June leaned back slightly, her expression soft but tinged with sothing heavier, as though she had been circling this mont for a while. Her smile didn’t fade, but it shifted, no longer playful, no longer teasing. Instead, it carried weight.
"You want to know about and Kafka, don’t you, Olivia?" She began gently, her voice quiet. "Then before I tell you about that...I need to tell you about myself. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense."
"About...yourself?" Olivia blinked at her, caught off guard.
"Yes." June nodded faintly, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "I don’t usually...show this part of to anyone. Honestly, I hate showing it. But if I want you to understand , then maybe I should stop hiding."
Olivia tilted her head, confusion flickering across her face. She opened her mouth, about to ask what she ant, when June let out a small sigh, shifted in her seat, and began to lift her skirt.
"Eh—!?" Olivia gasped, startled. "W-What are you—"
Her question died in her throat the mont she saw.
June pulled the fabric up just enough to reveal her legs. Her right leg was smooth, pale blue, flawless, almost porcelain-like. But her left...
Olivia’s breath stopped sharply. Her eyes widened, and her throat went dry.
The left leg looked horribly burned, the skin twisted, scarred, an old injury that still bore the mory of pain. It wasn’t fresh, but it carried a violence of the past, a kind of permanence that made Olivia’s chest clench tight.
June caught her reaction imdiately, of course she did. She always expected it and her voice ca calm, but steady, as if she had practiced saying it a hundred tis.
"This...is why I can’t really walk properly. Why I need crutches all the ti. It’s the secret I hide from most people...And the reason Kafka stopped earlier when I almost undressed, because he knew. He knows how sensitive I am about this."
She let the fabric fall back into place, covering herself once more, while Olivia, still pale, looked at her with wide eyes, her lips trembling.
"H-How..." Olivia’s voice cracked slightly. "How did this happen?"
June exhaled through her nose softly, her smile faint but faraway.
"A horrible accident. When I was a child." She answered. "A fire broke out...I was lucky enough that my life was spared. But my leg..." She touched her thigh gently through the skirt. "My left leg was completely burned."
"For a long ti, I couldn’t even use it. Couldn’t even feel it. Years passed before I managed to regain even a little function. But it was never the sa. Too much nerve damage."
Olivia’s eyes softened, her voice barely above a whisper. "...I’m so sorry."
But June shook her head quickly, smiling with a strange cheerfulness.
"No, no. Don’t be. It happened so long ago that I’ve gotten used to it. It doesn’t hurt anymore, not physically, at least. And I don’t sit around thinking about it every day. It’s just...part of now."
She paused, then looked down briefly, her voice quieter.
"But back then, it did hurt. A lot. It made feel inadequate. Ugly. Lesser. Not only did my leg look hideous, but it left unable to do even the simplest things other children could."
"I couldn’t run, couldn’t play. I grew up carrying that weight, and because of that, I saw myself as...inferior."
Olivia frowned deeply, her heart tightening as she imagined a young June struggling through that kind of pain and sha.
"And later..." June continued, her tone steadier now. "When I grew up, a marriage was proposed. And you know what?" She gave a small laugh, though there was no humor in it. "I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t question it at all. My self-esteem was so low that I was just...happy."
"...Happy that soone was willing to marry , despite my condition. I thought it was enough."
Olivia’s lips parted slightly. "...And was it?"
June shook her head, her smile turning bittersweet.
"No. Not at all. I regret it now. My husband...he cheated on more tis than I can count. And even when he wasn’t unfaithful, he lost interest in completely. Treated like I was...nothing. Just a burden."
Her voice faltered briefly, though she tried to smooth it over with another practiced smile.
"So yes. That was my reality for a long ti."
Olivia parted her lips, ready to say sothing gentle, so attempt at encouragent, but June surprised her by continuing before she could.
"But..." Her tone shifted, lighter, warr, a real smile blooming this ti. "Even though I lost so many things because of that accident, I gained sothing...sothing important."
Olivia blinked, surprised. "Sothing important?"
"Yes...Passion. Purpose." June nodded, her gaze turning a little dreamy. "You see...for years, I couldn’t bear to look at myself in the mirror. Every ti my eyes fell on my leg, I turned away. I thought, if even I can’t look at it, why would anyone else ever want to? I felt...ugly. Inadequate."
Olivia’s chest tightened, sadness flickering in her expression.
"But then..." June continued, her smile softening into sothing fond. "One day, on a whim, I bought so fancy lingerie. I don’t even know why. Maybe I just...wanted sothing pretty, sothing frivolous. And when I put it on...when I saw myself in the mirror—"
She let out a small laugh, shaking her head as if she still couldn’t believe it.
"...for the first ti in years, I thought I looked beautiful. Even...enticing. Like maybe I could love myself again."
