ʟᴏᴠᴇ & ᴡᴀʀ Ღ ʟᴇᴇ ʜᴀᴇᴄʜᴀɴ

Ikosi tessera

Hera's club

Rays of multicolored lights waltzed in a jumbled motion around the room, splotches of indigo and noble plum dominating the mixture, it reflecting its most radiant complexion on the half-goddess vitreous irises as she gazed through them at the spectacle unfolding.

Lips slightly parted, breath hitching from the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she took in the hypnagogic atmosphere of the place with all her might.

Ji-Ae was no foreigner to nightclubs, them being her comfort places for as long as she could remember, yet the extramundane aspect of everything that shrouded her made her most vital organ passionately pound, menacing to vacate the confines of her ribcage.

"Is this too much of a shock for you, Love?" The young demi-god asked as he looked at the girl's epiphanic state with amusement, taking her out of her trance with his words.

"Not at all." She responded, feigning indifference. "In fact, I'm loving every second of it."

"I'll leave you to it, then." He retorted, retreating to a quieter side of the club.

She watched him navigate through the crowd, the club becoming insignificant to her as he was now her most urgent source of interest.

He dragged his feet on the ground, exhaustion molding the features of his she so exulted, yet his walk remained as steady as his ego and body could allow, agree on.

The mighty god of war could not possibly display an ounce of weakness, not when potential foes swarmed the area, not when his whole life, he's been adulated, worshiped, and thoroughly shaped into becoming the epitome of prowess, his signature trait.

Not so openly, at least.

With a faint pained wince (that would have gone unnoticed by everyone if it wasn't for Ji-Ae's every sense latched on the demi-god), he leaned his head against the wall, eyes shutting at the contrast with the damp mossy surface, the throbbing of his head receding as droplets of a consecrated water tingled his flesh, and he whispered a slow sigh.

It felt odd.

Ji-Ae, not being much of an empath herself, couldn't refrain from the immense concern she had for the guy whose name she didn't even know, her heart tugging in her chest like a broken instrument as she witnessed the spectacle of his muffled agony.

With a steady step fueled by an instinctive urgency to nurture, she began to march toward the demi-god, absentmindedly fiddling with her hair tie as she rehearsed her words in fear of sounding corny, only to abruptly brake in her tracks when a figure came into the picture, beating her to it.

The figure walked in a series of graceful hops, hands interlaced behind her back as she approached the unaware semi-deity, sporting a dainty smile that showcased her pearly whites.

Her skin- an opulent aquamarine- blazed a strong glow through the dim-lit area, reminiscent of the moon's reflection on a murky lake.

A cerulean blue hued her knee-length wavy hair, rhythmically seesawing at her sides as she moved. Several water lilies ornamented the top of her head, braided into the strands in a crown pattern with great expertise.

She planted her hand on his shoulder upon arriving next to him, at which he flinched, her eyes-a pair of swirling midnight ocean pools- boring into his, signaling recognition of herself.

She was otherworldly beautiful Ji-ae couldn't help approving the pestering remark her brain hurled at her, chewing on her fingertip as she studied the creature some more.

If the gods weren't generous enough when bestowing her intangible handsomeness, her attire didn't stray too far away from the same standards.

She sported a tight porcelain satin two-pieces, the resplendent material squeezing her figure into the pretentious display of a physique sculpted by Hephaestus himself.

"He hates it when they do that," Chaeyoung said, sipping on a sparkling blue drink with a golden-hued float as she joined Ji-Ae in her bitter observation session.

"Huh?"

"The water nymphs."She pointed her finger at the girl whose hands ventured too intimately around the half-god's chest, him making no effort to stop her."They're always all over him."

"He doesn't seem too bothered."Ji-Ae pouted the words away, eyebrows fleeing north as she wrested her gaze away, the sight becoming unbearable."Where'd you get that?"She added, eyeing the drink with exaggerated intrigue.

"In the bar over there."Chaeyoung nodded over her shoulder.

❂ ❂ ❂

Ji-Ae pulled the bar stool backward, clambering on it as she scoped the surroundings. It was a great deal calmer than the colorful turmoil transpiring behind her.

The music-a collection of bizarre antediluvian tunes- failed to propagate in that side of the lot, the speakers feebly coughing distorted notes, leaving room for indistinct chatters to fill the air.

"Welcome to Hera Telia's club! What can I get for you?" The bartender inquired, his cheerful customer-service tone humoring the half-goddess as he spoke, his speech unveiling a hint of a foreign accent as he stumbled around a few syllables.

She normally would have asked for a Martini or a Negroni, "The safest options when you go to a new bar, they're infallible." as Jhonny would usually say in his snarky know-it-all tone when speaking about liquors.

But now, as she sat amidst it all, enthralling the intricacies of her new identity, she was feeling a little more adventurous.

"I'll have whatever he's having, please."She gestured at the guy on the right whose face she had seen recently.

He sat three chairs away from her, left leg furiously bouncing against the foot rail as he shrugged a star-spotted night sky-looking liquid down his throat, it barely gracing the inside of his mouth, and she wondered if he could taste anything at all.

Upon noticing the sudden attention directed towards him, he risked a curious side glance, his eyes doubling their size as he discerned what seemed to be the silhouette of Aphrodite's daughter beaming at him with a fraudulent innocence.

The liquid he was so eagerly tippling seconds ago had decided to deceive him, the remaining of it performing a U-turn somewhere around his esophagus to crash on the counter.

Not the first interaction he had exactly wished for.

"Shadow Nebula, alright."The bartender nodded, hurrying off to his order.

"Did I startle you?" Ji-Ae questioned, scooting closer to him to get a better look at his face. "I'm sorry."

"I-I'm Jisung." He uttered in a nearly inaudible tone, it sounding more like a fabricated lie to save oneself than a statement.

He couldn't bear to face her just yet, hell, he couldn't bear to be around her at all, the mere acknowledgment of her presence being so close draped his being with a poignant angst.

"I'm Ji-A... oh!" She vocalized a shriek, frantically bringing her palms to her lips as she caught a glimpse of what looked like the prettiest eyes she'd ever seen.

"What are you?"Her head cocked aside, granting herself a better angle to examine the complexity of his golden pigments. "I thought all half-gods had silver eyes, but this is so much better. I feel scammed."

Her question evaporated into thin air, and her eyebrows drooped as she watched the boy trip his way out into the nearest exit.

What's wrong with him

🌙 🌙 🌙

Not me taking 3 years to update 💀
I'm sorry for not having been active to everyone who's been reading this story, I appreciate you guys so much ❤️.
Now I promise I will be regularly updating this story.
anyways what are the thoughts?