What If Our Life Threads Bind?

Chapter 47

AUSTIN

"I'll go first." I say, taking a sip. "Would you rather date a human or date a god?" I ask and she tenses.

"Er....I am not really allowed to fall in love."

"Just answer the damn question, Martha." I smirk down at her and she giggles.

"The sane thing would be to date a God but here I am with a mortal, so what do I know?" She says and I wait a minute too long and then raise my eyebrow to encourage her. "Oh yeah, right. A confession....I don't know." She giggles.

"Come on, anything?"

"The first day I met you..." She giggles and then resumes, "I had a crush on you since then." she said, covering her face with her hands. I laughed.

"I knew it. But what exactly charmed you the most about me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Your turn is over." She rolls her eyes. "If you had to choose between going naked or having your thoughts appear in thought bubbles above your head for everyone to read, which would you choose?" She asks, ignoring my questions.

"Go naked." I grin at her and she rolls her eyes. "You being the demigod of death is the most bad-ass thing I know. Like its just wow."

She doesn't reply for a minute and then says, "I'd take that as a compliment."

"How do you prefer to be flirted? With sexual talk or roses and hearts?" I ask.

"Uh, both? As long as the feeling is true?"

For a moment, I stare blankly at her. I had never been really a fan of love notes, poems and real loyal romance because that does not even exist. I want to tell her that she is naive to think that love exists and that someday she won't find this romance that has only known to exist in books. But I keep my mouth shut.

Maybe this is just a poem? Writer's make up shit, right? It is not always true.

"So?" She says. "Did you like it?"

"It was amazing. I feel speechless." I said, which was true. "Confession?"

She seemed to have guessed the question without me actually saying it and says, "I know I have never been in a relationship but this is my idea of love. Love may not exist but I'd like to imagine it that it does. I think if we believe in something truly, it comes true." She smiles softly at me and I feel my heart sink.

I can't do this.

I can't make her fall in love with me and then break her heart.

Martha's sister's voice echoed in the back of my mind.

"How about we strike a deal? You'll have to pretend that you have fallen in love with her and keep this sword with you."

She had given me the Fatae sword.

"And at the right time, when you'd be asked to kill her, you will present yourself as a betrayer and then she'll come back to me." She had given me one of those cunning smiles.

"But-" I had tried to protest.

"She would have killed you if you hadn't run from there. She is the demigod of death, Austin. She'd stop at nothing."

I nod slowly at Martha. Not understanding how to stop the time. I almost envy Martha's ability to stop the time right about this moment. She can stop the moment as she pleases and I can't. I want time to stop so I can think. So I can think who to trust on.

"Have you ever fallen in love with someone?" She asks suddenly, stirring me out of my train of thoughts.

"Never been in love but I have been in relationships." I answer simply. I wanted to confess what happened back when I met her sister. I wanted to tell her the truth. But I stared at her green eyes that had turned weird scary grey back in the carnival when he was killing the guy and something cold ran down my spine. I shook my head and blurted, "I am afraid to fall in love."

"Well, that is a confession." She says with a blank expression. "It is okay. So am I. Because deep down, I know the kind of love I am looking for doesn't exist and I know I'd be left heartbroken but then..." She smiles sweetly at me. Her green eyes almost turning into a sea blue. "a small portion of me wants to feel what love feels like. I want to take a risk." She says and for a second, her face is transparently screaming 'I-spoke-too-much'. I smile back at her reassuringly.

Boy, now I am really confused.

How do I trust someone who has a billion powers to make me believe in her?

But she did promise me that she won't compel me again.

"How would you feel if you'd be given my tapestry, say tomorrow?" I shrug. "What if you were to cut my life thread? How would you feel? Would it matter to you?"

She doesn't look at me.

"I don't know, Austin. I think I'd be heartbroken. I won't stop crying and the clouds won't stop pouring. I'll probably bring the flood. I'll be the saddest and I'll do anything in my power to let you live as long as possible." She breathes and my heart sinks.

Either she is the sweetest person I have ever met or most beautiful liar I have ever known.

I smile at her. She looks down at her feet and murmurs, "I can make it rain when I cry for dead people. Another power." She shrugs and meets my eye.

I'll probably bring the flood.

I wish I had a fucking lie detecting machine.

"If you were a Greek God, what would you be?" She asks.

"Good question. I think I would be the cupid guy. The guy who throws love arrows at people for them to fall in love. He seems cool." I grin and she rolls her eyes but smiles.

"Why though?"

"Because I want to make sure you fall in love loyally with a guy who is in love with you with all his heart." He says and she smiles softly at me, then looks at her feet. "That is my confession."

"You still haven't told me that why had you been spying on me all this time from the windows with that black mask on yourself? What were you up to?" I winked at her playfully, trying my best to cover my trepidation.

"I had never been spying on you, Austin. I mean it, never." She says confidently.

"But one day, you even kissed me. You gave me the tapestry that night. That was you, weren't you?"

"The night you got that tapestry was the night I lost that tapestry because I was drunk dancing with my friends." She shrugged as if it was obvious. I don't know what to believe at this point. Then suddenly her eyes widened and she hurriedly asked me, "Her eyes were green, weren't they? The girl you kissed?"

"Yeah. Wasn't that you?"

She shook her head and then said, "It is a fucking good plan, whoever's it is."