"..."
I didn't know what to say to the flying handsome man, so I screamed, "Let go of me!" and punched him squarely in his face.
What was a stranger doing holding me in such an intimate manner so confidently?
"Ow," he groaned and held his mouth and nose… actually letting me go.
"Ahhh–"
Of course, I screamed as I fell, but with another flash of lightning, he already had me in his arms again.
"Remain calm. I'm trying to save you!" He said with an annoyed gaze.
"And who says I want to be saved?" I countered.
"Well, it's not like you will die if you fall from this height," he said. "All you will end up doing is giving yourself excruciating pain to live with for at least three months."
'What on earth is this fellow saying? I won't die from such a height? Is he dumb? He looks homeless too,' I thought with a frown. His handsomeness only reminded me of my ex-boyfriend Lucky's.
However, he looked at me with shock, his mouth slightly agape.
'Why is he looking at me like that? Looking so dumb…'
"I'm not dumb! You're the dumb one here!" He voiced, annoyed.
Now, it was my turn to widen my eyes and stare in shock, my next words hanging in my throat.
"I-I didn't say anything."
"You did! And how are you doing that? Talking without moving your lips?"
"Me? I'm not doing anything. You must be gaslighting me. Why are you reading my thoughts, flying homeless man?"
The man's forehead twitched. "I can't read thoughts. And I'm not homeless!"
My eyes teared up again. I couldn't look at such a person in the eye anymore.
'Reading a helpless maiden's thoughts… why do I always run into creeps in my life?'
"My goodness… I'm not a creep! And you're like me, you dumb girl. We're both gods," he plainly said.
'A god? Me?' My face involuntarily scrunched into a frown. I couldn't counter his words because why were we flying for heaven's sake?!
A stoic expression rested on his face as he continued, "But if you want to feel death's embrace so badly, here…"
"Wai—"
Right then, he let go of me, and gravity immediately did its work by pulling me down.
And of course, I screamed, pleading for him to save me, and he did.
This time, though, he quickly dropped me on the high-rise building I leapt from.
"You don't seem to know what you are. If you wish to know, find me or leap off the edge again. Either way is fine," he said and immediately flew away.
I remained standing there for a minute or two, trying to understand what the heck just happened here. It was also then that I noticed that the heavy rain had stopped.
Back at my rented apartment, I searched the net for a flying man and saw a viral clip of a figure in the shape of a man moving mid-air in the stormy clouds of bad weather.
But no one knew who he was.
"My goodness, what on earth is happening?"
I sat up in my bed, my eyes fully wide in shock. Among the comments below the video, one opinion particularly gained a lot of likes.
— @SoDamnRare: I'm telling you guys, gods are living among us in this city! Our messed-up weather is most likely their fault too! Some dumb god is probably depressed.
The last line struck a nerve, but I pondered on the idea proposed a bit deeper.
'The storm did subside after that man saved me… D-Did I cause it too?' I thought frantically and checked the weather forecast for today.
And right there, in front of me, the weather forecast for this evening showed 'Mostly cloudy,' not 'Thundershowers.'
I drew in a frigid breath as I came to a chilling revelation.
"I caused the weather to change… Was that why he said something about someone disturbing his skies?"
'But how am I a god? Are Demmy and Hessy gods, too? What about mom? Or… dad?' I asked myself, unable to remember my childhood memories about my dad before he passed. Though Hessy might have remembered more about him, so she was one to ask.
The words of the strange flying man echoed in my mind, 'If you wish to know, find me…'
However, I only felt like smashing something against the wall after remembering.
"How am I supposed to find you when you didn't tell me your name?"
A bit frustrated, I rubbed my temples.
'A twenty-year-old helpless maiden isn't supposed to be facing such hardships…' I lampooned inwardly and sighed.
"It's been a long day. Way to go, Hera, you can't even do dying properly," I muttered and fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
My mind flashed back to when the handsome flying man appeared and held me so daringly.
As I felt my cheeks begin to burn, I pouted and said with a slight touch of delusion, "Hmph. He'd better not fall for me! I'm evil. And I take the souls of men!"
The last line was from one of the songs I wrote for Elysi.
Brrr~
Suddenly, my phone went off and I checked who it was, only to see it was an unknown number.
'Could it be him?' I thought and cautiously answered the phone call.
A calm, cold voice came from the other side.
"Ms. Hera Flores, this is Damian Hades…"
'Damian Hades? The legendary actor and director… Damian Hades?!' My hair stood on end, and goosebumps arose all over my body. Not because I was excited, or anything, in fact… I was terrified!
I had heard all sorts of things about him. Despite being somewhere around his late forties, he was reclusive and never showed himself in the spotlight. He was also a notorious crime boss, owning casinos, loan companies, and just… basically anything dealing with the underworld of the city.
Meaning, there was an incredibly high chance he was responsible for the addictions and deaths of possibly millions of people.
To put it plainly, he wasn't the type of person anyone wanted to be on the phone with!
"Yes?"
"I know this is quite late, but a driver is waiting outside your home. I want us to have dinner."
'How does he know the location of my house? Eek, another creep…'
I gulped audibly and said with as much politeness as I could muster, "Uhm… Sir, I really appreciate the gesture, but I'm frankly not mentally stable enough as of this moment to converse with… anyone."
There was a brief silence on the other side.
"Hera Flores, rising star of the girl group Elysi kicked out over a minor DUI. Your agency terminated your contract, companies have cancelled their sponsorships with you, and you've basically been blacklisted in the industry. And then there's your superstar boyfriend… Lucky—"
"What do you want?" I asked, abruptly cutting in as I grew deeply annoyed at the mention of that name. Since I moved into my new home, I haven't been able to bring myself to have a proper meal because of the pain in my heart.
Damian Hades' response came after a short silence as an unexpected question, "Do you want revenge?"