Chapter 27 : Your eyes

Persephone stopped and turned towards Tekos' apartment and saw him leaning against the rails of his balcony. He had a sullen look on his face, most likely because she had rejected his offer to give her a ride home. She would have accepted it if she was sure he was one hundred percent okay, but she wasn't, she would feel terrible of what happened last night at the restaurant repeated itself.

The goddess gave Tekos a small wave that he returned almost immediately. When a smile tugged his lips, she turned around and rushed towards the nearest bus stop, she only had a few minutes to catch it. She rushed around the corner and pouted when she saw the eight o'clock bus just pulling away.

"I guess I can always wait for the next one.." she muttered with a sigh.

Persephone walked slowly to the bus stop seats and sat down. She looked up at the rusty metallic cloak that was plastered onto the bus shelter walls and sighed. If that watch was right, she would have to wait almost an hour for the next bus to arrive. Her blue eyes trailed off to the corner leading to Tekos' apartment, could she maybe go back and wait from there?

The goddess shook her head and leaned back on the old wooden bench, she had troubled Tekos enough for one day, waiting for an hour wouldn't be so bad. These were the moments the goddess wished she had a cellphone or something, she had seen many people using them to pass the time in moments like this. Oh well..

Suddenly a thought crossed Persephone's mind that caused her to panic. A phone! She had not called her mother this weekend! She quickly got up and scanned the area for a pay phone but saw nothing. Oh gods this was bad, her mother would be furious! That was one of the rules she had put up and Persephone had just casually broken it.

In haste, the goddess rushed to cross the road in hopes of finding a pay phone nearby, but just as her feet stepped onto the tarmac, a car appeared around the corner at high speed towards her. Persephone was like a deer in headlights, frozen with fear as the horn of the speeding car blared.

For a brief moment Persephone felt like she almost welcomed her fate, the fear, the panic, it all melted away, as if she was ready for what was about to come. She shut her eyes and pursed her lips, bracing herself for the collision, but to her surprise, it never came.

Hades clutched his steering and drew in raged breaths as he watched the woman who was standing in front of his car. His entire body was shaking and he was perspiring like a cow in a slaughterhouse. With shaky hands, he put his car in park, unbuckled his seat belt and rushed out towards the goddess.

"Persephone! Persephone!"

Persephone opened her eyes and saw the tall blue god running towards her. Had she died and ended up in the underworld? If this man was to be her captor there, she really would not mind.

Hades grabbed Persephone's arms and gave her a slight shake, "Persephone?" The girl still looked like she was in shock, her eyes were empty and she looked disoriented. "I'm taking you to see my doctor alright?" Hades spoke to the girl who was barely moving. "Forgive me for what I'm about to do."

Persephone felt like she had been whisked by a cloud when the king of the underworld scooped her up into his arms. His hold on her was firm yet gentle, and his scent was like the burning flames of a pinewood scented candle. When Hades put her down in his passenger seat, she had almost protested but her mouth could not open. She watched him secure her in a seatbelt, his face painted with worry.

"Stay with me Persephone, we'll be there in no time at all."

Even though he was a nervous wreck in this moment, the goddess couldn't help but notice how incredibly handsome Hades was, it was absurd that he of all his brothers was the unmarried one, were all the women in Olympus completely blind?

*

When Persephone opened her eyes, she felt even more disoriented than before. Her vision was a little blurry as her eyes were adjusting to the new surroundings. She could make out two male voices exchanging words not too far from her.

"She's just in a state of shock, hence causing her blood pressure to drop slightly. But other than that, she is completely alright, you have no need to worry."

"Thank you Asclepius," Hades spoke in relief, "and thank you for agreeing to keep this between us, I really appreciate the discretion."

"It's not a problem lord Hades, I mean it's not like you haven't kept my fair share of secrets as well."

Asclepius packed up his bag pack and threw it over his shoulder, "all she needs now is enough rest and she will be okay."

Persephone heard a door open and close, was she at a hospital? She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand before pushing herself to sit up.

"Persephone.." Hades rushed to the goddess' side and instinctively held her hand in his. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

Persephone blinked a few times before looking around at the space she was in, it was large room surrounded by glass walls on one end, and a deep grey wall covered in paintings on the other. The high ceiling dangled crystal lamps that brightened the room even more, and the massive bed she was laying in put everything together. Was this Hades' bedroom?

She looked down at the hand Hades was holding and slowly moved her eyes up his arm to his face, it was still painted with worry.

"Where am I?"

"I brought you here so my doctor could take a look at you," the god explained, "you went into shock and I wanted to make sure you were alright."

Oh right, the accident. So it was Hades who had almost hit her?

The crimson eyed god gently stroked Persephone's hand, it was so soft and small, and it felt almost right to hold it. "Do you need anything?" Hades asked the young goddess. "I've canceled all my meetings for the day, so I will be at your disposal until you feel better."

Persephone knitted her eyebrows at Hades, "meetings? You work on Sundays?"

"Uuh well yes, running the underworld is a full time job. I work every day."

"That sounds exhausting," Persephone mumbled, "don't you have someone to help you? An assistant maybe?"

Hades had to fight the urge to say 'would you like to be the one to help me?'. He merely smiled at the beautiful goddesses and shook his head. "No I don't, I am yet to find someone suitable for the role."

"I see," Persephone responded. "You should take it easy though, take a break every once in a while or you'll work yourself to death."

The two beings looked at each other for a brief minute before bursting into laughter.

"No pun intended?" Hades responded before laughing even more.

The two laughed for a good minute before both sighing in unison.

The god looked down at the blue eyed beauty and his smile grew even wider, it was outrageous how a woman could make him so giddy with so little effort.

Persephone smiled as well as she looked up at the god, she didn't understand why people spoke ill about Hades, if anything, he was the kindest god she had met in Olympus so far.

"The color of your eyes.." Persephone muttered after having noticed them for the first time. He had always been wearing glasses so she had never noticed them before.

Hades immediately let go of Persephone's hand and looked away, "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I hope I did not scare you."

"Scare me? Because of your eyes?"

Hades nodded.

Persephone placed her hand on his knee making him turn towards her. "On the contrary, I think they're beautiful."

Hades froze and stared at Persephone before scoffing. "Forgive me, I must be hearing things because for a second there I thought you said my eyes are beautiful."

"I did.." Persephone responded.

"My eyes? The ones akin to the fires of hell?"

"Yes, your eyes," Persephone responded with a smug smile, "the ones akin to rubies."

A blush crept up Hades' face, he turned away from the goddes and with his other hand covered his burning cheeks. "Umm, so you said you needed a glass of water did you not?" The god stood up hastily and walked to the door. "I will get some for you."

"Hades…"

The sound of his name rolling off her tongue made his black heart jump. He turned around slowly and nodded, "yes?…"

"May I use your phone?"

"Yes…" Hades responded in a jittery tone. "One moment please."