﴾ the kicker here, of course, is that jamil is just as vain and praise-oriented as everyone imagines him to be at first glance. those words feel good before he can tell them not to, especially from kalim, and the gravity between them is far too sound to deny. against all his best wishes, he falls for it — for just a half a second, one small and egregiously selfish moment of indulging the sweet warmth blossoming in his chest.

which is two moments too long, actually, because none of this means anything. jamil has already decided long ago that kalim will become his father in more than just name and estate, and it's important to keep in mind what that will mean for him. more of the same, that is, with the additional labor of seeing to so many wives and children, and jamil is already exhausted attempting to refocus his mind when his face is steaming like a furnace. ﴿

Shut up.

﴾ he means it to be biting, but it's spoken as his fingers fall tenderly upon the curve of kalim's cheek, his touch just as soft as his tongue. annoying. his brows adopt a far more serious tilt, and with a little more mental steeling, he even manages to push kalim away from him so that he can retreat a safe distance and groom himself like a miserable cat. ﴿

There's no reason to say such things. I don't need to hear them. We've wasted far too much time with this already; I have a thousand things that I must do and you have notes to memorize for your exam tomorrow. Focus, Kalim.