While Silvano was turning the wheels in his brain to digest this information there was a quiet knock on the door, when the door opened it turned out to be Colonel Gillian.

“Greetings, Mr. Silvano. How did you sleep?”

“Goo-od mor-nin-g… uhh, it d-doesn’t s-seem to be mo-morning any-m-more..” He stuttered through this sentence absentmindedly. 

“Oh! Your speech has gotten so much better in just two days, that’s amazing we thought it would take at least a week to reach this level.” 

Silvano found this person to be quite confusing as his way of speaking and smiling is in complete contrast with his neat military uniform, his straight stance, and big build. Not knowing what to say to the Colonel’s statement he just muttered. 

“Th-thank yo-you.”

“I just stated the truth, no need to thank me. Are you preparing for the bathroom and wash-up routine? Do you need my help?” 

“!!” 

“Mr. Silvano?” 

Without realising, and out of habit, Colonel Gillian asked Melam about mundane actions, but this made Silvano tremble with shock and shame. 

During the time in the Ulime residence when he was pretty much immobile he had gotten used to somehow crawling to the bathroom and using his single movable left hand to get dressed and undressed, to wash and clean himself. Even as a child from the age of 4-5 years Silvano has been self-sufficient in most aspects. He didn’t have a mother or a father who would do things for him, coax him to have his meals or remind to dress warmly on colder days. Mrs. Bilon would just occasionally wash his school uniform, and that only for the neighbours not to gossip, everything else was his own responsibility. During the first year of Elementary school Silvano became aware that his classmates and their parents were always mocking him for being sloppy, having messy hair and a peculiar smell that inevitably sticks to you if you live on a farm. This realisation deeply affected him and eventually, he started being constantly mindful about how he showed up quite early on. He would regularly ask for someone to cut his hair very short and made a strict habit to check his clothes every morning for stains or smell. He’d prefer to go to school in damp clothes right after washing rather than have a stain or animal scent on it. Silvano did not have an arrogant attitude toward others, but also couldn’t tolerate the idea of being looked down on or mocked, so personal hygiene and appearance had always been a priority for him since he was very little. And as a person who’s used to doing everything by himself this situation of being taken care of felt extremely unnatural.

“Mr. Silvano, don’t worry, Colonel Gillian here is only helping me to move you onto the wheelchair. In the bathroom there will be just you and me. At first it wasn’t a problem for me to move you myself but with the baby this big now it’s better to have two people for more stability.” 

While Silvano was looking at them back and forth Melam gently gestured to Gillian with her head to start and they both took a step forward. But their actions got distorted in Silvano’s vision and turned into an image of two huge, evilly smiling figures getting closer to him and stretching their hands to grab him, tear him apart, humiliate and defile him… It was overwhelming for his traumatised self and he involuntarily curled up defensively, clenching his jaws as tight as he could, trembling all over. The Colonel could feel how agitated he was, it was obvious even for Melam who didn’t have soul sensitivity like him. 

“Miss Melam please bring the wheelchair closer.” Colonel Gillian changed his approach, he erased the smile from his face entirely, and without it, what was left was a completely unemotional, bordering on looking cruel face devoid of any notion of compassion or desire. This change somehow brought Silvano back to reality from his terrified state. Even Melam was startled. 

“I want to clarify something first. Mr. Silvano, we are all employees here with each of us having a clear task. Miss Melam and Miss Thesa are nurses who specialise in caring for male+ patients. Doctor Sherum is a big name doctor obstetrician specialising in male+ pregnancies and delivery. As for me, I'm a Colonel in the Air Forces responsible for communications between different departments and psychological profiling of military personnel. This sounds a bit vague but I don’t think you need more details at the moment.” While Silvano was busy staring into his face Colonel Gillian bent down and carefully lifted him up and effortlessly placed on the wheelchair that Melam had quietly brought close to the bed. 

“See, it wasn’t that difficult. So we will very much appreciate it if you would cooperate and not hinder our work as we don’t have any personal intentions concerning you, good or bad. If a situation is hard for you to handle, just close your eyes. Believe me everyone’s primary mission here is to keep you and the baby safe, healthy and happy.” 

Silvano, now seated, was still staring into the Colonel’s emotionless face while Melam was effortlessly fixing his clothes, hands, feet and hair which had grown enough to reach his cheekbones and cover half of his ears. His dark brown hair and big eyes with purple irises made an enticing combination together with his pale milky skin. Silvano himself had no idea how much his appearance had changed during these past months. He is still quite thin but this is not the haggard lifeless skeleton like condition that looked  miserable and to a degree repulsive. He has received daily care and an uncountable amount of treatments to detoxify and nourish his physique. His arms and legs are still very thin and there is almost zero grams of fat on his body, but just by looking at the colour and texture of his skin and shining hair it’s clear that he is cared for and his organism functions well. He just needs to slowly build stamina and muscles. And probably first of all self awareness. 

