Discriminatory

" It was hazy like I said, I'm not sure what happened. Natalie offered me another glass of drinks but it slipped from my hands and stained her dress, I apologized to her but she asked me to help her take away the stain so tried it with a napkin, I... I don't remember much as I said. She asked me to follow her and I did, not intentionally though. She asked me to sit on the bed while she cleaned in the attached bathroom, I felt a little dizzy from the alcohol so I lied on the bed and closed my eyes for a minute.

Natalie walked out of the bathroom in a half-naked state, I was shocked beyond words. She justified with a simple "sorry sir, my dress is stained so I need to take it off".

I turned the other side and waited for her to finish her business. She walked towards me still in a half-naked state and wrapped her arms around my waist and started running her hands on my body.

I tried to move away but I was limb due to my drunken state so she pushed me on the bed and got on top of me, she started to kiss me and I pulled her off.

She kissed me besides my protest, she knew she couldn't get more from me so she started to manipulate saying all the baseless trash against Caroline, but I was the stupidest to take her words seriously. She said sympathetically

" Caroline doesn't love you, sir, did you notice how she laughed at Mr Noah. It's all written on her face, sir". and I believed her. I was so aggravated but something in me said to believe in Caroline so I stayed silent but I couldn't control my action.

I moved away from Natalie and started towards the door to get out and speak to Caroline about the whole Noah checking her out thing, but Natalie grabbed me again and kissed me. I didn't have the energy to protest the alcohol-downed coherency and strength" he looked at Aphrodite and immediately lowered his gaze to the floor in shame. He dared to not look at the goddess. After a few minutes, Ian decided to talk everything out and get it out of his system so he continued,

"The next thing I know is that I'm kissing Natalie aggressively but it wasn't me, I wouldn't do anything like that to my Caroline, I heard someone sobbing and pulling me harshly and I saw it was Caroline.

I knew I did a mistake and I'm not going to defend myself about it, but all I can say is I didn't do it intentionally.

When I woke up I was in my apartment with Caroline sitting on the edge of the bed and weeping hard, I didn't remember the last night's events so I went closer to comfort her and she started to accuse me, I was flabbergasted at first and we soon started throwing things and fighting hard and the next thing I know is that she is leaving me here alone to suffer" he concluded painfully still not believing his Caroline left him.

Aphrodite looked at Ian with a mixture of pity and something that Ian couldn't decipher.

"I can help you but I can't use my magic in the mortal world to matters like this" Aphrodite stated again and proceeded,
"But I have an obligation', Ian stared at her in confusion. He wondered what could a goddess require from a mortal like him but Aphrodite had her own plans in her head

"You want something in return?" Ian asked her.

"Yes, but I will tell you that later, you have to promise to give me that," she said and looked intimidatingly at Ian.

Ian knew a pact with a goddess is going to be either a good one or it's going to be a complete disaster but he decided to have his Caroline back.

"Okay I'll agree to whatever you ask of me if you're going to solve our problem and bind me with my Caroline, but may I ask why my highness?" He inquired.

"Everything in this world requires a cost and you have to pay for it. Will you pay for it, Ian?" She asked schematically.

"Okay, I can do anything to my Caroline. Name your rate" he said confidently convincing himself.

"Payments later, now I have a few conditions" Aphrodite settled herself comfortably and motioned Ian to get seated and continued, "first, I want you to call me Vanessa. Second, I want you to keep my identity a secret and never give it away in any circumstance, not even to Caroline. Third, I'm going to stay here with you and will be visible to every mortal" she stated pointing each finger for each condition while Ian interrupted her with,

"But your highness, won't the light that eliminating from you give your identity away?" He asked gesturing to the soft golden light eliminating through the goddesses body, he also noticed how inhumanely beautiful Aphrodite is.

Aphrodite craned her neck and gave Ian an amused look and made circling movement from her hands and shrugged, a golden glitter like substance emerged from her palm and she hurled it into the air. It fell on the goddess's body like a shining rain and she shrugged.

A blinding light blurred Ian's visions for a second and when the haze disappeared he saw a different woman standing in front of him, she had electric blue eyes and soft brown long curly hair that reached her waist, angular face, and curvy body, she looked human, but something in her aura said otherwise.

Ian stared at Aphrodite's beautiful transformation and a small smile spread on his face.

"Wow, you look beautiful and human!" He complimented.

"I am a goddess Ian, of course, I'll look beautiful despite the circumstances", she replied cockily.

"Yes, your highness, but my heart belongs to another woman and she is the most beautiful woman in my life" he stated and soon sadness engulfed him and he sadly continued,
"I want her, your highness, please" he begged this time.

