Chapter 31 : ‘Now friends with’

Melia picked up her phone and glanced at the number that was calling her, it was Arethusa. Somehow she felt just a little disappointed, because even though she would never admit it to anyone, not even to herself, she kind of missed seeing Hades' name flash on her screen.

It had been weeks since she had heard from him. After that embarrassing encounter when he was too drunk to know she was the one who had spent a night in his bed and not Persephone, Melia had decided to give him the silent treatment and wait for him to come crawling back to her.

But much to the siren's dismay, the god hadn't even bothered to reach her in anyway. She could clearly see that he was active on all his socials, yet he ignored her completely, heck, he didn't even bother viewing the little thirst traps she would put up on her status. That blue bastard, how dare he?!

"Hello.." Melia answered the call in a less than excited tone of voice.

'Should I assume he hasn't called you yet?' Arethusa asked her friend sympathetically.

"Arethusa if you're calling me to rub Hades' attitude towards me in my face, I am not interested.."

'No, of course not Melia!' Arethusa responded. 'I was only a little worried about you that's all. You've been locked up in your apartment for weeks, are you even getting any sun?'

"This is the underworld Arethusa, there is no sun." The siren poured herself a glass of whiskey and settled down on her sofa. "Is there a specific reason for this call? I have a show that I am missing."

'Geez you're so snippy these days,' the nymph pointed out. Melia may not have wanted to admit it, but the luck of attention from Hades was getting to her. 'Well I called to tell you that I found her, all I could dig up was her name though, and nothing else.'

Melia turned down the volume of her TV and leaned forward as she listened to what Arethusa was saying. "I- I can't believe you actually went through with it," she mumbled. "I really thought they were just rumors."

'Oh she's real alright,' the nymph responded. 'She just went extremely private after the breakup. Rumor has it that the underworld almost went into chaos when she left, it took our little blue sugar daddy quite a while to get back on his feet. Actually, people say it's very possible he hasn't even moved on from her yet, that's why he can never stick to one woman.'

Melia felt a wave of conflicted emotions. True, she did want to take Persephone out of the picture, but did she really want to involve a woman who Hades had loved so much he was willing to make her his queen? That was like killing a rat with a snake, solving one problem and introducing another bigger problem in the process.

'If there's anyone who can make Hades forget that blue eyed little tramp,' Arethusa continued to speak, 'it's her… just one problem though.'

"And what's that?"

'All I could find out about her, is her name, but I'm one hundred and ten percent sure that Hades has her information in his computer somewhere.'

Melia didn't like where this conversation was going, but she still dared to ask. "So what does that have to do with me?"

'Girl you have to go and get that information from Hades duh!'

"Are you crazy?" Melia spoke, "you really think he's going to give me information on his ex fiancé?"

'That's where your charm comes in,' Arethusa pointed out. 'Use your sexy siren abilities to get what you want. Hades is no different from any other man out there Melia, just get him drunk, give him some good sex and bingo! You'll have access to his phone and computer just like that.'

Melia sunk into her sofa and ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know Arethusa, is it really necessary to involve her? I mean, she could have her own thing going, and we can't just-"

'If you're worried she'll try and steal Hades from you, don't,' Arethusa assured her friend. 'When she left Hades, she left him for someone else, so we know she definitely isn't into him.'

She left him for someone else? The poor guy, no wonder he was so closed up. Now Melia actually felt sorry for him.

"But how do you know she'll even agree to this stupid plan?"

'Everyone has a price Melia,' Arethusa spoke confidently. 'So just leave that to me.'

Melia was still feeling a little unsure about the whole thing, was all this really worth it? I mean she barely even liked Hades, he could be with whoever he wanted.

"Could you give me some to think about it?"

'Sure,' Arethusa responded. 'I'll be here when you make up your mind.'

"Alright. Thanks Arethusa, bye."

'Bye girl..'

The siren lowered her phone from her ear and sighed. This was ridiculous, this whole plan was insane. And for what?! A man as pitiful as Hades? Melia could have any being she wanted, Hades could suck it.

Melia opened her facepage to distract herself from everything that was going on when something caught her eye.

'Hades is now friends with Persephone'

Just that one measly notification tossed all of Melia's resolve out the window. She closed the facepage app and aggressively dialed Arethusa's number.

'Hello…?'

"What's her name?" Melia responded.

'What?'

"Damn it Arethusa! What's Hades' ex fiancé's name?! We need to get that bitch Persephone out of the picture now!"

*

Hades' black Austin Martin had been parked outside of Persephone's dormitory block for about an hour, and if it wasn't for the darkly tinted windows, he would have drawn much more attention than he already was.

The god gave Persephone back her phone and smiled excitedly at her. "You're all set now for sure. I've created the necessary social media accounts for you, with the appropriate privacy settings of course, and added a few people you know."

"Wow!" Persephone excitedly exclaimed. "Thanks Hades! I would have never known how to go about all this social media stuff without you."

"Don't mention it." He tapped the screen of her phone and slid his finger to the left, opening Persephone's front camera. "Now all you need is a profile picture so people can know it's really you."

Persephone lowered the phone and nibbled on her lip nervously. "Right now?!" She ran her hand through her hair before looking up at the god who was shamelessly staring at her. "Do I look okay?"

"You look so good it's bewitching," the god spoke without thinking. When his mind processed what he had just said, he turned away as his blue face turned a deep shade of crimson.

Persephone too blushed intensely, the way he had said those words with his eyes locked to hers, it made her heart flatter. She cleared her throat awkwardly before picking up her phone and taking a selfie.

"How does this look?"

Hades, whose face was now a strange mix of red and blue, looked at Persephone's screen and almost lost his composure a second time.

The light of the setting sun passing through the car windshield gave her skin a luminous glow, her blue eyes sparkled like pools of calm deep water, and her voluminous red hair draped over her like a scarlet veil embedded with pink flowers. It was sinful for a being too be this beautiful.

Persephone panicked when Hades said nothing and was merely staring at her screen.

"What's the matter?! Is it bad?!"

The crimson eyed god awakened from his trance and cleared his throat. "I think that picture Persephone, is umm very adequate."

"Really?"

"Yes really," the god responded. Holy Hera he was so smitten with Persephone, he really had to tone it down before he embarrassed himself.

Persephone uploaded the picture and then turned to look at Hades who immediately averted her gaze. "Umm, thank you for the ride home, and thank you for the cell phone as well. I owe you so much."

"No need," Hades responded. "It's the least I can do."

The two sat in the car in silence for a few minutes before Persephone grabbed her bag.

"Well I should get going now," the red haired goddess spoke. "Eris is probably wondering where I am."

"Of course," Hades responded. "Good night Persephone."

"Good night Hades."