Jealousy overtook Ian like a storm, he fumed like a flame in possessiveness. He wanted to know who he was but he didn't doubt Caroline one fraction. He decided to stay calm but he craved to be the one talking to her and not a stranger. He wondered who this special friend is? Caroline talking with him in her night attire didn't sit right on him.

Ian turned towards Aphrodite for a clue but she kept glaring at the stranger hard. He shook his hands near her face to gain her attention and he did.
Vanessa turned her attention to Ian and scowled, her eyes brimming with fury.

"Hey I am sorry for intruding on your glaring session Vanessa but who is he?" He asked ignoring her anger and pointing towards Hephaestus.

"I don't know, you'll have to wait and see or you can go and ask your girlfriend" she replied coldly, resuming her glare at Hephaestus and completely ignoring Ian.

Ian didn't like that tone, he decided to do just that as he walked straight to Caroline and tapped on her shoulder. When he caught her attention he couldn't find his voice to raise his question, instead, he stared at her straight in her eyes, getting lost on her chocolate orbs.

Ian felt the urge to kiss her, tell her how much he missed her but he knew that wouldn't be the best thing to do in this situation. Someone made a throaty noise from Ian's behind, breaking him and Caroline from their reverie. Ian was irritated by the disturbance.

Ian turned in the direction of the noise and met straight at the stranger, Ian noticed that the stranger looked handsome and lean. He composed his jealousy and said sweetly "hi I am Ian, Caroline's boyfriend" and extended his hand, successfully announcing that Caroline is his.

Hephaestus smirked at Ian picking on his thoughts and accepted his hands and introduced cockily "I'm Elijah Brent, Caroline's friend".

"College mates?" Ian inquired, raising his eyebrows in suspicion. Ian knew all of Caroline's college friends as she was his intern during her college time.

"Why don't you ask Caroline?" Hephaestus replied, smiling sweetly at Ian.

Ian turned towards the baffled Caroline and waited for her to answer but he noticed how troubled she looked at him so he asked her again "is he your college mate?".

"You know my college friends Ian, Elijah is my school mate from my home town" she informed him, memorizing the detail and retracted "Who is she?" and pointed at Vanessa.

"She is Vanessa, my college mate and she's going to join our company" Ian responded cooking up his story in ease.

Caroline nodded politely at Vanessa and turned to Ian and dragged him from there and said "why are you here? Don't you understand the meaning of break?" She asked angrily.

Caroline.

Caroline was shocked to find Ian in her lawn but what made her more troubled was that he was with a stranger and not the beautiful one from the previous night. The girl standing with Ian looked beautiful and she had the same eyes as the one from Ian's apartment.

She wanted to doubt him but she felt more of betrayal than doubt. She turned towards Ian and dragged him to a corner despite the fact that she knew that the God would be listening but she didn't want to fight with Ian's friend next to him.

When they reached to the secured end of the lawn, she yelled: "why are you here? Don't you understand the meaning of break?".

She knew that would sever him and her but it was necessary at that moment. She saw how distressed ian looked and reminisced how happy he looked when they first met at the lawn, dwelling in the eyes of each other.

"I wanted to see you Care" he informed slowly.

"But we are in a break ian, we are not supposed to see each other for a few days" she elaborated, softening her voice. She knew he missed her and so was she.

"I can't live without you Care, I'm sorry" he conceded.

Caroline felt the need to hug him and tell him that things will be fine, she wanted to murmur all the soothing words in his ears and she noticed that he was wearing the dress she gifted him so she comprised herself and tried to make him understand.

"What's the point if we keep meeting each other Ian, please let's stay apart for a few weeks and get to know how life is" she compensated.

"Weeks?" Ian questioned and continued "I can't stay that long without you".

"Then you should have not stayed with Natalie in the party" she yelled, losing her control and getting angry "and ooohh kissing a stranger at once I'm out of the apartment? You dare call that missing me Ian? Stop shitting lying to me ian!".

"How can I cheat on you Caroline?" He asked losing his composure and getting provoked slowly.

A voice in his head asked him to put Caroline in her place while another voice huffed in annoyance a 'patience mortal!' and he immediately knew where that voice came from so he decided the negativity is his mind and tried to control himself.

"Don't you dare shout at me Ian, I wasn't the one kissed a guy in front of your very eyes to prove a point!" She screamed and pointed her fingers towards him in accusation.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean it. I don't know who she is. She was gone when I woke up" he stated guiltily.

