"No freaking way, Mom!"

Cupid kept quiet as he stared at the conversation—nope—argument happening before him. He would have contributed or tried to save Ella from the missiles Cassie was shooting her way but he had no intention of doing so.

Matter of fact, he wanted to shoot his missile and it wasn't an exaggeration.

"Cassie, calm down!" Linda snapped.

"No mom, I don't know why Ella and Sacha are bent on playing matchmakers!" Cassie exclaimed, she was vibrating from anger.

Sacha shot him a pointed look but he ignored her. He knew what she was going to say that it was him playing the matchmaking.

So what if it was him? That still doesn't justify Ella's annoying stunt.

You're only saying that because you can't go with Psyche, a tiny voice whispered in his mind.

Shut up! He hissed at the voice.

Sure, just know I'm saying the truth, the voice snickered with a hint of sarcasm.

When he's able to get his hands on his subconscious voice, he's gonna squeeze the life out of the annoying voice, he vowed.

The bone of contention between Cassie, Ella, and Sacha—no, he wasn't among them—was that Ella bought tickets to the Willow love contest—WLC—without informing them.

He was supposed to go to the contest with Psyche as his love partner—purely siblings based on Ella's assessment—but Psyche was not around and Sacha was to replace her.

That was his problem, anger, and frustration. Psyche was never around when he needed her most.

Cassie's anger was as she's had two dates that were a complete disaster and she wasn't going to face further embarrassment from James at this contest.

No, she didn't say it out loud, he listened in on her thoughts. The joys of mind-reading.

"Why are you so upset, it's just a contest." Cupid decided to intervene.

"Yeah and it was all Cupid idea," Ella chipped in before running off.

His mouth hung open in awe as he stared at the retreating back of Ella before he turned to Cassie who sent him a withering look.

"And I thought you were on my side," she growled at him.

He chuckled nervously. "I am on your side."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Really?"

"So maybe I thought it would be a good idea to go for the contest It's a change of activities besides it's Christmas we ought to have fun," Cupid tried to convince her. She had to go so his chances of bringing them back together by Christmas will be high.

"Try having fun with a broken heart."

Her words broke his heart into a tiny million pieces, he wanted to speak up, tell the truth but he was scared of the repercussions he would face from everyone.

They already judged him too much he didn't need to give them more reasons to do so.

"I'm sure your heart will heal in time," he said instead.

"When is the blasted contest?" Cassie asked glaring at Ella.

Ella scratched her hair nervously. "Uhm...you see it's starting today in the next two hours."

"When were you planning on telling me?" Cassie asked in a calm voice.

Cupid knew that calmness came before the storm.

I was going to drag you there actually since James already agreed.

His ears perked up as he stared at Ella nibbling on her bottom lip, her eyes locked on the floor. He couldn't let her voice her thoughts else Cassie might change her mind again.

"You don't have to worry about that, Cassie let's go prepare and kick some asses," he said rekindling her competitive spirit.

~~~~*

One hour later and Cupid was strolling through Willow Creek with five mortals and they were discussing the best strategy to win a mortal contest.

That's how bad his predicament was.

"I haven't been paying attention to WLC and now I'm participating," Cassie groaned.

"It's not that bad," Ella muttered.

Sacha nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's all about the spirit of co-operation between partners."

"Guess we ain't winning, eh James?" Cassie asked in a mocking tone.

James shrugged. "We've always made a great team."

"Yeah before you fucked up on your bachelor's party!" Cassie snapped.

Cupid groaned. This was going to be a long day.

They walked a few more miles before arriving at the arena for the contest. All the while, Cupid noticed Jared hadn't said a word since they started their conversation.

"Good evening, Mayor Jenkins," Ella smiled brightly at a short bald man dressed in a black tuxedo with a wrinkled face, his brow knitted in a frown as he stared at the paper in his hand.

His eyes lit up in joy as he saw Ella and his thin lips that were pulled into a grim frown upturned to a bright smile.

"Ella, how are you doing?"

Cupid eyed him suspiciously as he patted her hair and smiled at Cassie who rolled her eyes muttering a greeting under her breath.

"I'm fine, Mayor."

"What are you and your friends doing here?" He asked.

"We came to play," Cassie replied in a sarcastic voice.

My thoughts exactly, Cupid grinned widely but said nothing.

"We are part of the contestants," Ella asked.

"Oh, you six are all under one team right?" He asked.

Ella gave him a puzzled look. "I thought it was just two in one group?"

Mayor Jenkins chuckled showing off his brown teeth stained by tobacco and probably chocolate from his young age.

"No, my dear. You just need to be more than one person to join the WLC."

There was a collective sigh of relief from them all only he and Ella kept a straight face.

He could understand why James and Cassie sighed in relief, he too was relieved at least they won't bicker too much but why did Sacha sigh, he was an excellent partner.

Jared was acting weird, Cupid thought as he stared at him. Why did he sigh in relief, could it be he didn't want to partner up with Ella?

The time you spend mulling over thoughts in your head could be useful in getting us back to Olympus.

Cupid ignored the tiny voice in his head and focused on the nervous-looking Jared.

------------------------

A/N: Here's the next update. Leave your thoughts on this chapter and hit that lil star.

Thank you so much guys for reading and enjoying this story.

What could Jared be hiding?

Shout-out to our new readers 🥳🥳

cjstar1015 and O_ceanica welcome to the amazing world of Cupid Christmas. Please leave your thoughts on this chapter.

Much love ❤️
Goodness.