Ethan’s POV:“Good to see you again, Sir?” It took me a while to muster my courage before I approached the old cab driver, who was still gazing blankly at the picture he held in his right hand. He didn’t seem to notice me arriving before, but hearing my voice, he flinched and quickly lifted up his gaze at me. Then he reverted back with a soft smile, “Oh, you’re the young man from yesterday…such a nice coincidence to run into you here.” Under the pretense of that kind smile, I didn’t fail to notice he quickly tucked that picture inside his chest pocket with his clumsy hand movements as if he didn’t intend to show that to me. As much as I could feel my guilt-stricken feelings piling up inside my heart, I had to mask a fake smile while I quietly walked up to the public bench he was seated on. I sat next to him and exhaling a heavy sigh, I politely addressed, “Yes, fancy running into you here, Sir. I came to the Asian restaurant to have a quick bite with my friend—”Suddenly my words t
Ethan’s POV: After a brief anticipated silence fell between us, the old man quietly stared at me for a while before letting out a small dull smile. His smile was mixed with a hint of sadness in his droopy eyes while he lifted his gaze down from me, “I am sorry, young man. Hearing everything, you must've felt pretty disgusted to think I compared you to my heinous son… But… it's just that my son wasn't always such a terrible human. “My wife had passed away long ago when he was still just a child, and I raised him all alone without asking for anyone's help. Long ago, he was a bright, good kid anyone could ask for…but…” Suddenly his words trailed off when he made a grimacing expression. Just glancing at him once I could tell that he was trying hard to suppress his tears before me. Honestly, I wasn't disgusted about the fact that he thought of his own son upon meeting me, but my mind was most importantly preoccupied with thoughts about Zeus, and the ugly spat we had just moments earli
Ethan's POV:With that realization, I exhaled a heavy sigh and sat on the wooden bench again feeling drained. This town was a new place for me and there was no way I could ask someone else for Zeus’s number without inviting unnecessary attention, so naturally, there was no other option to contact Zeus except to face him at the campus. But deep down in my heart, I knew, by the way, I lashed out at him earlier, my self-confidence had taken a hit as I couldn’t muster the strength to meet him directly without a trial conversation at first. At least, through the phone call, I could have tested the waters to see if Zeus was maddeningly infuriated with me or if he was willing to have a negotiating conversation! Though I didn’t have high hopes for Zeus to be still calm with me after I harshly treated him when he went too far even to help this miserable old man. To be honest, I had already prepared myself to fall on my knees to beg his mercy if things went wrong, considering I had witnessed
Ethan’s POV: Hearing what Chris had to say left me baffled for a while, as I stood numb, unable to hide my scowled face from him. Despite his continued mumble on his own, my concentration had completely drifted off from Chris, and standing there, I could only reminisce about Zeus’s face over and over again before he walked away from me back there. Before he turned those big shoulders at me, I wasn’t mistaken to see his rolled onyx eyes grimacing from pain with deep angst hidden in them. He was making such a sad face as if my outburst must have truly hurt Zeus, and he was suppressing himself from reverting back at me. But now that I am awkwardly realizing my mistake…I hate to admit it but his absence is haunting me!Since the morning after we left his mansion we had been having a good time, and when things were starting to be comfortable between us, just like Zeus said before…why does everything have to go wrong in the wrong direction when we are together? Besides if I consider Chr
Ethan's POV:There he goes again…asking me that one question that has strangely ticked off my nerves quite a bit. Just like Lena’s texts, I saw earlier, as my friend shouldn’t Hermes be worried about knowing if I was doing okay after disappearing for an entire night? But why does he keep emphasizing on the part whether I stayed with Zeus or not? What does he have to do with that information anyway? At first, I thought of ignoring the question when I saw his text earlier, but now facing his cryptic eyes observing me intently, I retorted in a stiff voice, “Why do you keep asking me that, Hermes? I saw your text earlier…asking me this same question. And now…what makes you assume that I would have been together with Zeus until now?” As if Hermes could accurately sense the agitation in my tone, he exhaled a long sigh, while frowning his brows at me as his voice turned hoarse, “Of course I would be curious about it, because you two were the only students missing from the party last night
Ethan's POV:“Don’t forget the group project I assigned to you all in my next class. Then, that’s all for now, folks. Have a good day ahead.” The lady professor ended the class in a humble tone and as expected, I couldn’t concentrate on one fuckin’ topic taught today. As an honor student, I had vowed to myself to take my studies seriously but now, my own actions were already making me guilty inside. I was already too embarrassed by suddenly blurting out an absurd name before Hermes and his disgruntled look which came as the aftermath was quite expected. For instance, he felt a bit irked at me, thinking that I was messing with him by randomly putting out any name of the individual. But how would I have made him understand that I am deliberately trying to keep my relationship with Zeus under wraps here… and the reason was of course, I don’t wish to be targeted by his fandom of girls here! By now, I have already understood, that handsome jerk is too popular to be true on campus. For t
