HERA
"Ok, what was that?" Nami asked and took back her hand from my grip after we got back inside our flat.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"What are you doing inside Lian's apartment and why are you in a rush?"
"Oh, Ayu invited me in, I was just asking if you were there." I said with a shrug and pad on the couch to sit down, ignoring her last question and shrugged off all the fear I felt earlier when I saw the frame hanging on the wall inside Liam's apartment.
Of all places, why did I end up here and found a sinner? Though I don't know Liam, I only know the girl on his left is Rujin, one of the deity's daughters. So the chance of getting found is highly at risk if Rujin tries to look for her friend, but on the other hand, Lian is here, so that means he's really a sinner and got kicked out. And there's no way in heavenly God that any olympians can do what I did, which is escaping from heaven and hiding here in this land or should I say the land of the sinners, just like what my father always says.
Nami creased her eyebrows and followed me, sitting on the single couch across me and crossing her legs and arms while staring at me intently.
"Let me sort out things here before I let you stay, first, Liam is mine." She started and I nodded my head slowly even though it's obvious that Liam doesn't like the idea of Nami owning him. "Second, you have to stay five feet away from Liam." I chew my inside cheeks while nodding my head relentlessly and suppress the smile to break out. "Third, Jiroo is dumbass, you stay away from him and lastly, Ayu is an angel, so you also need to stay away from her."
"You're also a woman but why do you sound like you're a possessive girlfriend of Ayu and those two?" I asked mockingly.
"I am, because they were my only friends."
"I can be your friend." I said with a shrug but sincerely.
"I don't even know who you are and where you came from." She scoffed and uncrossed her arms.
"Then why did you accept me as your roommate?"
"Because my bills are gradually killing me and I need someone who I can share some of my burdens with!" She said half yelled with her arms stretching out. "But even if I'm in need, I still want you to answer my questions before I could trust you, so the first question, who are you?"
"I'm Hera Margaret Areios." I replied.
"Your name is longer than my legs, wow. But go off, we have the same height and it's just your name is long, next question, where are you from?"
"Mt—." I paused. "New Zealand." I said and smiled at her forcefully when I almost told her where I came from.
"I'm not familiar with any countries so I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear 'Mount.' New Zealand." She said dismissively and uncrossed her legs to lean over the center table and shoved me the paper sitting above it. "So here's the rules of this house, read it then sign it after."
"There's only one rule written on it." I said confusedly.
"And that's the most important thing." Nami said as she took back the paper and signed it. "Liam is mine, it's written loud and clear, do we have a problem here?"
"Does Liam know that he's yours?"
"You're such a bitch, aren't you? You didn't have to attack me like that!" She sneered and tore the paper violently. "Guess what? We have no rules, you can use everything here and your room is on the left corner, we'll split every bill—."
"You don't have to worry about bills, I can pay it alone." I said to cut her off and she snapped her head at me with her wide eyes. "Or if you still want to–."
"No wait! I'm really ok with it! You will pay all the bills and I will take care of our dinners, how's that sounds?"
"Sounds negotiable." I said and heaved up from the couch. "May I go to my room?"
"Of course, yeah. I will just call you for dinner later." I offered her a warm smile before I walked upstairs but Nami called me again when I'm in the middle of the stairs. "Don't you have your things with you?"
"Oh uhm, I left them all at home and I'll buy a new one tomorrow."
"Wow, you're rich as fuck." She mumbled under her breath and showed me her gummy smiles like the one I have, then she ran to the kitchen.
I continued my way to my new room and released a loud sigh that I didn't notice I was holding since the moment I saw the frame. I know that I cannot hide forever but as long as possible, I need to hide my identity to these humans and act like I really belong in their world.
I just hoped that my friends wouldn't tell the Deity where I am, but I know and I'm sure they wouldn't tell him because they were my escape assistants. Ceres, Ivana and Selene were my trusted friends, they will not gonna betray me because even they are all against my father who's treating me like a prisoner.
My father always tells me that it's for my safety and he doesn't want me to get associated with ordinary people to protect my innocence. Little did he know that being friends with those three, my innocence was already gone since we were eleven years old after we accidentally saw a group of kids taking a bath in a sacred lake when my father let me off to wander at the bottom of the mountain for the first time since I was born.
