Rodel Quotes

“You know what, Rodel?” He reached across the table for my hand. “Everything is new when I’m with you. Food tastes better. Colors look brighter. Music is sweeter. I feel hungry for the world again. I want to go to the places I’ve skipped, I want to share them with you—show you who I am, who I was, who I can be.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“I will remember the perfect oval of your face, the warmth of your throat, the way you hold a pen when you write. Most of all . . .” He cupped my chin, his eyes roving over my upturned face. “I will remember a strange, beautiful girl who liked the feel of old books and drank her coffee sweet. She snuck onto my porch on a gray day and taught me to see in color. She was a thief, my rainbow-haloed girl. When she left, she took my heart. And if I had another, I would give her that too”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“My eyelids drooped, but I didn’t want to miss any of it—the way his fingertips were tracing the outline of my lips, the way his beautifully proportioned body felt against mine, the flecks of harvest gold in his sky-blue eyes. “Remember this.” He brushed the hair off my neck and breathed a kiss there. “When you’re curled up with your books on a rainy afternoon in England, remember how you painted my world with your colors. Remember your rainbow halo.” “I will.” A hot ache grew in my throat. He was already saying goodbye. “I’ll remember. For the rest of my life.”
― Leylah Attar, From His Lips

“I do recall hearing a conversation in our home in Strausberg, between my mother and my father, where my mother sounded very angry that my cousin had let the Rödels down by having to be dragged out of Oma’s house, crying for his mother and shouting that he did not want to return to the war in Russia.
Like a great many other soldiers throughout that period, he died in Russia on 5 May, 1944. He was just twenty years of age, and is buried somewhere in that country.”
― Alfred Nestor, Uncle Hitler: A Child's Traumatic Journey Through Nazi Hell to the Safety of Britain

“I crave you, Rodel. In the most innocent ways. I lie awake in my bed at night, thinking of you down the hallway, wanting nothing more than to hold you. I want to stroke your hair until you fall asleep. I want to give you forehead kisses when you’re down. That’s all I allow myself. I don’t go any further.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“His eyes were so impossibly blue, it was like he had the whole sky inside of him.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“I wish I could explain to you what that voice does to me.
I wish I could explain to you how you make me feel.
I don’t think I’ll ever fall as hard and as fast for anyone, the way I fell for you.
I don’t think I’ll ever love anyone the way I love you.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“TIME. THE LESS you have of it, the more precious it becomes.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“His gaze traveled over my face for a long, still beat before falling on my neck. “I can’t bear the thought of you leaving,” he said to the mark his teeth had left there. “I stop breathing every time I think about it.” He found another one, closer to my collarbone, and pressed his lips to it. “I want you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.” His voice was muffled, vibrating against my flesh with deep, soft resonance. “Will I miss you?” He lifted his head and looked at me. “Like a dream that starves and curls up beneath my bones.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“I kissed him then, suddenly and without warning, standing on my tiptoes to reach him. “What was that for?” His mouth quirked higher. I wanted to know what your lips taste like after a smile. I shook my head and grinned like I was holding a big secret.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“Rodel.” His long, tapered fingers slid down my arm and tightened around my wrist. He didn’t have to say anything. He was doing it again—bringing me back to the moment. He had an artless way of communicating with his eyes. He could blur everything in the periphery, so all that remained was his calm, commanding presence.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti

“You’re my rainbow-haloed girl, and you’re freaking magical. Don’t you ever forget that.”
― Leylah Attar, Mists of the Serengeti