“And let me tell you one more thing, Mr Silvano, no one would dare to do otherwise.” Colonel Gillian bent a little and said this last phrase with a raised eyebrow and a side smirk, then turned to leave.

“I’ll be on standby Miss Melam, Mr. Silvano.” The Colonel bowed his head coldly and left the room leaving Silvano dumbstruck, while Melam, having a tiny smile on her face, performed all the necessary steps and slowly brought his wheelchair toward the bathroom. 

The advice of closing his eyes came in handy as he was unimaginably uneasy. It felt mortifying to have a lady wash him so gently and thoroughly from head to toe, even the most private parts… 

Melam tried to somehow imitate the Colonel’s successful method of pacifying Silvano by acting distant and in a work mode. Without saying much, just some phrases like ‘is the temperature ok?’ ‘I’m applying shampoo, please refrain from opening your eyes, Sir.’ ‘There, almost done!’ Apart from those, Melam mainly stayed silent but inwardly felt sympathy and affection for their dear patient’s sensitive condition.

Silvano still had firmly shut eyes and a pained expression even after being dried off and draped with loose undergarments and a bathrobe.

“Would you like to choose clothes, Mr. Silvano?” Melam wanted to lift his mood and as male+ youths are usually quite pampered and like to dress up, it has become “a well-known fact” that they all prefer vibrant styles by nature, so she thought of this method to cheer him up. Whereas Silvano has probably never even thought of wearing anything remotely fashionable or colourful in his entire life, he would already be happy to have clean and neat clothes to wear. This ornate, lavender, satin robe was probably the most stylish thing he can remember ever wearing, and now that he opened his eyes after being asked a weird question, he couldn’t help but gently touch the sleeves, feeling the extraordinary fabric… 

Then, imagine Silvano’s surprise when Melam brought him to his closet filled with his colourful attires. Silently watching as she brought out different fancy clothes of unusual shapes and colours one after another, he imagined a strange game of house with him as an unconscious live doll. Doing calculations in his mind Silvano excluded Admiral Carnage, the doctor and the Colonel from having such a weird hobby and deduced that it’s the two ladies' way of passing time when bored with an unresponsive patient. 

His way of thinking wasn’t entirely wrong but he hasn’t met yet another person who has been actively involved in his life for the past 7 months: all the staff’s fear and headache - Assistant General Bartel. It was actually the Admiral’s Military Assistant, who, after seeing the same clothes on Silvano twice during one week, had gathered the whole personnel and denounced them for more then an hour to remember their responsibilities well, with no second time being allowed. 

“So, would you like this sky blue loose cape to go with this matching golden silk shirt and trousers? See, there are also golden embroideries on the collar and sleeves of the cape. Don’t you think they look so lovely together?” As she showcased the flashy combination, Silvano was trying to figure out whether she was serious or mocking him. Actually both sounded wrong to him so he silently shook his head with pursed lips.

“You don’t like them?” She sighed a little disappointed, they had purchased these clothes a couple of days ago and still didn’t have time to try them on Silvano. After seeing his beautiful eyes and expressive facial features even more remarkable while awake, she just wants to doll him up and pamper him. “Ok, let’s see what else… actually, you are in the growth spurt period of pregnancy so it’s time to get new, more comfortable and stretchy clothes. I know exactly the right platform for cute pregnancy outfits! We’ll browse through them but first let’s finish drying your hair, dear.” 

“Buh-ut they seem f-fine.” He weaky brought his hand to his hair that felt almost dry. For Silvano the norm for most of the cases in life was to just let things dry off on their own if they are clean.   

“Oh no, dear, your hair will get frizzy and lose its shine if you do that.” 

Silvano felt like there was no point in talking at this point as things just got done around him. But he still ended up stunned as what he thought “hair drying” meant, wasn’t anywhere close to Melam’s series of actions. She first performed three consecutive hair treatments with different equipment completely unfamiliar to Silvano. Then she used two different tools for drying and styling his hair. Then there were some creams and other hair care products used but Silvano’s attention was diverted somewhere else by then; he had finally looked into a mirror. 

At first he didn’t recognize himself at all. It felt like looking at a complete stranger. His skin looked different, his eyes and hair, the lavender fancy bathrobe, and finally his round belly… It all looked surreal.