Cupid's Karma | ONC 2024 ✔

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Apollo had long gone but very visibly ruined Eros's mood, and Ayra could see that he was bothered by something. So when he dropped her off at her apartment, she asked if he would like to stay for dinner, thinking they could talk the matter over some delicious takeout. It seemed as if he had been waiting for an opportunity to stay, and he immediately agreed.

But he wasn't as cheerful or annoying as usual. Instead, he was unbelievably silent.

The strange thing was that he looked like he was bursting at the seams to tell her something, but he couldn't get the words out. Dinner arrived, and even though she tried to talk about Apollo's unexpected interruption, he diverted the topic. He simply couldn't tell her what he had been itching to say.

"I know you can't keep it in forever, and you've been dying to say something ever since Apollo left. So, stop wasting time and tell me what it is," she had to ask him directly, as he still looked unsure.

"No..." His lips puckered into a petulant frown, "You're going to think I am stupid..."

"Ask away, I won't think anything like that," she assured him, her brown eyes flickering in slight sympathy.

"Promise?"

She smiled at the way he almost behaved like a child sometimes, "Pinky promise."

However, as she hooked their pinky fingers together, he looked down at the knots that were too close to each other that they almost seemed interwoven. She couldn't see them, of course, and he would never tell her that the Morai had tied their fates to each other.

They already had enough trouble on their hands with Apollo's unnecessary meddling and couldn't afford further complications.

"Come on, spill. What's got the infamous god of love in such a twist?"

"Ayra, what I'm about to tell you is something I haven't willingly told anyone before but it is very important for you to know," his tone was serious and his eyes were focused on her intently. "Apollo... Well... Apollo and I don't really get along. He didn't show up just to pay a friendly visit."

"Well, that much I could figure. Something was off between you two," she mumbled, encouraging him to continue.

"Yeah, um, you could say that we've been at each other's throats ever since we met," he remarked, trying to recall if there was ever a time they had been civil to each other but none came to mind. "So I know things can't be anything but bad. We need to be very careful."

She shrugged, feeling that he was overthinking unnecessarily. "Now you are making it seem like a life and death situation..."

"It could be," he mumbled, but then his eyes widened, realizing the truth in those words, "Oh, it definitely could be! Please, Ayra, you have to listen to me."

"And that's what I have been trying to do for the past fifteen minutes," she remarked, shaking her head slightly, "But you keep chickening out at the last moment."

"Hey!"

"Eros, just tell me the truth and put both of us out of this misery," she sighed, "All that you are doing right now is making me anxious."

She was right. He had to tell her, and that could only be possible if he stopped second-guessing himself.

However, the issue was that Ayra was the sort of person who didn't believe things until she knew the full truth. He was dubious about how she would react if he told her truthfully about the enmity between himself and Apollo.

There was a high chance she would hate him for being so recklessly stupid. He hated himself for that incident, too; he had little hope that she would think any differently.

"Look, I can't tell you everything, but you have to trust me on this," he said, taking the risk of omitting the reason first. "Apollo is up to no good, and he will hurt you. Please be wary of him."

"Why would he hurt me? It's not like I shot him in the arm," she shrugged nonchalantly, pretending that it wasn't such a serious matter. But deep down, she too could feel that Eros could foresee something terrible and was warning her of it.

"Yeah, but that's different. He won't hurt you because you did something to him. It's because I..." But then his voice trailed off, stopping himself right in time.

If he completed that sentence, she would definitely figure out his secret.

"So you are saying he will hurt me because you did something hurtful to him in the past," she quickly guessed the scenario, much to his shock and discomfort.

"Yes, well..."

"In that case, his approach is very wrong. He should go hurt someone you care about, right? What do I have to do with any of this?"

His cheeks turned the faintest of red. She had everything to do with it because Eros cared for her. And for some reason, Apollo knew it and could use that knowledge to his advantage.

The silence made her pause as well, "Wait... You don't mean to say what your silence implies, right?"

He looked like a deer in headlights, but no words escaped him as he neither wanted to confirm nor deny that allegation. Now, it was no longer about Apollo and their rivalry; it entangled his feelings for Ayra, too.

"Eros...?" The questions in her eyes made him give in, although he feared the consequences if things went as bad as the pessimistic side of his brain had warned him.

"Sit down," he told her, making her sit on the couch and taking the seat across from her.

Those brown eyes speculated on his every move, locked upon him in the same judging expression she reserved for strangers. He was not a stranger anymore, but she felt he was hiding things from her, which warranted such speculative treatment.

"Ayra, I... I think I..." He would have said something if not for the unexpected interruption.

"Surprise!"

A loud voice cut him off, and Eros quickly dropped his hand, aching to reach out and cup her face in his palm. In his panic, he even forgot that he could disappear in an instant.

Preety Dhillon, Ayra's best friend, was standing in the doorway and her eyes were curiously fixed on the unexpected visitor in their shared apartment.

"Hello handsome," the curly haired girl remarked playfully, turning Eros's embarrassed pink cheeks to a full-blown scarlet. Then turning to Ayra who was also feeling the secondhand embarrassment of it all, she added, "I have to admit, Ayra, you do have an excellent taste in men. Leave some of them for us single pringles too, will you?"

Ayra wanted to drown in the shallow water of her own embarrassment. But she couldn't do so and as Eros was still there, she had to give the introductions.

"This is Eros, he's a class fellow who came here to take notes of the lesson he missed. And Eros, this is Preety, my roommate."

"Slash best friend and soul sister," Preety added with a light chuckle, holding her hand out for him to shake, "and I'm sorry, I have a habit of assuming things, and that did come out a bit strong, calling you handsome right to your face... Now I feel anything I say will only increase the awkwardness."

"Yeah, uh... It's a pleasure to meet you and... Thanks for the very generous compliment," he recovered from the shock and managed a small smile, stealing a glance at Ayra who looked just as flustered as he felt.

She hadn't known Preety would show up unexpectedly a week before her initial return, or she would never have asked Eros to stay. Now she would have to give her friend a long explanation about Eros, plus she would have to make it all up.

She couldn't possibly tell her that he was the god of love and that she had shot him in the arm with a hunting arrow which led to his offer of showing her the true meaning of love.

***