Chapter 12 - A Kiss From Him (1)

Chapter 12 – A Kiss from Him (1)

Persephone’s earlobes were bright red. Hades had expected her to retreat with fear. He wondered if one day it would be fun for this girl to fall into the underworld; into his arms. But she never showed the reaction he wanted and surprised him like always. Let alone be frightened, she curled her lips into her mouth and clung to his neck at the same time Hades frowned.

“This is good, so why are you telling me to run away? Why are you acting like you don’t like it when it’s good?” The lips of the clumsy girl met shyly with the lips of the speechless man. A slight touch, then separating again.

“Do you do this with other girls too?”

“Nonsense.”

“Does that mean no?”

Hades’ lips spread into a devilish grin.

“Hades, you like me, right? Have you been thinking about me?”

He was attracted to her from the beginning. He couldn’t hide it. A drop of poison can spoil an entire well. The mistakes of those suffering in the underworld all started with a single drop.

“To my disappointment, I even speculated.”

The ruler’s patience was short, and his lips longed for an old touch. Hades grabbed the back of the girl’s head and kissed her. The moment every calculation lost its meaning. It was like a drop of poison. The point of no return. And regret is the price of sweetness brought by this.

*

With the rising sun casting a bright hue over the dark night sky, Persephone rushed to her room, trying to get in unseen by anyone.

“Kore! Where have you been?”

A voice, softer than the other nymphs but still sharp enough to make the girl stop short in her tracks, called out. Her plan to readily hide in the room had failed again. She tried her best to relax her frown as she straightened up and turned around.

“Cyane, you’re up early.”

“Kore, what on earth are you doing these days?”

“What do you mean?”

“You secretly wander out at night. Alone, might I add.” Cyane said, worry etched on his face.

“Maybe because I want to be left alone.”

“How could you say that?”

The little girl just crossed her arms and looked to the side with her nose lifted high.

“Kore, we used to be close. Please tell me.”

She huffed and recalled how that was back when they were very young. They had been close. Despite being trapped on the island forever—in the name of love and being guarded from unknown harm—Persephone believed it was paradise until she realized that the filial affection was too much.

“Did you go near the cliff?”

“Are you spying on me?” Persephone questioned indignantly.

“No, I can smell the ocean and there’s some sand on your feet.”

“You can smell the ocean from anywhere.”

“I may not have as keen a sense as a night hunter, or as many eyes as the god of stars, but please don’t undermine me.” Cyane frowned, insulted by the little girl’s distrust.

It wasn’t the first time for Persephone to go out in the middle of the night and return in the morning. The island was safer than any other place on earth, but it troubled the nymphs who served her when she went out without telling them. They feared Demeter’s reaction if she ever found out.

The last time Persephone disappeared, Naiads was the first to notice. She informed both Aretusa and Cyane. That day, as Cyane had now, Niads warned her with a more brutal attitude than Cyane, since Niads and Aretusa were both fiercer than Cyane. But it was clear that Persephone wasn’t listening to any of them.

-Where did you go?

-Kore, stop behaving spoiled okay? If you cared how mad Demeter will be if she finds out, how much trouble we’ll be in, you wouldn’t dare think of going out alone!

-You said you wouldn’t wander off alone again.

-There is no safer place than this island.

“Stop it, all of you!”

Persephone’s cold-hearted attitude forced the nymphs to give up. No matter how much they reminisced her lovely childhood, she was a burden to bear for them now. But Cyane couldn’t abandon Persephone completely.

Even when Persephone complain, when she ignored Demeter’s orders and left the island’s grain fields unattended, and even when she tried to hurt everyone by being a brat, Cyane believed that Persephone would one day accept reality. So she always quietly took charge of the consequences. However, Persephone was aware of her affection and tried to use her.

“You’re not going to tell mother, are you?”