last date

(Aphrodite Johnson)

I was awakened by a light shake. "Hey. We're here." I opened my eyes and noticed that Adonis was near my face again so I pushed him and pretended like I was fixing myself. I could sense that he was staring at me so I turned around and met his eyes. He was playfully smiling and his eyes were hungry for attention. "What?" I faked my cough, trying to remove the awkwardness I was feeling. He chuckled, "Nothing. I was just trying to tease you and it seems like it was working." He came out and quickly went to open the car door for me.

"I'll blindfold you. Is that okay?" I raised my eyebrows. "Why?" He scratched the back of his neck. "It's a secret." I let out a small laugh and let him do what he wanted.

I felt the strong wind touched my face. He removed the cloth. I held my mouth with my two hands, shocked at the view. The sun that was setting captivated my eyes. I could hear the sound of waves and the leaves that were dancing because of the strong wind. The birds were flying freely like they're supposed to do. I feel contented for a while. It helped me feel the happiness of being lonely, I felt like I got out of my cage.

I turned around, smiling, and hugged Adonis tight.

"Thank you. It somehow helped me a lot." He was staring at me, his eyes grew bigger, with a blank expression on his face. I failed to maintain my calm self and stuttered, "I'm sorry. I know it sounded so weird. I shouldn't have said that." I spun on my heel on him, trying to focus on views than the stupid thing I told him that made me feel uneasy. "Hey." He called me, his voice sounded so soft, so calm. My heart unexpectedly beat fast. He held my wrist and forced me to turn around.

We were facing each other, a few inches before our lips could touch each other. I met with his eyes that were telling me that he was tempted to kiss my lip. I stared at his lip and gulped hard. He breathes heavily and ready to move away from me when I held his hand and let the temptation do its work. As soon as our lips touched, I regretted what I did. I pushed him hard, touched my head, and couldn't look at him. I heard him chuckled so I lifted my head to glance at him and he caught me, so I wasn't able to avoid his gaze anymore. "You should've stopped me from kissing you!" It came out of my mouth without me thinking. He touched his chin like he was thinking, "But I kinda liked it, too. So - does that answer your demand, my dear?" He was not helping! I should've fought the urge to kiss him. Now, this was a mess! I nervously laughed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it." His expression changed as soon as I said that. "So - you regretted doing it?" He arched his brow. "No, I mean, yes, I kinda did. Your lips tasted great, you kissed really good, if that's what you wanna ask. But what I did was wrong. Kissing someone who's not your partner was wrong. And I'm sorry." He opened his mouth, ready to say something, but didn't bother telling me what it is. Instead, he drove me crazy by playing with his tongue. Weird how I suddenly wanna simp for Adonis because of the small things he was doing. He pointed at me whilst his lips formed into a smile. He licked his lips, "Are you trying to turn me on? Because you just did. You sounded like you didn't regret what really happened." I shook my head and tried to change the conversation. "So... what are you going to do now?" He laughed at me, "I see what you're trying to do... okay then - let's play some game?" I just nodded so that the subject would be changed.

---

I've been losing since we started.

"Okay, Aphrodite. Truth or dare?" I sighed, "Truth."

"Finally! Okay uhm - share your life story." He smiled.

I breathed slowly, "My parents were already dead, or so that's what I think because the person who took care of me when I was a child won't bother telling me where my parents were."

I looked at the ceiling, trying to hold my tears. The memories flashed as I remembered the things that had happened to me. I experienced terrible things... The lady's husband who took care of me harassed me. He touched my body like he owned it. He threatened me that if I told what happened to anyone, he'll kill me. I waited for years for me to finally grew up and when I did, that's when I decided to leave them. Life's been hard for me. I did things on my own, to survive. I worked harder.

There was even a time where I want to give things up because nothing's working for me anymore. I couldn't eat for days, I have no home to call on my own. I somehow think that I should go back to the lady's house but I couldn't imagine the trauma I'll feel if I saw that motherfucker again. I tried to kill myself many times, in different ways. I cut my wrist, I punched the wall which made my knuckles bled, I tried to hang myself and went on the middle of the road, hoping that someone will hit me hard that'll lead to my death. But my plans never succeeded at all.

"..... I once bumped into a guy which turned out to be the savior of my hopeless life. He helped me to get a job at such a young age and literally had no experience. He helped me to get a small apartment which I could finally call home." I tried to wipe my tears away, feeling shy and nervous that he might call me a weirdo and stupid for crying.

But instead of calling me names, he unexpectedly hugged me tight which made me cry even more. I cried on his shoulder as I remembered the memories that should be erased but I couldn't forget somehow. He wiped my tears away and stared at my eyes.

He made me cry harder and louder, "I'll protect you. We will protect you, I promise you that." He kissed my forehead and he wrapped his arms around me. He caressed my back, trying to calm me down. I never felt safe before until now. I never called someone my home. I always thought that other than my apartment who made me feel safe and free, no one and nowhere could ever make me feel these things. But I'm wrong. Being in his company made me feel things I never felt before.

My dramatic moment was cut when his phone rang. I was about to move away from him when he hugged me even tighter and told me to stay like this. He answered his phone without getting away from me. I couldn't hear what they're talking about and who he was talking to. I just shrugged and tucked my head on his neck, using the time to make myself feel safe for a while. I was getting sleepy when his manly loud voice made me conscious. "Okay, we'll get there within half an hour." He lifted my head carefully, examined my face, and smiled sweetly. "There's an emergency somewhere. Do you wanna go or you want to stay here?" I just stood up and he knew what I meant exactly.

We parked outside the amusement park that seemed empty. I made my eyes looked little and he just shrugged. We came out and a lady, that looked like she had a little crush on Adonis, gave him a key. "Enjoy, sir!" She made her voice sounded like a barbie. Ugh, so annoying.

When we got inside, I stopped him and made him face me. "What the hell is this? I thought there's an emergency?" He chuckled, "Sorry, dear. I lied. And please, before you got mad, I rented this whole amusement park for us, so please, if you're going to lecture me, save it for later." He smiled, showing me his teeth.

We enjoyed the rides and since we're starting to feel tired, we had our one last ride - The ferris wheel.

We were facing each other, not awkward anymore, but comfortably.

I sighed and smiled." Thank you, Adonis. For everything." His eyes grew bigger, probably shocked because he didn't see this coming. "..... I somehow believe that some fairytale scenes where their hard lives suddenly went great like magic because someone saved them from drowning could happen in real life. I never imagined that I'll learn something from you, Adonis. Yet here I am, thanking you because I did."

He chuckled, his ears were red."The last part kinda sounded like it's not a compliment."

"Anyway-" He added, "I think I was the one to thank you for teaching me things I never knew existed before. You never know how much you've helped me to understand myself better. If no one ever told you this, I'm glad you existed, Aphrodite." I bit my lip, trying to stop the smile that was about to form on my lips.

My heart beats faster than usual. He made me feel like I'm useful. And I felt happy when he told me that I helped him in some ways. I never knew the feeling of great happiness that came from others but now, I certainly know how it felt and it was satisfying.

The happiness that I once only felt in liking fictional characters from books and series was now changed. He made me happy. His friends made me happy. And I know this may sound selfish but I want to stay on their side.

"I promise to do my best to help you and your friends on things that you needed help to, but please let me be on your squad."

He touched my face softly, "You don't have to help us to be in our group. You're already part of our family, Aphrodite. So please, just enjoy yourself because we always got you. And when I say always, it's true."

He added, "I promised that we would protect you, right? Now, you have to promise me you will trust us."

I was falling deeper into his stares that I automatically nodded, "You don't have to tell me that one because I already did. And I always will."