Chapter 85

A museum. That's where we stood. In front of a freaking museum. And it didn't surprise me one bit. It looked rather busy for a Sunday and I kept wondering why the hell he had brought me here. Glancing back at Roman, he checked his phone before stuffing it in his pocket and then looked down at me.

"Care to explain?" I gestured to the grand building in front of us in confusion.

"I'll explain once we're in." I couldn't help but feel like there was something more to the museum than what he was letting on to. I decided to leave it and hesitantly followed him up the steps to the main doors.

The last time I had been in this museum was for a field trip in 6th Grade when we were learning about the Ancient Egyptians. That was the day Rya punched Christopher in the face because he stole her Twinkie. Ah memories.

As we stepped inside, nothing had change. The same warm, wooden floors and pristine white walls with picture frames of the same old art hanging on the walls. Roman went to the front desk to grab two pamphlets before heading back over to me.

"Okay, this is nice and all but why the hell are we here?" I demanded to know.

"Can't you live a little?" He teased and I rolled my eyes once more. "I want to show you something." He finally answered. I furrowed my brows.

"And what's that?"

"That is the surprise. C'mon." he walked ahead, and I was left to follow. I kept to his side the whole time as I had no clue as to where I was going whereas Roman evidently seemed to have the place memorised like the back of his hand.

Shifting through the many different sections, I couldn't help but stare at the impressive exhibitions and displays. As a kid, you thought they were all fun and games, spending most of the time playing hide and seek with your friends, but now that I was older, I felt like I was able to appreciate it. It was crazy how every single country had a history so unique and interesting whether it be fashion, political systems, religion, architecture, entertainment, king and queens, Gods and Goddesses. Each so intricate, each so fascinating.

We arrived at the section Roman obviously wanted us to be in. The Ancient Greek section. It wasn't as busy as the other sections but still had many people wondering around, admiring the many statues and paintings.

I found myself staring at one of the statues. A woman draped in white cloths being carried up by a man with wings. There was a longing look in the way they stared at each other that gave me the impression they were in love.

"Eros and Psyche." Roman came up behind me.

"Huh?" I turned to look up at him.

"The statue. Eros and Psyche." He explained. I took a look down at the plaque before the art and saw the names carved in. "Eros, probably more known as Cupid, was originally supposed to hate Psyche and was sent on a mission to kill her but accidentally hit himself with his own arrow when admiring the mortal princess, who the most beautiful woman in her town, and fell deeply in love with her."

"What happened?" I stared back at the statue.

"Eros used to admire Psyche from afar, never letting anyone know, and refused to let another man fall in love with her. Long story short, she ended up being taken to his palace, but he only ever visited her at night, loving her so intensely yet refused to show her who he was in fear."

"What happened?" I asked again looking back.

He smiled lightly and continued, "She ended up finding out what he looked like and he left her in feelings betrayal. Years later, she fought for him, completed horrible tasks to prove her love for him."

"And then?"

"They ended up married, Psyche turned immortal, and they lived the rest of their lives full of deep love and pleasure."

"That's sweet." I stared back at it. Roman nodded in response.

"It is."

My eyes flickered around until it met another piece of art. A painting. A man dressed in dark clothing sitting on a throne with a woman with gorgeous red locks, flowers woven in them, sitting on his lap.

"What about them, hmm?" I nodded towards it in interest.

"Hades and Persephone." I recognised the names.

"Isn't Hades that dude with the blue fire hair in 'Hercules'?"

"Yeah." Roman nodded and softly laughed, "That's him. A Disney representation of him but still him." I studied another look of longing painted in their eyes. "Hades fell in love with Persephone, daughter of Demeter, after being hit by Eros's arrow as revenge from Aphrodite being sick of how Demeter and other Gods and Goddesses avoided her influence. Hades kidnapped Persephone to the Underworld. When Demeter found her, she was already bound to Hades after eating some fruit he gave her, but Hades made a deal with her mother; Persephone would spend half of the year with her mother and then the other with him as Queen of the Underworld. That's how the seasons were born."

"That's horrible." I let out a long breath.

"Yeah, but I think Persephone was able to see past the darkness of Hades and truly loved him. He actually really loved and respected her."

"The classic good girl-bad boy, huh?" I raised a playful brow.

Roman laughed. "You could say that."

I stared around the room, admiring all the art. "You come here often then?"

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "My mom used to take Skye and I here when we were kids. Skye loved this room the most because of all the art and so I learned tons of Greek Mythology to be able to tell her about it. We used to come here every Sunday, she'd pick a statue to study and I'd sit and tell her the story." I could imagine it. A little Roman and Skye sitting by a statue as Skye listened intently to Roman's story telling. It was so cute my heart melted.

"Did she have a favourite?"

He smiled knowingly before leading me to another painting near the side of the room. It was so bright and colourful. A beautiful woman flying in the clouds amongst a shimmering, vivid rainbow.

"Iris." He then said. "She loved how Iris got to paint the skies with so many colours. She would sit there and stare at the painting for hours, studying every aspect of it."

I smiled, "Sounds like Skye." I could imagine her being mesmerised with all the art not even in this section but everywhere.

"Yeah, she reminds of Skye a lot. So bright and bubbly and witty." That was certainly true.

"Do I remind you of any of them?" I asked before I could think and as soon as the world left my lips a redness flooded my face. Why the hell did I just ask that? 

 Without a word, he wandered over to another statue. An extraordinarily beautiful woman draped in, what I assumed was, silk clothes, most of her body exposed. I read the plaque. Aphrodite.

"Goddess of Love and Beauty." He spoke. Love and Beauty.

"Sounds vain." Of all the things you could have said...

Roman looked back at with sudden worries spreading across his expression.

"Sorry." I shook my head. "I wasn't thinking. Thank you, I just... why?"

He stared at me. Questioning his words. Thinking intensively. "She loves love, she loves seeing the beauty in things; a hopeless romantic almost. I get that vibe from you."

"A hopeless romantic?" I questioned and cocked my head to the side.

"You're telling me that you read all of those books and don't want some epic love story for yourself?" he had a point. Shit, he had a point. Maybe that was why my relationships sucked? Because I wanted the epic, intense, all-consuming love, and everyone I wanted never wanted the same.

"I think you feel a lot, Sienna. More than you let on. More than most." I knew he was right. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I knew it. A sudden sadness crept inside me, closing my throat, dropping a glaze over my vision. I wiped it all away before he could see.

"Did... did she have any lovers?" I changed the subject. I felt Roman straighten up beside me.

"Lots." He replied. "As I said, she loves to fall in love."

My eyes wandered to a statue beside Aphrodite. A man holding a golden shield and spear, a helmet resting on his head as he stood tall and menacing. "What about him?"

"Ares. God of War." Roman answered effortlessly and every time it made my heart melt because he learnt it all for his little sister.

"Did he and Aphrodite...?"

"Yeah. She was his main lover, if not only." He swallowed and answered. "Aphrodite was originally forced to marry Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, but it was loveless, and she was lonely." He continued on.

"And what about Ares?"

He paused a moment before carrying on, "He wasn't that popular among a lot of people. Not many people truly wanted to get to know him but..."

"But?"