Caroline believed him and felt a little guilty for hiding things from him but she convinced herself by telling that is for their own good.

"Please leave," she said and looked at the ground, unable to face him.

"How is your leg?" Ian asked ignoring her request to leave.

Caroline looked at her bandaged foot and looked at his foot, she knew that it hurt him too as much as it hurt her.

"It takes its own time to heal Ian so should we," she whispered in pain but she wondered the source of pain, her damaged foot or her broken heart.

She saw Ian shrugging in defeat and nodded at her unable to speak and walked away from her.

Caroline felt like he took a piece of her heart with him and she knew that he already has all of her heart.

She walked towards Hephaestus after a moment and saw Ian and his friend Vanessa walking out of the gate. She turned towards Hephaestus and said, "I need him to understand what love is, he thinks it's possessiveness".

"But you still love him, no matter what!" He announced.

"That I do" she replied and walked towards her house.

"Where do you think you are going?" Came Hephaestus sound from behind.

"Inside the house, I need to change" she informed sceptically.

"Okay, what are you going to tell your mother about me?" He asked, amused.

Caroline came to a halt and her face twisted in the confusion of not knowing what to say to her mother. Her mother knew all about her school and college friends. She paced on her lawn trying to come up with a story but unfortunately, she didn't come up with one.

"How long are you going to stand here? My legs are hurting, I'm going inside" complained Hephaestus and walked inside, loving his game.

Caroline rushed behind him and saw that her mother is at the kitchen making breakfast. She walked towards the kitchen and gestured Hephaestus to follow her.

"Mom, this is Elijah Brent my school mate" she introduced and prayed that she doesn't ask any cross-questions.

"I haven't seen him in your school before" she replied sceptically but nodded politely at Hephaestus.

"No mom, he's a nerd during school and an introvert so I guess... You know maybe you didn't notice" she stammered.

"How can I not know, I'm one of your teachers at school," she asked.

"I'm her preschool friend" informed Hephaestus and sent a wave of power In her mind to accept what he was saying.

"Ohh yeah, I am sorry Elijah I didn't recognise you. You have grown into a handsome man". She answered brightly and winked at him.

Caroline was shocked to see her nom behaving like that. "He will be staying with us for some time, is that okay with you?" She implored.

"Sure no problem, he can take the spare room upstairs" she replied enthusiastically.

Caroline suspected the situation, she had a feeling that Hephaestus is messing with her mother's mind. She didn't like it but she was glad that the backup story worked.

"I'll escort you to your room Elijah, follow me" she replied and walked upstairs.

When they entered into the spare room she accused "stop messing with my mom's mind".

"You should be thankful to me but you dare accuse me?" He asked mockingly.

"Yes, you don't have the rights to mess with my mom's mind" she glared.

"I am a god! I have every right to mess with anyone as I wish" he challenged.

"You are a blacksmith god, remember?" She shot back.

Hephaestus fumed in anger and snapped his finger. An invisible rope binded Caroline's hands and leg and she was lifted to the wall, she tried to scream in pain but she couldn't find her voice.

"Don't you dare disrespect me!" He screamed.

She nodded her head and the binds released her slowly. She rubbed her hands and searched for any mark but fortunately, she couldn't find one. She grabbed the lamp from the nightstand and ferociously threw it at Hephaestus.

Hephaestus didn't see it coming so it hit him straight on his face and a golden liquid oozed from the small cut on his forehead.

He blazed in anger, red light illuminating from the body. Caroline realized that was his red hot anger and got a little scared but she didn't want to give up so she composed herself and took a stand and said: "You can't scare me, you don't have the power to kill me it's Hades power and you are here to help me not mess with peoples head" she informed coldly.

She noticed that the red light disappearing slowly and God vanished in thin air. She huffed in annoyance and walked to her room.

She showered and dressed and thought about the previous events. It took all of her will power to fight a god but she didn't regret it one bit.

Her mind travelled towards Ian, she wondered if he made home safely. She knew he was hurt and that hurts her more but she started to think that considering a gods help is not the right choice.

She took her phone and started to dial Ian's number but she quickly cut it realising what she was doing and her morals of a break.

She checked her phone display, it portrayed her and Ian cuddling in their bed lovingly. She missed him and their little moments. She scrolled to images and started reminiscing their happy days with tears in her eyes.

***
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