Ethan’s POV:“Are you freakin’ kidding me, Sir? This is the 9th hill road we have crossed, yet still, you can’t recognize your way? Are you intentionally getting me riled up or is this some new scam pulled by youngsters like you nowadays?” As expected, the young cab driver yelled at me at the top of his lungs the moment I failed to recognize the hill road we took me in. But that wasn’t my fault in the first place! How would I be aware of this place when I am completely new to this town? All the hilly roads look kinda similar to me…and besides, Zeus should have been here to show me the way so I could reach his damn mansion located at some hill point of this town! That’s his fault…why did he have to leave me all alone on my own? I get it that he was pissed with me, but we should have resolved it with a proper discussion at least!But as far I learned from the map of this town, there were more than 15 small hills surrounding this town, so if I asked the driver to change direction again,
Ethan’s POV:I couldn’t understand why, but hearing my mother’s concerned soft voice echoing through my ears suddenly formed a teary lump deep down my throat, as if it was my breaking point. Until now, after enduring all the turbulent events one after another, I was still doing a better job of keeping a relaxed facade before everyone to make sure no one would notice the burden of chaos I was born inside. But now, her genuine concern for me made me realize I was already at my wit’s end…to the point that for a second, I wanted to drop everything else here and run back to my hometown…to my Mom who was the only safe place remaining for me in the world. While my facial expression was twitching and grimacing as I was trying to hold myself from sobbing, it made me realize once again why I begged Zeus to spare my life last night…because I truly wanted to give my Mom a life of comfort that she could never attain while raising me as a widowed mother. I wanted to live for her sake… And it did
Zeus’s POV:Honestly, I struggled to suppress my chuckle from blurting out while Ethan held such a worrisome face, but it was absolutely endearing to me to observe him. I retained a calm gesture while meeting his round, ocean eyes that were fixated on me before I charged back, “I don’t know what you must have been thinking inside that round, pretty head of yours, but I do not have any immoral relationship with Anna. “To be precise, she is dear to me as my own sibling, even though we do not share the same blood. That’s why, in the past whenever I was injured a few times, Anna has always helped with taking showers and even devoted herself solely to take care of me—”“But that was before when I came in the picture!” Before I could finish, Ethan’s sulky murmur paused my words for a second as I curiously tilted my head while trying to observe him. His facial appearance looked fidgety and fiddling with his fingertips, he seemed oddly on edge while answering me, “I mean…I wasn’t doubting y
Zeus’s POV:For the very first time in my long, bleak life in this human world that felt like a never-ending darkness, Ethan’s words felt like the gush of warm rain after a long, cold winter to my heart, giving me the momentary bliss I must have sought inside me unknowingly after all this time. Having my hands soaked from the blood of countless human sinners, being forced against my will by my cruel fate to consume their blood and flesh so that I would keep going through this goddamn painful life…for the first time I felt quite emotional. I flinched a little hard to realize how I was so moved by those gentle appreciative words that Ethan spoke for me. But while staring into his tender ocean eyes, which were glistening from tears, it came along with the realization that maybe all this time, I just truly wanted someone to see me through my core, along with all those scars I had carefully suppressed within my heart until now. After going through this never-ending phase of darkness in t
Zeus’s POV:Blinking his lashes at me a few times, I saw a flustered hue tainting Ethan’s puffy cheeks, and from his facial expression, it was easy to define that he must’ve been really pleased with my answer. His ocean eyes were glimmering in bliss, and I saw him struggling to hide his jovial expression from me beneath a straight face, but undoubtedly, his efforts made me appear adorable in my eyes. Indeed, before I had realized it, I had already put my faith in a human who had witnessed my cursed dark secret with his own eyes. Honestly, it was something that I had never imagined feeling towards anyone else in this human realm. The possibility of him exposing my dark secret to others on the campus indeed crossed my mind a few times. But every time my gaze met those tender, glistening ocean eyes smiling at me, unknowingly, I kept reminding myself that if I gathered my courage to trust this person…he would never betray me. Isn’t it funny that before I knew, you had already become my