"True love always wins, do you have trust in your love Ian, then you have to wait for all good things comes to the one who waits. You will conquer it all and the most important thing is, that my name is Vanessa and that's how you will address me! Got it?" She growled, tired of his courtesies.

"Okay, Venessa..." He said still unsure how to treat a goddess as a human, the whole situation seemed odd for him, as Ian spent most of his life spending cockily and confidently around women and now he had trouble even talking with this beautiful angel standing in front of him.

"Alright Venessa, what's the plan?" he asked casually, his cool persona returning slowly.

"You know the rules, and you will have to make your payment when you're asked. So do we have a deal? She asked and Ian nodded at her in agreement. She extended her hand towards Ian and he shook it." we have a deal" he corroborated.

"Where do we start?" He asked, hoping to bring Caroline back to his life soon.

"Patience mortal!" She huffed and looked at the impatient Ian.

Caroline.

The handsome stranger precipitously paced inside Caroline's room waiting for Caroline to wake up. He glanced at the wall clock which read 9:38 a.m. deciding that he couldn't wait anymore he squeezed Caroline's foot and twisted it.

Caroline woke up with a start and stared at the handsome visitor from her dreams smiling at her. She jolted upright from the bed and asked,

"Who are you? Why are you following me?" She asked, forcefully this time trying to look intimidatingly.

The handsome stranger smiled at her and settled on the mattress and said calmly, "I'm your friend".

Caroline eyed him skeptically, unable to trust him she wanted to scream for help but something in her said that shouting for help won't do any good with this hot foreigner.

" Why are you here?" She asked instead.

"I'm here to help you, Caroline, you wanted to save your relationship, I'm here to do just that" he informed convincingly.

"Are you a media person? Or a company rival? Whoever you are, you are not going to get any information about our relationship. Please don't waste your time, leave" she inquired suspiciously and pointed to the door.

"Oooh, scandalous. How interesting it would be for the world to know this news. Just imagine the headlines 'billionaire finally breaks up with his girlfriend' wouldn't it be the trending news as of now?" He taunted, a wicked smile plastered on his handsome face.

Caroline wondered how he knew about their relationship, she wondered if he is a spy, selling information about Ian's personal life for their company rivals.

"I'm not your company rival nor I'm a spy" the visitor interfered with her thoughts.

She looked flabbergasted at him, alarmed by his ability to read her mind.

"I'm not going to harm you, I'm your friend. Believe me, Caroline" the handsome stranger said convincingly feigning innocence.

"What do you want?" She asked still not being able to trust him.

"I want nothing, I heard your pleas to Aphrodite and I wanted to help you get your love life back" he stated.

"How did you hear my pleas? no one was around me at that time, how long are you following me?" she asked again, troubled by his knowledge, and grabbed a vase from the nearby nightstand and held it close, and continued "tell me now or I will break your head, don't underestimate me. I will harm you", the handsome stranger laughed at her tendencies.

The mocking laughter provoked Caroline and she lifted the vase swiftly to knock him down but the vase only hit the now empty air. the stranger disappeared from the bed and appeared behind the scared Caroline and cooed, "ouch, missed!" and feigned hurt.

Caroline dropped the vase, panicked by his disappearance and the sudden voice coming from her, and turned abruptly and saw the handsome stranger looking hurt.

"Who are you?" she repeated in a small voice and backed away from him.

"Your Guardian Angel?" he joked but Caroline was not amused, she looked scared so he corrected,

"I'm Hephaestus, son of Zeus and Hera and also the god of blacksmiths", he informed proudly.

Caroline couldn't believe him but she also couldn't find the answers to the visitors teleporting abilities and his power to read her mind, so she asked him in a small voice.

"Are you really a god?" and she looked at the amused stranger shaking his head in annoyance.

"you don't believe it, do you?" he asked her and she shook her head in disbelief.

the background changed from Caroline's childhood bedroom to a beautiful fairy tale garden with a simple flip of the god's fingers. lush green trees and grass-covered the ground looking as if its a vast green ocean, beautiful wildflowers covering most of the surface. the garden went on and on and had no end to Caroline's vision, colourful birds and different sizes of butterflies and bee's buzzed around the elegant flowers, on the ground laid emeralds and rubies and colourful pebbles creating the image of a wonderful stone lake.

Caroline and the handsome god stood next to a huge oak tree that reached the clouds, she took in the scenery as if she was in a dream. a butterfly bigger than its usual size flew towards Caroline and rested on Caroline's shoulder. when she turned to take a look at it, it turned into a stunning white dove with pearls on its wings and flew out of her reach.

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief but the scene in front of her stayed intact, she took in the sight for a moment, and slowly realization drowned in her.

she turned to the handsome god and uttered, "Hephaestus?".

"The one and only" the god affirmed...

***

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