TWENTY-NINE

When he said he wanted to go sightseeing, she knew it was not going to be an ordinary one. Right before she could ask where they were off to next, Hades flicked his finger again and the next thing she realized, they were not in the midlands anymore.

The air felt different. There was not a gloomy hint on it like she felt in the underworld. The sun was scorching and most importantly, she could see people. People she didn’t even see in the underworld.

“Where are we?” she asked, although she already had an inkling of where they might be. She’s just too scared to acknowledge it. The familiarity of a not-so-busy street was what gave it away. She’s not in the underworld anymore.

“Welcome back to the mortal world, Guinevere,” Hades said beside her and she looked at him with wide eyes.

“Why? Why are we here? This isn’t the underworld.”

“I know this isn’t the underworld and as for your other question, I brought you here for some sightseeing. Haven’t I told you?”

“What does this have to do with Reid and Maddie?”

Hades let out a knowing smile. “I think you already have an idea as to what I am going to show you.”

She swallowed hard. Her mind was racing. She doesn’t know what to think—she wanted to think of something else other than the fact that Hades might have brought her here for a different kind of torture.

“The cause of every suffering is denial,” he said and she looked at him, puzzled.

“What?”

“You deny everything you feel and think even when it is right in front of your nose.” He tilted his head as he was looking ahead. “Lying to yourself is not going to make it better.”

“What do you know? And why did you bring me back here? I don’t need this.”

He let out a scoff before he turned his head to look at her. “You wanted to come back here, right?”

“Not like this,” she rasped. “Please. Not like this.”

Hades was silent for a moment and she prayed silently that he would take her away. Whatever they were going to see today, she doesn’t want to see it. Not today. Not ever. And she can’t believe she actually wished for him to take her back to the underworld. Then again being in the underworld and being confined in her chamber would be better than seeing Reid and Maddie—

“Look ahead,” Hades commanded.

With reluctance, she looked ahead and realized immediately what she was looking at. Just a few meters ahead of them, she saw what she didn’t want to see.

Reid and Maddie were walking on the sidewalk. Both of them laughing. But what caught my attention was their intertwined hands.

“See, during that night on your birthday, both of them remained in the café where you work. Nothing wrong with that of course, since he’s the manager of the café anyway and that girl works here. What’s not right is that something happened between them—“

“Stop.”

“When you were missing, they just went on with their lives. Look at them now.”

She did. She looked at them and every step they take broke her heart to a million pieces. Then her eyes landed on the bump on Maddie’s tummy. That was the last thing she needed before her knees buckled and she almost fell to the ground.

She was in love with Reid. Maddie knew it. That night before she was taken, Reid was supposed to have a date with her but he and Maddie instead—

She didn’t finish the thought.

Hades was silent as they both watched the two of them walk away from where they were standing.

“See, you blurt out being in love with him but does he feel the same? Of all people, it has to be your friend too. You are surrounded by very wrong people.”

She wanted to thrash and throw a fit. She wanted to blame Hades for everything but she was just too tired to even argue. Blaming Hades was what she had been doing and she had realized it didn’t really change anything.

“You’ve seen what you needed to see now. The next time, do yourself a favor and stop denying what you think and feel. Feel free to feel it. To think about it. In the underworld, the only judge is your mind. If you get rid of that judgment, it would be so much easier.”

His voice was like a caress. A temptation that shouldn’t be followed. But what she saw earlier made her feel stupid. She couldn’t believe she remained in love with the person she didn’t even officially date.

“Are we done here?” she asked and in her periphery, she could sense Hades looking at her.

Without saying a word, he flicked his wrist and the next thing she knows, they were already in the familiar halls of his castle. They were both quiet and she was thankful for the short silence he offered. Then she turned to him. She doesn’t know the look on his face but at that moment, she just couldn’t care less about anything.

“I still want my freedom. I will take it back and when I am back there, I will make my life better. I refuse to be surrounded by wrong people. And I will do everything in my power to achieve that. I will not deny my thoughts and feelings anymore,” she said and took a breath before she went on. “I will come to your chamber tonight.”

She didn’t wait for him to respond and immediately went to walk towards her chamber. She was thankful Hades did not follow.

***

When dinner was served, she chose to eat in her chamber. Silence was what she needed for now and if she dines with them in the hall, she will have to endure the constant bickering with Cerberus who somehow always has a say on everything. With what she saw today, she doesn’t want to deal with Cerberus’ mocking look.

While Henrietta was putting her food down, she decided to ask her a question.

“What did you mean when you said I shouldn’t interfere with dead people’s business?”

