Chapter Two

The wet road and the reflections of the hot sun on my black, glistening skin remind me that I am back in my place. Passing by my favorite craft store and smelling the sea as I approach home.

Nothing reminds me more of Santorini than the smell of Grandma's fried fish. That's all she thinks about before entering her grandmother's restaurant.

Her grandmother looks at her in disbelief, and feels a joy in her heart and walks across the tables quickly to hug her granddaughter.

— What a joy you are here, and what's with the pale face? I know you need to eat, I bet you didn't eat right when you were there, right? Come with me mi amor. — Her grandmother asks with her hands on her cheeks, and watches her granddaughter.

— No Grandma, I'm fine, I just missed home... — She looks down and continues talking: - Come, I want to show you the presents I brought.

Her grandmother and she go inside the house, her aunt watches them from the kitchen, and at that moment Cybele knew that if her aunt knew she was back. The whole island would know, let's just say her aunt wasn't much of a secret-keeper, to say the least...

And if the whole island would know... So would Apollo, and she certainly wasn't ready to see him again.

And what nobody knows is that Cybele was not well at all, as her grandmother had confirmed. In fact, sick, nervous and afraid. On the way home she had confirmation of something that would change her life forever.

She had taken a test a week before, it was that envelope, she didn't have the courage to open it for a week, but she opened it on the train with her eyes closed, and almost fainted when she saw "Positive" on the exam, she was pregnant...

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— Aaaaa! — Shouts Athena with arched eyebrows, and wide smile as she enters the room and finds her sister in the living room. — I thought you would only come for my wedding, she jumps for joy going to her sister, and shouts again. — Alexia, come down here, now!

—No, Athena, your grandmother pinches her. — She raises her hands. — You don't know that your sister is grounded! — She raises her eyebrows.

— Why is that? What happened?" — Cybele looking at the two of them as she opens her suitcase.

Her grandmother shrugged, and her eyes widened. — The same as always, her sister asked who her father was, her mother refused, and the offenses began...

Cybele looks at the stairs, and purses her lips together. — So nothing has changed around here! — she gives a half smile, opening her suitcase.

She rests her suitcase on the floor, and sits down quickly. — And Mom? Where is she?

— Her grandmother scratches the back of her neck and stops talking.

There is silence in the room, so they stare at each other.

— Oh, sis, she went fishing with Apollo and Sebastian," Athena explains, putting her hands together and biting her lips.

— And why did you hesitate so much to say that? Guys, Apollo and I broke up, but that doesn't mean you have to hate him, or anything like that... — She concentrates on taking the clothes out of her suitcase, thus removing the box of necklaces, which she had bought for her grandmother.

— My granddaughter, what a beautiful thing! I love it! — says her grandmother, putting the necklace on, quite happy.

Atena smiles when she sees her present, a blue dress, her favorite color, she twirls around the room, and Cybele gets up from the floor and feels everything spinning, she blinks a lot.

The door opens and her mother enters, her eyes shining, she's happy to see her daughter there.

—My daughter, at last! I was about to go to Italy and bring you to myself, how are you? — She says, coming closer and hugging her daughter.

Cybele hugs her with a wide smile on her face, and in the hug her mother says in her ear: — Apollo is outside, go talk to him.

She looks at her mother, and hunches her shoulders a little, contracting her body and frowning. — I don't think it's good to talk to him now...

— Come on, you fool, you'll lose this man, half the women on the island are already hitting on him," she says as if in a whisper, patting her daughter on the shoulder.

Cybele crosses her arms and arches an eyebrow. They can do whatever they want, he's a single man. — She points to the door.

But, she goes outside the house, and sees him unloading the fish her mother had caught.

He sees her and everything seems to be in slow motion, his heart beats strongly, it seemed like it was going to come out of his mouth, so much to say, so much to talk about, but all he wanted was to grab her and kiss her and tell her how much he missed her.

But, Cybele wasn't the same, and didn't want that anymore, she was determined to end it, "But how to do it without hurting him" She thinks, "Look the way he looks at me, I don't know if I can say what I have to say" She immediately feels his hands soares, while she walks to him, even with the wind she feels a heat, it seemed that she would explode, swells her cheeks, and approaches him.

And for Apollo time stops for a second: — Hi, you look tired. — he notices, hugging her half-heartedly, his hands touching her waist.

She pulls out of the embrace. — Can we go into a private corner and talk?

— Yes, yes, of course! — The boy nods, and he instantly turns red. — How about our corner?

— Yes, let's go! — she says with a blunted expression, pursing her lips together.

It was elusive, and she put her hands in the pockets of her shorts, as she saw the boy reach out to stand hand in hand with her.

They walk to the hill, the island is a hilly region, and full of beautiful places, and full of flowers, everyone who lived there felt as if they lived in paradise.

But there was a place behind Cybele's grandmother's restaurant, a small hill facing the sea, it was high.

The place was home to so many memories of the two of them, their first kiss, conversations, confessions, declarations of love, in short, good memories...

— So, I think that this time that you asked is difficult, and I missed you all the time, can't we just forget about it? We just have to go back to being what we were... After all you believe in ... — He says the corners of his eyes were frowning, he stuck his nose in the air.

She interrupts him, looking into his eyes as sadness clouds her features, she brushes her hair out of her face in the wind. — Apollo I can't, I'm not what I was, I've changed, and I don't love you anymore...

He takes her hands and puts them together, stroking them, and says as he approaches her, their eyes meet: — You have to remember the important things, our love, how you feel, or felt from when I kissed you....

She dodges and crosses her arms, the tears shining in her eyes, all that was painful to hear for both of them, she shouts as if she was venting her frustration: "I'm pregnant!

She turns her back to him, but soon looks at him again with a tear on her cheek. It was all too painful for her.

His face closed hard, he won't believe what he has just heard, a vein popped out of his neck, and he swallows dryly and says with his head down: — So you, you didn't betray me! But you know, that news ends with me. — he opens his arms.

— What? Of course I know, but it's the truth. — We were taking a break, and I was single, but that's not the point, what I mean is that I can't do it anymore...

He looks down and his eyes get wet, he takes a deep breath smelling the sea air. — Yeah, maybe you're right, you're not the Cybele I know anymore, because she, she would never do that to me...

He leaves with heavy steps, unable to hold back the tears that insist on wandering in his eyes. Cybele goes downstairs and when she gets close to the restaurant she smells food. Her stomach rumbles strongly...