[ time travel x greek mythology retelling with a twist ] Celena has always been a lover of books. As any sane bibliophile does, she wishes to escape into fictional worlds and forget about her monotonous life that's become slightly painful as of rece...
WARM AIR CARESSED MY SKIN. I was in the precipice in my town - the one that I had wanted to bring Tyhi to and announce the intensity of the love I had for him. It was a mellow summer morning, and in Blue Hill Town, summer meant soothing sunshine. Good energy. A peaceful break from the iciness of the mist residing in our town.
The flock of tourists had doubled over the years. It irritated me how careless they were while visiting our town. They didn't behave like people admiring the beauty of nature, the green slopes and the clear lakes that they missed in their cities. They behaved as if they had a right to destroy it. To not fume over it every minute, Levon brought me to my safe haven.
My daughter sneezed in my arms, making saliva fly out of her mouth. Her tongue stuck out. I smiled and pulled out the napkin and wiped her lips clean. She watched me do it with a smile on her face. I traced her cheeks. "Are you searching for Daddy and your brother?"
As if I made a joke, her baby hands clapped and a chuckle left her lips. "They'll be here soon. Daddy is gone to get your bottle since I forgot to bring it. I hope he isn't too mad about it," I said. She waved her hands again and this time her tiny adorable fingers caught in the necklace I was wearing.
It was the moonstone necklace that Tyhi had bought me. I didn't know how, but the necklace remained on me when I came back to the library from Olympus. Levon said he'd seen me wear it when I first walked in that day but only I knew. Aphrodite had decided to let me take it. I assumed it was her parting gift.
When Levon discussed my attachment to this necklace, he pointed out that moonstone represented healing. Healing reminded me of Tyhi just like the moonstone reminded me of my name. I refused to ever remove the necklace from my neck from that day.
Often, when I looked at Levon, I wished I never touched the book in the first place and never time-travelled to Olympus at all. I wished I never met Tyhi. Because in doing so, I have only brought pain. I hurt Tyhi. I couldn't love Levon with everything in me because I really wanted to. Instead, I felt like I was cheating, carrying two men in my heart.
Levon had watched me burst into tears when I went to the beach, when he read me Greek literature and when he kissed my fingertips. He never questioned it and that made me fall in love with him and respect him more and more. Years passed. Levon gave up arranging books for a living (and making out with me in between bookshelves) to take over the hotel that his father owned. I went from a hair stylist at a salon to starting my own styling agency, which I later handed over to my trusted co-stylist in exchange for being a full time Mom. That co-stylist coincidently became Ivan's wife and family.
I never imagined I'd love parenting but doing it with Levon felt like it was the most natural thing. When we got married and had our twins, we never discussed or assigned roles to one another. We had gone to a counselor before getting married but whatever they advised didn't even come to being used because our thoughts gelled together well. It was as if we were one piece, broken into halves only to find each other and fit perfectly again. It saddened me when I thought about how Tyhi and I didn't share the same luck.
Footsteps sounded and Felina removed her grip on my necklace to crane her neck. "It's Daddy," I told her when my husband walked towards us with Felix in his arms and a diaper bag in another.
Even though I knew what my children's names were going to be long before they were born, I let Levon decide it. He picked the same names.
"You made me walk a mile, Cel," Levon said, sitting down next to me. Felix reached for me and I laid him near his sister.
"Sorry," I mumbled and pressed a kiss to my husband's lips. He still smiled whenever I kissed him. Even after so many years.
"Just give me a warning next time," he said, stretching backwards and laying on the grass. "Sometimes, I am jealous of my own kids. They always sleep on your lap these days. I don't get a chance."
I chuckled. "I can't believe you. Competing with your kids."
"I need attention too," he mumbled, tracing the skin above my waist. "Maybe tonight?"
I twirled a finger in one of his curly locks of hair and nodded. He sat upright and threw an arm around me to pull me close and kiss me. I laughed against his lips at his excitement. Parenting was tiring and we rarely got time to spend some alone time with each other. Taking care of the twins would end us up crashing to sleep at night.
"We'll ask my parents to watch over our kids. We'll go out for dinner," he said, dropping a kiss on my neck.
"Okay," I smiled and pressed my cheek against his.
I would say I was happy but at the same time I wasn't. Whenever Levon and I argued, I found myself thinking that Tyhi wouldn't have done it to me. But when Levon made reckless decisions just because I said so, I wondered if Tyhi would've been courageous enough to make a bold decision. There was a constant battle in my head and my heart for so many years until one day, I made a decision.
I filled my heart with Levon and my kids, leaving one tiny little room reserved for Tyhi. I gave them their own spaces, allowing me to cherish them separately without comparing them. The love I held for each of them was the highest in its own standards and they couldn't be compared together. It was a different type of love, of magic.
Tyhi was a part of me, an adventure, a fantasy that never should have been possible but did. It was something extraordinary and precious because with our love, there came a deadline. There was an urgency, a wailing in ourselves to spend more time together when there was none. It made everything so intense, thrilling and heartbreaking. It made me feel.
But, Levon- he made me whole.
Our love was ordinary and domestic. But it was sweet and gradual. I knew almost everything about Levon. He knew me as who I was. We were equals, two humans just making the best out of life and trying to find bags of happiness along the way. Sometimes we would find a whole bag of crap, but together we'd take it out. We lived a peaceful, quiet and loving life.
Life wasn't all great but it was okay. Problems showed up from time to time, putting me in troubled situations, stressing me out more than sky's limits. But what mattered most was that, through all that, I loved and I was loved.
I only hoped somewhere under the same moon, Tyhi knew it too.
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