Alicia

One Year Later

"Dada, this one?" Lily coos, her tiny fingers curling around a red brick as she flashes Ash a beaming, toothy grin. She's perched in the warm sand beside him, their unfinished castle standing tall and crooked between them.

Ash kneels beside her, a streak of syrup-or maybe chocolate?-smudged over the front of his once-white shirt. It clings to him, more brown than white now, a testament to his surrender to Lily's sweetness and her relentless requests for 'just one more treat.'

He used to wear black. Always black-sleek, cold, untouchable. Now? White. He says it makes him look regal, like a king stepping into his reign....