Hugg-u

Veil: Raised between the two, so fine that they can't see it, but it tickles them

In the first few volumes, we see so much of a couple epitomising the many subtle ways of showing intimacy. As the volume progresses, we can also see the clarity of the veil that is within Emma and Aleksander's relationship- that is, the love that is continually blossoming yet still somehow confined by this veil. There’s sooo much love embedded in Emma & Aleksander’s subtlest, tiniest gestures that scream “I love the nearnesss of you.”

I always say how much I love Kotteri drawing gestures esp the sequences of their hand movements– hands with so much tenderness & warmth reaching out til their fingertips touch & fall down into the skin of another.

Volume 4 looks to me like an emphasis on Aleksander’s gaze to Emma; how Emma’s grasps allow him to surrender to her touch, leaving him to stare at her ‘to his heart’s content’. His eyes emanating with admiration over her beauty, wandering around as he starts to unravel her habits. Frustration of wanting to touch her & this ‘veil’ comes in between.

Kotteri said there are scenes we feel the veil tremble slightly & I think scene 39 highlights that the most. Veil that is used to describe their relationship, intimacy & closeness & familiarity & sometimes the restraints.

One of my favourite parts in Volume 5 is Aleksander & Emma verbosely addressing their relationship that is still fringed by a thin veil yet both, so outwardly, holding onto the same fondness for each other that keeps growing. I really think that is the allure of their special connection.

Aleksander talking abt Emma, grasping the glass as he thinks of how she sees & familiarises by her touch. How Emma relishes at the mere presence of Aleksander & his ornate ways of describing her. They are just so so magnetically intimate with each other I’m so in love with them.

In Volume 6, we see what is, indeed, the first compendious dive on Emma’s inner introspection about not being able to see. We have always known that Emma sees best through the touch that come from her gentle hands, & this chapter has reiterated that more than ever.

What I love the most is reverting to this very fact; Emma was starting to see her world with dull colours, then we see Aleksander extending his hands & painting Emma with warmth, the way she has always viewed the world. Really stunning how essentially the colours were used here.

This is all just so, so beautiful! We see so much of their shared vulnerabilities to their own worries, & each time they see through another & show their admiration in their own language: which I think are all a testament to their blossoming relationship. I love them so much.