The kids were all butt naked while playing and they didn't notice us watching them in shock while hiding in a bush, but when one of them turned to our place where we were hiding, that's when I saw the thing between his legs. Ceres immediately covered my eyes so that I didn't get the chance to see the face of that guy.
Then when they heard the hoplites calling my name, they all ran away because if someone caught them playing at the sacred lake, they surely would be in deep trouble.
That was my first and last descent of Mount Olympus. And I've never regretted it, perhaps missing my innocence at that age wasn't really that bad, but I didn't expect that I would want to meet that boy not because I've seen his meat and I was interested at it, it's just that, how was he able to be naked in front of his friends?
They were so careless, they didn't care if the lake was sacred or not, they were laughing and playing as if they didn't care about their surroundings as long as they were all together and happy. I'm envious, actually.
I had never wished to be someone's daughter. Instead of being the daughter of the strongest deity until that day, I wished I was born ordinary, so I can do what I want without being told or without being controlled. And those kids are the reason why I did this, I ran away from Mt. Olympus and left my friends and parents just to try living on my own.
If the outcome of this being rebellious were good, then I need to think if I still want to go back or not.
—
The room that Nami gave me was really in a mess, it was as if the room got abandoned for a year, she should've cleaned it first before letting someone use it.
I took a deep breath but that was the very bad decision I made because it made me cough and sneeze. I scrunched up my nose and swung my arm to use my power to control the cleaning tools and ran outside of my new room, slamming the door behind me with a loud thud.
"Hey! Are you ok?!" Nami shouted from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I just slipped but I'm fine!" I shouted back to assure her. I waited for another minute before opening the door one more time and the smile made its way to my lips when I saw the room already cleaned. Somehow, it still feels good to have power, but I still have to be careful if I want to stay longer here in the human world.
I wonder what's the situation up there? Does my father already know about my disappearance? Well, there's only one way to find out.
I walked to the balcony and laughed dryly as I got out and was immediately greeted by the overcast sky, fiery lightning and rumbling thunders.
Yeah, He already knows.
I should be more careful from now on, for sure the Deity will send high ranking hoplites just to find me and that is not good.
A knock from my door snapped me out and when I was about to turn around, I saw someone standing on his balcony while looking up and admiring the spider's lightning that my father caused out of his anger.
He seemed to notice me watching him and when he looked at me, I saw the clear sadness and longing in his eyes when the lightning illuminated the whole place before he hid it with his cold stares. He must be missing someone up there, poor guy, he won't see them again, not unless I'll bring him with me if I decide to go back home, but that's not going to happen.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." I deadpanned and ran inside my room because Nami wouldn't stop from knocking.
"Thank God! I thought you hit your head hard and had a hemorrhage!" She exclaimed with a sigh of relief when I opened the door slightly and just peeked my head.
"You worry too much." I said before stepping out and blocking her to prevent her seeing my already cleaned room.
"Wait." Nami's forehead suddenly furrowed before pulling me out of my room and she pushed the door open. "How'd you clean this room that quick?!" She asked in disbelief and her wide eyes shifted back to me.
"It's n-not that messy." I said with fear that she might find out that I used powers to clean it, but that would be so ridiculous to think, right?
"Oh ok." Nami said and I have never sighs so deeply in my entire life until now that Nami dismissed it and she didn't ask furthermore. "Let's go down, I've prepared the table." She adds and she walks down first. I released another sigh before I followed her downstairs.
"What did you cook?" I asked to ease the tension in my body.
"Eggs." Nami replied proudly but I just stared at her dumbfounded. "Sorry, that is all I can cook." She said but not really sincerely apologizing.
"You know what? I will do the cooking from now on, but for now, let's just eat it." I said trying to sound jovial and sat on the chair.
"Oh what did I do in my past life to deserve someone like you in my present life?" Nami said dramatically and hugged me from behind. "Thank you so much, Hera!"
"You're welcome, can we eat now?"
"Oh right, yeah! Enjoy this mouthwatering food!"
"You mean burnt eggs." I snorted and she just laughed and slapped my arm playfully before taking the seat across from me.
"Hey, Hera. Are you still in college?" She asked, breaking the silence in the diner after our laughter died down three minutes ago.
"College?"
"Yeah, college, where you can study any courses that you like, don't tell me you're not familiar with schools?"
"I am, but I do home studying." I half lied, because it's true that I am home studying but also a lie because I'm not really familiar with college.