Zeus’s POV:No matter how much I tried to get an answer to those dubious questions that had bothered my peace of mind since the first day I crossed paths with Ethan, I never obtained one, leaving me perplexed as always. Since the first day I laid my eyes on this beautiful boy on that snowy Christmas Eve night, despite repeating it to myself countless times, I couldn’t stop myself from being drawn towards him. The iron walls I had spent years building around my heart had lowered around him already, which I had never vowed to do for a human who wasn’t Sophia. And for a man…it was completely out of question! But…what the hell is wrong with me? Why did I become so maddeningly protective to the extent that I almost tried to kill my own pack members, fearing they might try to inflict any harm on Ethan? I know since I had never formed a divine pact with anyone before, not even with Sophia…I wasn’t aware of the consequences when I suddenly kissed Ethan that night, forming the divine pact w
Zeus’s POV:Ethan’s nervous shaky voice left me in disarray for a brief moment. As I stayed numb, I found myself strangely conflicted about answering his plea. His rolled ocean eyes seemed a bit uneasy as if he was quite unsure about the request he made to me out of the blue. But even at that moment, I didn’t overlook the dim ray of hope glistening in those orbs towards me which implied, maybe for a brief moment, he wanted to believe he might succeed in convincing me to follow his lead. But how should I let this innocent naive human have a glimpse of the dark scars of my wretched past I have harbored all this time in my existence? I have already exposed him to the world of dangers since the moment I decided to form a pact with him, which might turn out to be one of my foolish choices. But now…if I disclose all the incorrigible sins I have committed until now, how would I bear it if he turns out to detest me even more? After all this time, I am still confused at the realization…why
Zeus’s POV:When I finished the bowl of meat dumpling soup, sensing Ethan’s pleased gaze glued on my face all this time. The second after I lifted my gaze, bearing a big satisfactory grin, all of a sudden Ethan tenderly wiped the corner of my mouth with the cuff of his shirt, startling me a little as I hadn’t expected his kind gesture right then. When he finished wiping my lips, he took the bowl away from my hands and tossed a soft grin, which reminded me of the gentle spring breeze that holds the power to soothe our hearts after a long, weary day. He broke the amicable silence between us at first, handing me a glass of water, “I hadn’t cooked for someone for a really long time, so I was worried how the soup would turn out to be…whether it would suit your palate. But if you liked it so much, I would prepare it for you often. But you don’t have to eat it like this next time…as if you were starving for days. Or…were you really that hungry after suffering from this injury?” I couldn’t
Zeus’s POV:I was already spacing out momentarily, staring at Ethan’s face shimmering under the morning sunrays as I heard his mumble. For a second, my current scenario felt a little too nostalgic for me, as I immediately recalled whenever I used to be injured in the past, Sophia would wake me up the next morning serving herbal soup that was too bitter to take a sip. No matter how hard I tried to resist her approach, ultimately, I was the one who always surrendered before her. Watching her smile holding endless affection in her gleaming ocean eyes while I drank that awful soup seemed more like an important task to me, as gradually I stopped opposing her at all. Not only the soup, Sophia was terrible at cooking…but I never once wasted a grain of meal she cooked for me, savoring every little taste while I wove the dreams of my happily ever after with my only mate…But now…after a long wait of eternity, I was startled to find myself relieving tha exact moment together with Ethan, who ha
Zeus’s POV:Never had I imagined seeing this day in my life where I would watch Anna finally soften against a human, considering the deep scars she had always harbored inside her cold heart. She was meant to despise humans from her core, and I never questioned her choices since the day she willingly decided to follow me. But after spending quite an amount of time, I have come to realize there is something so enchanting yet painfully innocent about Ethan that forces us cold hearted beasts to come out of the shell and expose our real nature. We couldn’t pretend to hurt him or push him away, and ultimately would end up succumbing to his persistent generosity, which was so different from all the humans I came across here. And that’s exactly how Anna flinched from shock, hearing the mention of an ‘elder sister’ from Ethan’s mouth, which unknowingly spread a flustered hue across her porcelain white cheeks. She fidgeted and even fumbled before speaking, deliberately trying to mask her shy
Zeus’s POV:As expected of Anna’s blunt comment, an impish smirk curved my lips when I realized Anna must have used her super senses to hear what was happening inside this room since I regained my consciousness. It wasn’t unusual for me to apprehend that werewolves tend to use their supersenses in need, and she was born with excellent audible senses which could come great handy in terms of pack wars. Just like her…I also possessed a strong supernatural ability as the Supreme Dominant Alpha, but while living in this human realm, showcasing my ability never felt necessary. And I wasn’t flirting with Ethan, I was rather happy to see him by my side after waking up. I had honestly assumed to wake up in my cold, bleak room, just like how I had woken up when I faced certain attacks like this in the past. But now, starting the day with the first sight of watching him cuddle in my arms like an innocent little lamb, it rather left me brimming with this overwhelming bliss deep inside my hea