She saw how Henrietta paused the moment she blurted the question out but then immediately continued. When she was done putting down her food, she faced her. She couldn’t read the expression on the woman’s face but then she heard her sigh.

“It means that dead people are already dead, Guinevere. There is no sense talking about them when they don’t exist anymore.”

“We found another way to break the curse,” she said and Henrietta’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re willing to help them.”

“I can’t let this place die. I can’t let Hades die.”

“Why not?”

“Where will those awful people go? Zeus might have orchestrated everything. Maybe he’ll build another underworld but the people who are here and are suffering, deserve to suffer for eternity.”

Henrietta looked at her as though she couldn’t believe it came out of her mouth.

“You’ve become more and more like him the longer you spend your time here.”

Embracing her thoughts was what she had done and she doesn’t regret it. She meant every word she said about these people in the underworld deserving what hell they have.

“This is the underworld, Henrietta. The more I spend time here, the more I realized that the best way to survive is to adapt.”

“I know,” she said and placed the tray in front of her, ready to leave. “That’s what I have done for the time I spent here.”

They stared at each other for a long time. She wanted to tell her more but Henrietta looked like she can’t be bothered as to what else was on her mind.

Then she said, “You’re playing with fire, Guinevere. No matter how small the flame is, it would still burn. Be careful.” And then she was out of the chamber. But then when Henrietta closed the door, she saw someone standing behind it and she almost jumped from her bed.

“I heard you got your heart broken today,” Cerberus said as he was leaning on the wall while crossing his arms.

She gritted her teeth at the mocking tone in his voice but she composed herself. “Don’t you have better things to do other than gossip?”

Cerberus chuckled and pushed himself off the wall before walking towards her. “My job is to listen to everything, Guinevere.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She literally chose to eat inside her chamber so she won’t see him and now here he is.

“What do you want, Cerberus?”

He stopped just an arm’s length away from her bed before he tilted his head and said, “Hades wants to see you.”

“I told him I’d go to his chamber tonight—“

“Not about that.”

“Then what is it all about?”

“Go and see for yourself.”

Before she could say something to him, he vanished. Left with no choice, she started walking out of her chamber. Cerberus didn’t say anything as to where Hades would like to see her but her first thought was to go to the dining.

The moment she arrived at the dining, she immediately stopped walking and checked if she really entered the dining hall. But the dining table, the posh chandelier, and the candelabras illuminating the feast were enough indication that she was indeed in the dining hall.

Flowers adorned the top of the table together with the feast and she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.

She stepped inside the hall and looked around. Everywhere, there were flowers and as she walked further, she found Hades standing at the end of the table. She didn’t even see him right away as her attention was on the flowers but when she saw him standing right there, she couldn’t help but marvel at his magnificent physique. At that moment, she realized where the phrase ‘devilishly handsome’ came from.

When she was in front of him, she gave him a questioning look. He then look around and said, “To celebrate your acceptance to whoever you want to be in this world.”

She couldn’t believe he actually made a big deal out of it. She was at loss for words but there was one question that came out of her mouth: “Where did you get all these flowers?”

She isn’t complaining. In fact, it made the place look a little less intimidating. With the touch of pink, red, and purple, the place looked like a ball—like the ones mortals would like to achieve but would never achieve because they don’t have magic. Magic is the only thing that could make something as beautiful as this.

Hades let out a chuckle before walking towards her. “Of all the questions you could ask, you are wondering where the flowers came from?” He looked around before his eyes found hers. “They’re from happiness.”

“What, there’s some pond of happiness or something you didn’t show me?”

“Your happiness, Guinevere,” he said and she looked at him, mouth slightly ajar.

“You may have been surrounded by cruel people but each day, you still managed to be happy at simple things. To be hopeful that everything would one day change. This…” He gestured his hand around to the majestic surrounding, “…is what your happiness looks like.”

“It’s…beautiful.”

“Exactly.”

Her eyes found him and she resisted the urge to get teary-eyed. “Why are you doing this?”

He stuffed his hands inside his pockets casually before he said, “Well, since we are entering our new deal, I figured we should start again. We didn’t have a good start but now, we are starting to agree with almost everything. This is a celebration for that.”

She was still surprised at the gesture. Back in the mortal world, nobody has ever done something like that to her. She was happy with simple things but this…what happened prepared was too grand.

A smile broke free from her face as Hades gestured for her to sit on the chair.

“I think I’ll skip wine tonight,” she said. Hades looked at her in surprise and then a smile curved his lips too.

“We don’t want you missing out on the best things, do we?”

She bit her lip as she sat on the chair and she felt his warm breath on the side of her neck before he went to sit in front of her.