"That sucks!" She said and I couldn't disagree with what she said because that was true. "So.. are you gonna continue home studying here?"
"I don't think I will do that here, I want to try to attend schools, my friends told me that schools are fun though we're all doing home study."
"What kind of parents do you guys have?" Nami asks mockingly while shaking her head. "Anyways, it's not too late to attend school, you just have to come with me tomorrow and I'll help you with the enrollment."
"Wasn't it a bother to you?"
"Nope, you're my new roommate who descends from heaven and saved my ass from being broke and replaced Jiroo being a vagrant, so doing small things wasn't a bother to me."
"Thank you, I never knew that there are kind people in this world." I said sincerely.
"You haven't been with Liam, he's the kindest person you'll ever meet in your life." Nami's eyes flickered in admiration upon talking about the sinner. If she only knew that Liam got kicked out from heaven, would she still say those kinds of words to him? "But you still need to stay five feet away from him."
"You're insane, I don't even want to associate with the sinners." I said, shaking my head slowly.
"Hey, watch your words, he might be a killer but–."
"A killer?" I ask to cut her off and Nami shakes her head vigorously.
"A miller, not a killer, you heard it wrong." She said and shoved a spoonful of rice in her mouth and avoided making eye contact with me.
"Oh a miller, yeah, I've heard it wrong, right." I said while nodding my head and stared at the burnt eggs in front of me. "You really liked him, didn't you?"
"Liam?" She asked and I nodded my head without looking at her. "Who wouldn't be? He is cool, handsome, kind and even when he is cold sometimes, you can still see how he cares for a friend even though he met a week ago, I'm referring to myself and Jiroo because Ayu was his only friend before we arrived."
If he really has that kind of personality, then why was he thrown out of heaven? Except that he's really a good looking man because that's every Olympian's features.
"Anyway, Liam is nice and you seem not interested so I don't have to feel threatened that you might steal him from me." Nami adds and starts digging on her food.
Never have I imagined being with a sinner, that was just worse than running away from home.
I cleared my throat and offered her a forceful smile before standing on my feet. "Would it be ok if I go first? I want to take a rest."
"Sure, go ahead even though you didn't even touch my perfect burnt eggs." She joked and I laughed shyly because that's true. I lost my appetite from the moment I saw the eggs but since I need to show her some gratitude for doing the dinner, I still sat with her and just ate plain rice. "Just make sure you'll wake up early tomorrow because I have class by nine."
"Ok, thank you." I said and bowed my head slightly before making my way up to my room.
The lightning and thunder are still there but I need to ignore it as much as possible, it wouldn't help me to sleep if I think about my father's wrath. If he doesn't treat me like a prisoner, I wouldn't have to run away.
All I have to do now is to stand on my ground and live up to what I want, but I'm still worried about Ceres, Ivana and Selene, I should have bring them with me, because the Deity must have been roasting them by now because they were the last ones with me before my disappearance.
But I'm also sure that the God of the sun, the Goddess of beauty and the Goddess of the rainbow won't let their child get hurt so I can rest assured that my friends were safe.
—
Nami told me last night to wake up early and that is not even a hard task, because on my daily basis in mount Olympus, I did nothing but to wake up early, eat, study and sleep. Boring, right? I know, that's why I'm so envious of those kids in the lake because they have their freedom.
After taking a refreshing shower, I wore the clothes that Nami gave to me last night and stepped out of my room. I decided to cook our breakfast and wake her later. I swear to almighty God, I would never let her cook for us again.
After almost an hour of getting amazed by all the appliances that I never get to see in mount Olympus, I can finally start cooking and choose the pork strips that I saw inside the cold rectangular box.
I'm in the middle of cooking when I heard the electric bell ringing nonstop, as if the person behind the door was one of those impatient people just like me.
"Wait!" I shouted and opened the door abruptly. "Stop pressing the doorbell like tha—!" My supposed harsh words were cut off when broad shoulders greeted me, my eyes immediately dropped down but that was a bad idea because his toned stomach waved at me.
"Sorry, I forgot that Nami has a new roommate." He said without a means of apologizing. "Where is she?"
"S-she's still sleeping." I said and turned my back against her. "I will wake her up."
"No need, I came here for her cereal, not Nami herself." Liam said as he invited himself and he walked straight to the kitchen, as if he already memorized the interior of the apartment.
