Chapter 12

Eugene Ari Darian's POV

After Irene left for the class she said had, I made my way to my new office. It was funny how she blushed at my every word. Maybe she wasn't as tough as I thought.

As I walked, a voice hollered at me and that's when realized I almost bumped into Mr. Hark who stopped me to have a conversation.

"Are you done with the tour? How was it?" He inquired

"It was good, she showed me my office and some other infrastructures. It was refreshing."

"Hope you didn't take too much of her time, she has a test later today and needs to study hard. The lecturer is strict, even I don't like him." His expression looked like he ate something sour and felt the urge to spit it out

"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught what you said." I needed him to repeat it. The shock hit me hard and it felt surreal and I had to make sure I wasn't mistaken

"She has a big test today and I don't think she studied hard for it last night. She's a perfectionist you know."

I kept shut, forcing a smile but it felt like a grimace. He excused himself almost as if he knew I wanted to be left alone. I couldn't let a little unforeseen news ruin my first day so I swept the thoughts to the side, heading to my office. I already had a prospect of how it was all going to turn out.

******

"Where do you think you are going?"

She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Her oval eyes were sad as she sat on the paved floor.

"I was just leaving," she whispered, slowly getting up and readjusting her gown and tried walking away from me. My feet walked and I stood in front of her. Eyes that once faced the ground rose, examining me like they were seeing me for the first time.

She tried stepping to the side but I walked in tracked, she changed directions, trying to work around me again but I still got in her way. That seemed to break her and in seconds she walked closer and began hitting me.

"I hate you!" Her tiny hands wrapped up to form a tight fist hitting my chest.

She continued for a while, crying her pain out before I held her, retraining her.

"You could have stood me up instead you embarrassed me," her voice had calmed down but her heart was still racing by the movement of her chest.

"You shouldn't have come." Her voice got tinier and she controlled her breathing. Her nose dripped with mucus but I didn't mind and just handed her a handkerchief I usually had on me for situations like this except it was with women I barely knew.

We stood together in silence with me still restraining her. She felt so calm so I let her go. She didn't look at me for a moment and began walking around again. The repeated activity was effectively annoying me. She knew how to get under my skin for I was a man with little patience.

"Please just let me go, I can't take the humiliation any longer." She still wasn't looking up at me. I sighed, annoyed and my fingers went under her chin and made her look into my eyes

"I'll take you home in a bit if you promise not to avoid me. I can't say it will be easy for me to forgive you. I hate being kept in the dark. That's how I've felt all my life," I didn't know why I told her this. It was too much information for me even though it could be considered vague, it was still against my number two rule.

"Do you promise to speak to me after this?" My hands were still on her chin so she couldn't avoid my eyes

She gave a little nod and I let her go. The ride back to her apartment was silent. With neither of us having anything to say, the air felt cold. The moonlight illuminated her face and I took little glances from the periphery of my eyes.

We got to her apartment with her bidding me a quiet farewell and I drove back to mine.

The night didn't go as I expect and I didn't know what to do to fix it. I never meant to do that to her but when we began having our conversation, I couldn't bite back my tongue. Interacting with humans was way harder than I had assumed. They were so complicated and exhausting.

"Where were you Eugene? You weren't at the studio either. This is the first of its kind and it's very unlike you." Mother's usual harsh voice welcomed me

"Nice to see you too," came my sarcastic reply as I locked the door behind me.

Mother stood in dark so walked over to turn on the switch. She looked as radiant as ever which irked me weirdly. I seemed to be going through a hard time but she appeared to be having the time of her life on Olympus.

"You look as radiant as ever Mother." I walked past her into my bedroom and I heard footsteps following me. She was spoiling for a fight I wasn't in the mood to give. I knew she'd be gone by morning and I'd be back to my boring life without her.

"You aren't listening to me Eugene, who was that mortal?" That piqued my interest and my neck snapped too fast I was sure I could have sprained it

"What are you talking about?" My action was stopped by her statement and I dropped my duvet, walking closer to her like it would make me understand what was happening better

"You know what am talking about, don't play innocent with me. I saw you with her." Her fingers poked at my chest as she looked up at me with slit eyes. She radiated fury and I was forced to take a couple of steps back.

"You've been watching me?" My voice turned low as my brain processed the new information

"You've been watching me!" My voice rose as realization dawned on me and it was my turn to get angry

"How could you?! Was it just you or were you all having a laugh watching me suffer?" I pushed her away from me in anger and she stumbled back.

"Eugene, how can you say that?" She looked genuinely hurt by my words but I didn't care

"You've been watching me all this while, seeing me suffer and yet," I looked her straight in the eyes, "you refuse to help me. You'd rather I'd waste away on this earth!"

"I wish you had let me die or better still, thrown me in Tartarus!" She gasped, her eyes widened. Even I couldn't believe I spoke to her in that manner.

"Eugene, how can you say that?" Her tone was leveled, unlike mine. I kept mute, too angry to feel sorry for how I was acting.

"I would never watch you suffer, you should know that. If there was anything I could do, I would-"

"Then why won't you let me go to Mount Olympus, Mother? Are you ashamed of me? Am I such a disgrace you can't bear the thought of other gods knowing you had me?" The words leaving my mouth were making sense to me but mother just kept moving her head from side to side, disagreeing with me. She wasn't saying anything either.

"I don't know how I ended up here or why I ended up here. I don't recall anything. You always won't tell me about my father. How am I supposed to survive without knowing who I am?" I was getting fed up with her silence. She wasn't even trying to defend herself, only making my pain worse. This was how she felt about me. I was just a low life she had, a mistake.

Everything I knew about gods was from history though I felt some facts were wrong. She wasn't letting anything get past her, not about Olympus or my father. Not even stories about the time she had me. The only memories I had were from the time I could keep memories.

Even after my tantrum, she was still quiet. It was like she wasn't listening. Her gaze was fixed on the floor. She didn't dare to meet my eyes. This felt like the hundredth time we were having this argument. She was just going to disappear as usual. She'd wait it out for a few days so I could cool off and then reappear like nothing ever happened.

She turned her back to me and before I knew it, she was gone. I would have thought I imagined it if it wasn't for the nice fragrance left of her scent that remained every time she left a room. It was a part of her gift that always made people think of her if she wanted them to and I got the message.

Walking back to my room, I refused to think about anything that happened today. I just wanted to sleep and hopefully never wake up.