Olivia’s eyes widened, her lips parting in awe, while June’s hand drifted over the armrest, fingertips brushing a lacy throw pillow absently as she spoke.
"That mont changed everything. I realized, if lingerie could make even , with all my scars and sha, feel that way...then what could it do for other won? Won who felt ignored, undesired, inadequate? I wanted to give them what I had just found. A way to see themselves anew."
She gestured lightly around the shop, her pride showing.
"So I studied fashion. Focused on lingerie design. Worked for years. And eventually, this boutique was born. Every stitch, every design, every little detail, I made them for won like . For won who needed to rember how radiant they could be."
Olivia followed her gaze, eyes scanning the floral motifs, the delicate displays. Slowly, a smile grew on her lips, touched with warmth.
"And it worked." June’s expression softened even more. "Ti and ti again, a woman would walk in, slouched, quiet, unsure. Maybe her husband no longer looked at her. Maybe she’d convinced herself she was too old, too plain."
"But the mont she put sothing on...her face would change. That spark, like she’d been reborn."
She pressed her hand to her chest, her eyes shimring.
"It’s the sa look I had that first day in front of the mirror. And seeing it again, in them, every ti...it makes everything worth it. All the pain, all the years."
Olivia’s smile deepened, her voice soft, reverent.
"That’s...amazing, June. You turned sothing so painful into sothing so beautiful. Sothing that helps so many people. I think...that’s incredible."
June chuckled gently.
"Thank you. That ans more than you know." She paused, her gaze lowering almost shyly before lifting again. "And I admit...I especially love this boutique because...it’s where I t Kafka."
The ntion of his na made Olivia lean forward instinctively, her interest piqued, her timidity briefly forgotten.
June noticed and laughed softly.
"You already know he first ca with Abigaille. Nothing much happened then. But the next ti he ca back alone...that’s when we really spoke. And..."
She smiled with a mixture of fondness and disbelief.
"I don’t even know how he did it. He’s so young, yet he has this way about him. This smoothness in conversation, this ability to make you feel at ease with yourself."
"That night, I talked to him for hours without even realizing it. No pretense, no walls. Just...refreshing. As if I could trust him completely, even though we’d only just t."
Olivia’s lips curved into a small, knowing smile, her eyes softening.
"I...know exactly what you an." She said quietly. "It’s strange, isn’t it? Even if he were to tell a lie, sothing I knew couldn’t be true, I’d still believe him. Or maybe not believe, but...I’d accept it."
"Because it always feels like whatever he says, even if it isn’t the truth, it’s never ant to hurt. It’s like...sohow, even his lies are for my sake. To help . To ease ."
June’s eyes widened a little, then she gave a sharp, almost eager nod.
"Yes, yes, that’s it! That’s exactly it."
She leaned forward, her smile touched with relief, as though finally soone else could articulate the thing she herself had been carrying.
"When we first really spoke, he...goodness, he was infuriating at tis. He made the rudest little jokes, the most shaless remarks. Things that would normally make bristle. But sohow..." She laughed softly, almost at herself. "...instead of feeling insulted, I felt lighter. As if his brashness wasn’t to belittle , but to...strip away all the pretenses."
"He wasn’t pretending. He wasn’t guarding himself. And in turn...I didn’t feel like I had to either."
Olivia tilted her head, listening intently, her own smile growing fainter but warr, while June let her breath slip out in a softer rhythm now, her voice lowering, turning almost confessional.
"That was when I knew sothing was different. Because unlike anyone else, anyone at all, he made want to...share. To show."
Her fingers brushed lightly at the hem of her skirt, almost out of reflex, before she caught herself and gave Olivia a fleeting, wistful look.
"And you know, I’ve never shown my leg to anyone willingly. Not even...not even my own husband, not really. I always kept it hidden. Always covered. Always afraid of the disgust in soone’s eyes."
Olivia’s throat tightened, her heart aching at the tenderness in June’s voice.
"But with him..." June continued softly, her gaze distant, caught between mory and present. "I don’t even know what ca over . One mont we were talking, laughing, and the next, I was showing him. That scar, that burn, the thing I hated most about myself."
She paused there, her lips curving into a faint, almost wistful smile as her eyes softened with mory.
"And the reaction he gave ...Olivia, it was so shocking, so completely unlike anything I had ever imagined, that it made feel a storm of emotions all at once. Waves I didn’t know I could still feel."
"It was like...so many different parts of blood open all at once, feelings I had never let myself hold before."
Olivia’s breath caught. She leaned forward almost without realizing it, her eyes wide, her voice trembling with urgency.
"What did he do?" She whispered. "What did he do to make you feel that way?"
June only looked at her, the corners of her lips still faintly curved, her silence stretching just enough to make Olivia’s heart thrum in anticipation...
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