I stayed where he left me and waited for him to finish rummaging in the cupboard to steal cereal. I'm never going to get near him just like Nami kept telling me.
"Hey, are you cooking?" Liam asked with his head popping out from the kitchen door and I nod as an answer but still refraining myself to look at him. "I don't think Nami likes burnt bacon."
"Oh crap!" I exclaimed and immediately ran back to the kitchen only to see the burnt bacon. "Great, Nami would think that I'm taking my revenge." I sighed and was about to throw the burnt bacon on the bin but a hand stopped me from doing so.
"There's a lot of people who's starving, so throwing food is such a waste." Liam said sternly and took the pan from my hand, he grabbed the plate and put the bacon in it. "Just cook another one, I'll eat it."
"But that was already—."
"It's still food, rich girls like you will never understand how important even the littlest things in this world are." He said before turning around and left me with my mouth agape.
Just what exactly did happen? How did a sinner get to scold me just like that?
"Penny for your thoughts?"
I snapped out of my dazed when Nami spoke with a yawn, she was still in her pajamas with frizzy hair and stretching her arms on her head.
"Liam came here."
"What?! What did the two of you do while I'm sleeping?!" Nami suddenly yelled and was about to attack me but I pointed at the tip of the kitchen turner to prevent her from approaching me. "Hey!"
"He stole your cereal."
"That's not stealing, I would gladly give everything to him as long as it's Liam so no big deal." She said with a shrug and pad over the table. "Have you cooked our breakfast?"
"I burnt them and Liam took them away."
"Ha! He knew you were plotting your vengeance against me and Liam didn't allow it!" Nami said loudly while clapping her hands giddily.
"You sure can see the only good side of him." I snorted a laugh and started cooking again. "I doubt he'll eat those."
"He will." Nami said with surety in her voice as she became serious. "Liam was once a homeless guy before he met Ayu and that's why Liam adopted Jiroo because he knows how it feels living on the side of the road without knowing if they can still be alive the next day because of starvation."
I stopped from stirring the porridge and looked over my shoulder to take a glance at Nami and I frowned upon seeing her crying silently.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you nor judge Liam."
"It's ok, no worries, I'm always like this since I learned about Liam's life before he met Ayu and that's why I'm willing to protect him at all cost." She said while wiping her tears and still sobbing.
"You are practically in love with him, stop using his past just to be with him." I scoffed before turning off the stove and reached for the bowl and scoop some porridge and served it to Nami. "Let's eat."
"Why do you hate Liam?" She asks after I sit across from her, she's staring at me, as if she's looking at the most disgusting person she'd ever met.
"I don't hate him."
It's just that, I know that he's not really the person the way Nami described him.
"You know what? Just fuck my rules and I need you to know Liam so you'll stop judging him in your mind, you are now officially one of our squad!"
"Uh thanks but no thanks, I'm good being alone." I refused and smiled at her.
"No, you will know more about Liam whether you like it or not!" She still insisted and when I was about to refuse her offer for the second time, she held up her hand in the air to stop me. "If you don't want to, then you need to find a new place."
"That's absurd." I jeered.
"No, it's what you called, stop judging the book by its cover." Nami said before she started digging on her porridge.
I'm not judging him, because I know him, not literally know him, but he's one of the olympians who was thrown here because he committed a sin. Though I'm still wondering why they didn't behead him and threw him out instead, but still, he committed a sin, that's already enough giving Liam a cold shoulder, though, again, I haven't done anything yet to Liam. He was actually the one giving me the cold shoulder and he even preached but Nami didn't have to know all of that so I'll shut my mouth for now.
—
After Nami and I finished our breakfast, I waited for her to get dressed and we both stepped out of the apartment and headed to university.
I don't really have any idea what is university, I don't even know what are they doing inside the university, I couldn't even stopped myself from getting amazed to all high rectangular mountains with glass, covered chariots running without horses and lot of ordinary humans running back and forth and they all seems in a rush.
"Hera, walk faster, we don't have the whole day to get to the university." Nami hissed at me as she stopped on the side of the road.
"If you didn't take one hour inside the bathroom, we shouldn't be in a hurry." I retaliated and rolled my eyes playfully.
"Are there no buildings and cars in Mt. New Zealand? You're acting like it's your first time to see those things." She said and pulled me beside her.
"It's New Zealand only, please exclude the Mount."
