Ratify.

"Hephaestus?".

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

Caroline looked at the god in astonishment wondering how could a miracle like this happen in her life?

"Okay since we successfully established my whereabouts, shall we leave this place? it's too cringy!" Hephaestus announced scrunching his nose in disgust and flipped his hand in a circular motion.

The scenery that unravelled at the sight of Caroline looked like a glorious huge palace made of links, chains, iron, and metal made of gold. The palace had a dark beauty of its own but it was abandoned.

Caroline liked the fairy tale garden better but she couldn't stop admiring the golden palace that created an image of floating.

"Much better!" commented Hephaestus.

Caroline didn't know what to reply, she shook her head in confusion wanting to know if all of this is a dream or it's happening for real.

"But sir... I mean god, I prayed to Aphrodite how come you wanted to help me? not that I am ungrateful about it" She convinced.

"My wife is a little busy on the high side so I am here on behalf of her." Hephaestus faked his answer.

Caroline believed in him and slowly she started to beg, "please make our relationship work".

"I can't" Hephaestus informed feigning pity.

"Why? you're a god!" she asked hopefully.

Hephaestus read Caroline's thoughts and realized how strong her love is, he decided to break it tactically.

"Why do you want him? he is unfaithful," he said convincingly forming a plan in his mind, but her beliefs were stronger than his deceit.

Caroline looked conflicted at the situation but a sane part of her mind said to believe in Ian but a strange voice inside her mind urged her to believe in the God so she decided to confirm her suspicions.

"I don't know what you are saying, Ian is always faithful to me" she informed slowly believing it herself.

"Then why aren't you guys together?" he cross-questioned and raised his eyebrows in exaggeration.

"We had a misunderstanding" she concluded simply. The topic hurted her much when she spoke about it.

"Not your first time, is it?" he mocked cunningly.

"But you are god right, so you can help us," she asked Hephaestus desperately trying not to break and lose hope.

"I can't" he repeated again.

"Why?" she asked losing her hope, tears started to weld up in her eyes.

"Because we don't have that much power in the mortal world" he confessed and sighed.

"Ohh then how can you help us? Why are you here?" She interrogated, getting angry at his attitude on her love life.

"To help you Caroline. I can't use strong magic but I still have powers". He replied convincingly.

" Then please help, get us back together". She begged again.

"I have conditions" he stated simply and stared at Caroline.

Caroline looked at Hephaestus in confusion wondering what a god wanted from her but she knows that everything comes with a price.

A part of Caroline always knew Ian was faithful and loyal to her, but the circumstances always said it otherwise and Ian only intensified the conflicts so this time she wanted to teach him a lesson but she also knew that this break could go in two ways, either a good one or a bad way so her only chance is to believe in the God and hope he gets them back together.

So she said, "What are the conditions?" and stared at the god.

"First, you can't reveal who I am to anyone.
Secondly, you will call me as 'Elijah'.
Thirdly, I will be staying with you so in the meantime cook up a story to convince your mom. But remember you are not supposed to tell who I really am not even to your boyfriend." Listed Hephaestus.

Caroline found the rules are simple but she was worried about lying to Ian, but she decided to do it anyway for the sake of her love.

"Okay I can come up with a cover story and I'll abide by other rules too, Elijah," she accepted.

"Most importantly, I missed the rules. Silly of me" interfered Hephaestus and chuckled jovially forming a cunning plan in his tricky mind.

Caroline felt a sudden uneasiness wash over her, but she shunned her senses and asked Hephaestus to proceed with his rules. "What is that? I will heed to any rules for Ian".

Hephaestus smirked and laid his final rule " I want something from you in return but what? That I will let you know later and you should comply with this if you want me to help you"

Caroline faltered a moment so the god convinced cunningly "Everything comes with a payment Caroline, aren't you willing to pay me for the sake of your love? Is your belief in love that weak?" And shook his head in disapproval.

"I can do anything for Ian" she reflected.

"Then prove it! Promise me, Caroline, to retify to what I want as a payment" he said and extended his hands.

Caroline hesitated in fear but she took the extended hand and shook it, confirming the deed.

"Perfect! Since we've successfully completed the process I guess we need to go back home". He said and snapped his fingers.

They appeared on Caroline's lawn in a blink of an eye. Caroline stammered to walk forward trying to come up with a plan to make Hephaestus stay in their house. They headed towards the house.

Ian.

Ian paced restlessly in the kitchen while Aphrodite sat peacefully on top of the kitchen counter and enjoyed a packet of potato chips.

"If you are done can we go and talk to Caroline?" Ian asked, irritation clear in his voice.

"And what exactly are we going to talk about with Caroline?" she retracted, chewing her chips blissfully.

Ian stopped midway and pondered over what the goddess said but he didn't come upon any idea so he slumped in the dining chair and sulked over the situation.

