better, so why is she getting all shy?

"That is just how the sun is,"

I was about to stand up when I noticed something. Viora had slowly turned her hand back toward the sunlight again.

She didn’t say anything. She just stayed like that and let the light fall on her palm.

"...Wam..."

I froze for a moment. That single word felt heavier than everything she had said so far.

Not because it was anything special. But because she was finally feeling something instead of just surviving.

"...Yeah," I responded. "It is warm."

For a brief moment, silent fell over the room. Instinctively, I looked away for her, not because I wanted to. Only because I didn’t know how to stay in that moment without ruining it.