CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

"Are you all right, Allison?" she heard the low, velvety voice owned by the man beside her. She felt like a little child that her father was forced to give back his money but she couldn't since she had already bought the money with candies that she ate along with her friends.

"Y...yeah." Allison wiped her glistening tear that cascaded down her cheek.

"I'm fine," she said firmly in a thick voice. 'I have to be strong'.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked with a friendly smile. 'Why do you care anyway?' she wanted to retort but subdued herself and expressed the irritation boiling in her gut by biting her lower lip violently. He was too nosy for a guy, she observed. But according to a study, men don't usually gossip and weren't as nosy as women.

"No, I'm afraid that the wound will just get fresh when I open up," she answered him, her eyes never left the dancing couples looking helplessly in love. She envied them. How could the world be so unfair? Why was it that some people were meant to be happy and together while others were meant to be sad and alone?

"But at least it will somehow subside a little." The man's reply made her face him, causing her green orbs to meet his. She was captivated at the sight of those grey eyes that showed warmth, concern, and... love? Allison shook her head, thinking that her eyes were deceiving her.

"No."

"C'mon," he insisted and took another drink of his whiskey.

"Seriously?" she raised a brow at him.

"Please?"

"But I barely know you," she firmly said as she swerved her body to move the stool to face him. "How could I know that you won't gossip my matter to other people, or even to the media? I might have my name on the headlines tomorrow."

"I could remember that day well, it was autumn, a good afternoon bringing a blessing in disguise. I was at the park at that time with my dog, Jojo. A bystander was sitting on a wooden bench alone, reading a book silently wearing an old school outfit. Jojo and I were about to cross a street when a car suddenly showed up and then hit Jojo. The bystander witnessed what happened and immediately left his things to carry Jojo and bring him to the vet. He was even the one who pressed charges at the driver of the car. I asked him how to repay him and he told me that a date would be enough... and so, the night after my dog was discharged, we had a date and we got to know each other. It wasn't hard to talk to him because he was a smart conversationalist. Whenever silence tries to intrude, he opens topics that always agitate my interest.

One date became two then became three and became countless. He took me to places that make my bones shrill; he was very fun to be with that's why I love keeping him in company. We studied in the same university so you can really tell that we have a close vicinity. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and seasons passed... I realized that I fell in love with him. I kept my feelings for him for months but I ended up 'fessing. I felt embarrassed and regretful at that time but those feelings were gone when he confessed that feels the same, we started dating after that unexpected confession. We were happy with our relationship that was about to become a year old until..."

Allison hadn't noticed that as she told her broken love story and the deeper the libretto goes, her heart was painfully torn apart, her voice was getting thick and tears were uncontrollably streaming down from her eyes. Millennia of memories were flashing back, hurting her like shards of glass, digging into the inches of her heart. She remembered their cherished memories, their laugh, and smiles together, their first dance at a bar, how his soft hands felt whenever they entwine with hers, his sweet gestures, everything. They were so happy back then... but then he cheated on her. He made her broken beyond repair. She wiped her tears and glanced at the man she was talking to. Her heart jumped from her chest at the sight of him.

Hades looked like he was going to kill someone, his face was dark and his eyes were burning with much hatred. She cringed on her seat, she's never felt this tension before. She looked at the glass of whiskey he was holding and noticed that his enormous hand was shaking while gripping the glass tightly that he's close to breaking it into shards as if he was putting all his anger on the fragile thing. 'But why would he be angry?'

Hades winked at her knowingly, his lips curving into a charming smirk. "Oh love, I don't gossip. "

"Really huh? So what makes you persistent in knowing what's troubling me?" She raised a brow once again and placed her elbow on the dimly lit counter. She couldn't trust his words, but studying his facial expression, he looked pretty honest.

He grinned sheepishly, his eyes sparkling in delight. "Because I know keeping it all inside will do nothing but only to hurt yourself more, Allison." He took a huge gulp of the final contents of his drink.

She let out a sigh from her lips in defeat and shook her head in disbelief because of the surprising fact that she's never met a person this persistent in her whole life. She couldn't believe that she would open up to a person barely knew, she's very meticulous when it comes to personal matters, but she wouldn't be if she's drunk though, she'd open up to anyone, stranger or not. But she wasn't right now. She never opened up to any person, whether that person was an acquaintance, a friend, or a relative, only to the people she trusted the most who were only her friends, Brent especially.

"Fine," she said and swiveled herself to face the counter once again. In deep counts, she drew another sigh and bit her lower lip. 'It's going to be alright, Ally,' she told herself continuously, trying to prevent fear from crawling to the pit of her stomach. She was already sick of being afraid and now is the perfect time to face it. She felt a lump in her throat and she gulped it down before making another sigh for the nth time and telling her broken tale.