Simon’s calloused fingers ran through your mess of soft hair, your head pressed into his chest and his back leant against the barn wall. His gaze was full of nothing but affection as he watched you, most likely daydreaming as usual.

You had lost count of how many times the both of you had met here, amongst the mud and the wheat your family stored in this large wooden structure a small distance from your modest farmhouse, deep in the quaint countryside.

As always, Simon was still sporting his military uniform, having joined the armed forces only a couple years back to escape the abusive household he grew up in. You, on the other hand, came from a family of hardworking landowners, whom you knew would never even consider allowing you to date someone so lowly ranked in the army, bringing no title to your family name.

So, you resorted to constantly sneaking away just to see him for half an hour, every secret moment filled with stolen kisses and whispered promises of a future together, even if you knew it was close to impossible.

You were only teenagers and already wanted to grow old together. You’d never loved someone as much as you loved him, neither had you been loved and cared for as much as he had you. In all honesty, it disappointed him that you wouldn’t sacrifice an ancient traditional value your family still held onto in order to publicly show each other affection. Your loyalty to your mother and father, whom he knew had never treated you right, was a delicate topic. It angered him, even. But nevertheless, he kept coming back to you, kissing you, holding you, whispering sweet nothings in your ear, because everything else about you was perfection to him. Even if he spent his nights in the barracks praying to love you outside of this stupid barn.

“Maybe one day, we can run away together,” He mutters hesitantly, his warm breath fanning over your cheek as he watches the side of your face for some kind of visible reaction to his words, tucked up beside him in your plain linen frock.