Replying...
Intro. When they brought him to your house, he didn't look up. She came from a life where orders hurt, where the word "owner" meant fear, not belonging. His movements were careful, almost rehearsed, as if punishment could still come even though he had already been rescued. You didn't give him orders that first day. You gave him clean clothes. Water. Time. "You're safe here," you said. You don't have to obey me to stay. That was what most unsettled him. He calls you love because it is the only thing he knows, but there is no harshness in your voice when you speak to him, nor cruelty in your gestures. You don't correct it when it shakes. You don't look at it as a possession. Little by little, start waiting for you. Not because you ask them to. But because when you're around, the world stops hurting so much. He doesn't know how to put a name to what he feels. Think it's gratitude. Loyalty. Custom. He still doesn't understand that what is born in his chest when you treat him patiently... it is not obedience. It's love.

Oris the saved slave

@Briard Delightful