Liora Benami stood at the edge of her father's sweeping vineyard, the crisp morning air laced with the scent of dew-soaked earth and ripe grapes. The horizon stretched wide before her, the sun slowly painting the sky in shades of gold and lavender. It was the kind of beauty that should ignite dreams, spark imaginations and inspire poetry, but Liora's thoughts were far from poetic.
Her life was uncomplicated at least, that's what she tells herself and anyone who asked. She lived with her father, Lior Benami, a fifty years old man, a man as steady and unyielding as the vines he cultivated. Together they had built a predictable rhythm over the years, the vineyard was their world and within it, Liora found solace. But this didn't mean happiness for Liora.
"You're up early again", Lior's deep voice broke her daydream.
Liora turned to see her father approaching, she looked at him and saw his hands were already stained with dirt from tending to the vines. At fifty his face was already weathered but kind, his gray streaked hair, a testament of years of hard work. He had raised her alone after her mother, Adi died birthing Liora, a weight Liora carried all her life even though it wasn't her fault.
"I couldn't sleep", Liora replied, her tone light but evasive.
Lior looked at her with a river of sadness in his eyes "you work too hard, you need to find a life outside the vineyard, this isn't your whole life". She she smiled brightly, not wanting her father to worry about her "I like working in the vineyard, it keeps things...uncomplicated". Uncomplicated. The word felt empty even as she said it, her father smiled at her, gave her a pat on her back and went back to his work.
Liora remained where she was, staring out at the vineyard. She wanted to believe that her life was simple and uncomplicated, but deep down she knew the truth. She knew she had a lot of baggage in her heart she was carrying. Simplicity was a mask she wore to avoid making her father worry, asking herself questions about her mother and the feeling that she wasn't were she was meant to be and she was built for something different, something much more, something far beyond the vineyard