"Whatever, we need to get there as soon as possible." She said while looking across us and when the light turned red, all the chariots stopped and Nami started dragging me to cross the road. "We're here." She announced as we both entered the big gate and there were more rectangular mountains inside or should I start calling them buildings as what Nami called them earlier.
There are lot of student on our way and Nami didn't even give care about them even if she's bumping some of them as she was continue dragging me inside, is this how ordinary human act to one another? It's really the opposite of me because I was smiling at everyone who was staring at me.
"Stop smiling for fuck sake, you're creeping me out!" Nami scowled at me as we both entered a place that says registrar by the sign outside. "Enter that door and I'll wait for you here." She said while pointing at the door on the left and I nodded at her.
As soon as I finished enrolling with papers I faked last night, I thanked the university staff and bowed my head before stepping out of the room.
"It's done." I said as soon as I approached Nami who's waiting for me. "I was told that I'll start tomorrow."
"Which class are you in?" She asked and clung onto my arm while we both started walking.
"I don't know, but they gave me this list." I said and showed her the piece of paper they gave me.
"What kind of sorcery is this, Hera Margaret Areios?! You are in the same class as Ayu, Jiroo and Liam?!"
"Am I?" I asked and she nodded her head furiously. "Oh wait, let me change—."
"No wait, actually this is a good chance." She stopped me from going back and pulled me.
"Wait! I have to change my class, I am not allowed to associate with the sin–."
"Shut up, Hera!" Nami hissed at me and continued dragging me out until we bumped into someone and we both stumbled on the floor from the loud impact. "Ouch!"
"Watch were you going, freaks!" The guy snarled at us but when I looked up to him, they all got shocked from seeing my face, I'm new here so that's not really surprising how they acted like they've seen a goddess. "Hey uhm, I'm s-sorry, did you got hurt?" The guy with blue hair asked and offered his hand to me.
"Yeah." I replied and the other guys helped me to stand up, I shrugged the dirt behind my pants and was about to help nami because no one even dared to help her but a hand extended in front of Nami. Then when my gaze darted up to the owner of the hand, I saw the sinner.
"L-liam.." Nami called softly and Liam smiled softly at her as he helped Nami to stand on her feet before turning to face the guys.
"Apologize to her." Liam said firmly.
"Oh please, why are you always–."
"I said, apologize to her." Liam cut off the blue haired guy and was about to take one step but Nami stood in the middle and hugged Liam to stop him.
"Liam, I'm fine! Stop it!"
Liam stopped from coming to the guy's neck and when he looked down, he creased his eyebrows. "I see, but can you not like, snuggling on my chest?"
"Oh uhm, sorry." Nami said as she untangled herself from Liam and laughed awkwardly.
"Let's go." Liam said but I don't know if he's telling that to me because his gaze was at me or he's just have crossed eyes but I guess not since he grips Nami's hand and pulls her away.
"Wait! My roommate!" Nami said and took back her hand from Liam's grip and ran back to me. "Let's go, Hera."
"Oh so your name is Hera, I'm Tyro–."
"She don't give a fuck with your name." Nami sneered at the guy and pulled me but the guy grabbed my other hand.
"I'm still introducing myself, you're being rude to me and to my boys." The guy said with a serious face.
"Let her go." I whipped my head hastily towards Nami when I heard someone speak sternly but it's not Nami as she was also looking in front of her. "Let her go Nami, if she doesn't want to go with you, just leave her."
"No! She's my friend!" Nami said.
Liam stares at her for a few seconds before releasing an exasperated sigh and pad back to us. My eyes widened when Liam walked straight toward me.
"Oh shit, not again." The guy hissed and he voluntarily let go off of my hand. "See you later, Hera." He winked before turning his back on me just before Liam could get near him.
To be honest, I'm not afraid of those guys, I can beat them because I do have powers, but since I need to pretend that I'm weak, I acted like I was really afraid and Nami pulled me for a hug.
"It's ok, Hera. They will stop bugging you from now on." Nami said while rubbing my back.
"Let's go." Liam said coldly and when I looked up to him, he rolled his eyes at me and walked away.
What's up with him? One minute, he was cool protecting Nami, then another one minute he acted like the most arrogant person I've ever met. Is this the person Nami telling me the kindest? He's just a sinner who's hiding his true color, nothing but a sinner!
Now I can finally say that I hate him!
_______
