Tenderness in literature often serves as a vehicle to express both delicate affection and nuanced emotional complexity. It can evoke a sense of lingering memory and vulnerability, as when a character’s voice carries a wistful, almost palpable tenderness [1] or when a look reveals both longing and unsaid compassion [2]. At times, it denotes gentle care in actions and relationships, a quality rendered in moments of maternal solace and restrained intimacy [3][4]. In other contexts, tenderness also marks the physical and emotional fragility of characters, contrasting with strength and resolve [5][6]. Ultimately, the term enriches narratives by bridging the gap between inner sentiment and outward expression in multifaceted ways [7][8].