No Strings Attached

CHAPTER SIX

Running past the streets, it became more real what was happening. Could one have two soulmates? How did that even work? Polyamorous relationships were a thing, but this seemed different somehow.

I rushed into my bed just as he pulled into the driveway. I stared at the ceiling, putting my headphones and trying to convince myself that I'd been here the entire time.

I heard his heavy footsteps getting louder until he reached my room. He knocked and let him in.

"Everything alright here?" he said. He was rosy cheeked, and he was playing with his fingers.

"Just fine," I gritted my teeth.

"How was dinner?" he said, not thinking about dinner at all, I was sure.

"Delicious." I muttered. I pulled the covers on me. The black made it look like I was eaten up by my bed.

"Is something the matter?" He said after a pause. I shook my head, but my reddening cheeks told him otherwise. "You can always talk to me, Nico."

My breath hitched. "I don't know this time."

"That means that you really should talk to me." He stared at me, his eyebrows knitting as if I were a mystery, but his eyes were caring. Credit to Hades, he did a pretty good job at raising me, especially after mum died.

I took a moment. Telling him meant that I was telling him I snuck out of the house. Telling him meant I saw something to intimate between him and Persephone. Telling him meant I knew that something wasn't right.

"Okay, fine."

And so, I told him.

The details poured out of my mouth. I blubbered and spluttered and sometimes my words didn't make much sense. I grabbed my pillow and pushed it between my legs, rocking back and forth on my bed, every move I made producing a new kind of creak.

I can't explain the look on his face. It was the kind that you'd try to hide from anyone. His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open and he seemed paler than he usually was. He looked like someone had told him his puppy had died, a German Shepard with a heart of gold. Or that he'd lost everything he'd cared about in life. Like it had been taken from him by fates' cruel verdict. He looked broken.

"Nico," he tilted his head down, but kept eye contact with me. The way he stared at me made me want to fall in a heap on the floor. "I have something to tell you."

I sniffed and hugged my pillow. He fished a water bottle from his coat and handed it to me. "Hydrate, first, please, Nico."

I chugged half the bottle in a few seconds. I hadn't realised how parched I was.

"When your mother and I first met," Hades said, getting right into it. "It was magical. I felt like I was on air. We dated each other briefly and got engaged quickly. Oh Nico, it was wonderful. I was the luckiest man on the Earth." He paused. "But the fates didn't want it. Not even once did the string appear. We did everything. Bonded in every way, but it didn't work. We even consulted Persephone about it, she had no idea. We ended up moving to here to the U.S.A, for a better job. Through all of it, our strings never lit up and somehow, Persephone was always there. And then, when you were seven, your mother . . ." he sniffed. He didn't have to finish the sentence. She died.

"And I knew for a fact we weren't soulmates, even if it looked like that. And it didn't seem like a coincidence that Persephone was everywhere we went. So, I took the chance and asked her on a date. And yes, Persephone is my soulmate. Not your mum."

I felt a small tremble from within me. Tears poured down my cheeks and they didn't stop. I felt the kind of pain that could only be attributed to your organs rearranging from inside you, changing who you were, how you perceived yourself and questioning everything, because if one thing could be a lie, so could it all.

"Nico, I'm so sorry," Hades put an arm around my shoulder, but removed it with one shake from me. He bit his lip. "We didn't know how to tell you."

"I can't believe you," I said softly, but my voice rose. "I can't believe you! I've done nothing to prove to you that you should lie to me about these things. I lived my whole life after you and mum. You raised me! I just . . . feel so lied to."

"I know Nico, and it's on me," Hades said. "I'll you for now, and we can talk more about this later, if you'd like."

He nodded, and that night, my study desk became a pool for my tears.