"I like the food here!" Aphrodite declared enthusiastically opening another packet of junk food.

"You are a goddess Vanessa, have you forgotten it?" he stated devoid of emotions.

"Hey you are supposed to treat me as a human and these types of foods don't exist on the high side" she announced and started to chew more chips.

"You are not human, you are a goddess! and haven't you eaten these foods when you visit our world on missions like this?" he asked.

"I haven't been to earth for eons, you're quite lucky I am here for you now!" she joked.

"When did you last visit?" he asked systematically.

"During the Trojan war". she answered and smiled at his thoughts.

"The mythical war that happened because you're sister Helen fell in love with two boys and sacrificed thousands of human lives for entertainment", he pointed, glaring at Aphrodite.

Aphrodite smiled at Ian and answered, unwavered by his accusation, "First, it isn't mythical and you can't help who you fall in love with".

"You are the goddess of love Aphrodite, your highness. you can help who she fell in love with and humans aren't your sacrificial lambs to play with!" he said and shook his head in anger.

"That's why we have rules to follow Ian, rules that we cant break. I know what you are thinking Ian but we can't change what happened in the past, that's against the rule of nature but we can prevent it from history repeating itself, that is why it is important to keep my identity a secret". she elaborated.

"But don't your 'high side' as you call it, doesn't know that you are here?" he inquired.

"No, that would only bring the devils from the high side to the earth and create another war. I don't want anything like that to happen again". she answered and waited patiently for Ian to raise his other question, although she knew what's coming.

"Is that why you don't have a lot of powers on our side?" he asked, slowly understanding the situation.

"Yes Ian, we have very little powers on this side, enough to mask our identity and conceal our aura". she admitted.

Ian wondered how she can solve their considering that she hasn't enough power. Aphrodite read his thoughts and answered "but I am still a goddess Ian, and love doesn't unveil to magic it's a part of nature, unchangeable and pure. you don't need magic for true love you just need trust and commitment but well talking about commitment, you are highly lacking in that. consider me your friend Ian'.

Ian knew the goddess was right and he felt a sudden comfort wash over him, he took her advice and extended his hands and asked: "will you be my friend Venessa?".

Aphrodite accepted his hand and they shook it. She settled on the counter and resumed eating her potato chips. Ian picked a photo frame which is placed on the kitchen counter on top of the spice compartment and looked at him and Caroline.

He wanted to talk with Caroline, convince her, and bring her back to the apartment but he didn't know how to do it. He stared at the photo reminiscing their happy moments. The photo portrayed them on a beach and they had goofy smiles on their lips and eyes full of love for each other.

He wanted it all back, their happy times, and stupid conversation but he knew that it is not possible in these circumstances. Aphrodite picked on his thoughts and realized how sad he is, but Ian masked his sorrows perfectly but the goddess was not the one to be fooled.

She abandoned her packet of chips and walked towards Ian and informed cheerfully "Come on, let's go stalk on Caroline for now!".

Ian rushed to his bedroom to change indicating that he is indeed ready for that while Aphrodite laughed in amusement and muttered loudly "love!".

Ian wore a dress that Caroline gifted, a white shirt and grey pants and rushed towards the door but he was interrupted with an "I don't have anything to wear!" Aphrodite groaned loudly.

Ian stared perplexed at the goddess and implored "You have magic, that glittery substance. You can change in a snap of your fingers".

"Yeah... But this is a mortal side, I think I should enjoy it. Let's go shopping after stalking Caroline" she squealed.

Ian groaned loudly but agreed to her terms and they walked to the parking lot together. On their way to Ian's car, they met with Ian's nosy neighbour Mr Bradley. He stood there smoking and cooed to "New girlfriend Ian? She's hotter than your ex-girlfriend" to them and whistled loudly.

Ian felt red hot anger travelling to his senses, he clutched his hands and raised to strike him, but an invisible power stopped his hands near Mr Bradleys face from moving forward. He growled in annoyance but Aphrodite only smirked and yanked Ian away from him to the car.

They drove towards Caroline's place. Ian asked in frustration "why did you stop me, he deserved a punch!".

"You have no patience, you need to wait to understand why I stopped you. He has an amazing fight to take part in and get hurt and your puny punch would save him from that fate" she replied cunningly.

"Wow, you're tricky and wicked!" He replied, pleased that Mr Bradley will soon get his payments.

They parked at the farthest end of Carolines street and started walking.
They saw Caroline on the lawn, wearing pyjamas and a t-shirt with strawberry prints. Ian knew it was her night attire, he wondered why she was wearing that in the day time most importantly outside the house. Despite everything, Ian noticed how beautiful she looked even in simple nightwear but what alarmed him most was that she was speaking to an unknown handsome stranger.

***
Chap 5 coming up tomo!

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