Chapter 56 Finding out the truth

Chapter 56 Finding out the truth
Daphne

When Anna finally leaves for the night, Hades returns to my room, filling it up with his irresistible presence.

“I thought she’d never leave,” he grumbles about Anna. I laugh at his complaint.

“Look, I don’t know what you want me to say to you. I think it’s very unfair to put me in this spotlight and make these demands of me. I just want to live a normal life.”

Hades puts his finger on my upper lip to stop me from continuing. “You know I just realized I’ve been doing everything except the one thing I really should do. So, now, forget about Hell, forget about anything I may have asked of you…why don’t you come out on a date with me? Tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven, we’ll do something special. No strings attached. Let’s just have some fun.”

I think about it for a minute. “No pressure about becoming the queen of hell?”

He shakes his head. “None. I understand you want to return to a normal life. I’ll respect that. I’ll try to be normal with you. So, let’s just go out on a date and have some fun.”

I nod my head. “Okay fine.”

He comes forward and presses a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night.”

With that, he vanishes. One minute, he’s there and I can feel him and the next, he’s gone, taking every trace of him.

The next morning, as I prepare for class, I heard a knock on the door.  Two police men are standing outside the door when I open it.

“Ms. Daphne?” one of them, the older guy, asks politely. I nod.

“Yes, I’m Daphne.”

“I’m officer Shane, this is my colleague, officer Luke. We were hoping to escort you down to the station for a few questions regarding your disappearance,” he says in a stern voice.

“Um, I don’t think I can do that right now. I’m getting ready for class. Can I stop by the station as soon as I’m free. Perhaps tomorrow morning?” I ask.

The offices share a look with each other. “Sure, we’ll be waiting for you.”

The rest of my day is extremely eventful. Apparently, my disappearance had made me some sort of celebrity on campus. Students stop to talk to me. I had to wade through a horde of curious students to get to my classes.

Luckily, I see Anna at the cafeteria. I was buying food when she taps my shoulder.

“Do you know everyone’s talking about you?” Anna says, curiously.

“I guess. I didn’t know traveling home would turn me into a mini-celebrity.”

We talk and joke all day long until she asks about Hades.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, just curious about him. He disappeared too but I heard he’s back. Just so you know, I withdrew my report to the school board. Told them I made a mistake. It’s probably the reason you’ve not been expelled yet. I just couldn’t let that happen to the only girl who has been kind to me in this school,” Anna continues.

“Thanks. I really appreciate it. As for Hades…. he’s still around. We are going on our first date tonight. Can you believe it? We’ve been screwing around for so long but we haven’t even been on an official date. I don’t know what to wear, I don’t even know if I’m making the right choice.”

Anna pats my arms. “Trust me, you are making the right choice,” she pauses and draws a sharp breath. 

“There’s something you don’t know about that time I embarrassed myself trying to seduce him. I was thinking I could hurt you the same way I was hurt when you kissed Adonis. But maybe you don’t know how much he cares about you. He really shut me down. I’d tried a lot of times before that day you walked in on us in the office. He was just not into me. I don’t think he even saw any other women apart from you. He was obsessed. I think he was in love,” Anna says.

I stare at her in disbelief while she continues eating her food like she didn’t just drop a fucking bomb on me. I can’t stop thinking about it. I was mad at him for a long time about the kiss when I didn’t even know the truth.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask her. Anna bobs her head nonchalantly.

“God, I don’t even want to talk about the number of times I was in his office disgracing myself. And each time he said no. I tried so hard to get him to…” she pauses, stabbing at her plate, her cheeks are flushed with shame. “You have to understand, I was acting childishly. The rejection from Adonis hurt me to my bones and I was blaming you. I was trying to do anything to hurt you too. You have to forgive me, Daph,” she presses.

I wave a hand dismissively in the air. “Yeah, yeah, I forgive you. I don’t care about that. I care about finding out the truth about Hades.”

“Well, my plan was to get him in a compromising position so I could, I don’t know, take some pictures and prove that the man was a whore. I knew you liked him, I wanted you to lose that. It was wicked, I know, but I swear I am not that woman anymore. Anyway, he turned me down multiple times. I didn’t even know you were coming that day in the office. I just had enough and tried to kiss him forcefully. It just so happened you came in at exactly the right time. I bet you blamed him for it,” Anna says in an embarrassed low voice. All around us, students flashed by while I contemplate. All this time, I’ve been mad at him. I was uncertain about the kind of man he was; I was unclear about the things he wants from me. I laid false accusations on him, blamed him for the incident when it wasn’t even his fault.

Stupid, I was so stupid.

I close my books rapidly. “I have to go. I have to prepare for a date!”