Rhianna

“Keep your eye on the goal, not the steps you must take to reach it. The goal is everything. The steps are nothing. No matter how difficult the journey is, the goal is always worth it.”
― Jessica Khoury, Origin

“You won't tell?"

"I'll add it to the box under my bed labeled 'The Secret Confession of the Immortal Pia'. Good Lord, girl, don't look so mortified. There's not actually a box.”
― Jessica Khoury, Origin

“You mean you want me to throw rocks at a bunch of monkeys in a tree in order to compete for food and prove that I, man, am the superior species? Chica,” he said, clicking his tongue, “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life.”
― Jessica Khoury, Kalahari

“He lifts my hand from the root and presses it to his bare chest, over his heart. My breath stops. I wonder if he can feel the pulse racing in my wrist, because it’s beating just as quickly as his heartbeat.

“Do you know the Ai’oan word for heart?” he asks.

I shake my head.

“It’s py’a.” We’re so close, his whisper is right in my ear, and his breath warms the side of my neck. “You are my heart, Pia”

I lick my lips. When did they get so dry?

His other hand cradles the back of my head, tipping my face upward. “A body can't live without a heart. And I can’t live without you.”
― Jessica Khoury, Origin