Chapter 3 APOLLO

"Aaaaaaaaaaah, I can't believe we finished that painting!" The woman who possessed beautiful eyes spoke excitedly.

"With your attention to detail? Me neither" the blonde joked "when are you going to give this to your special someone?"

"Tomorrow!" She sounded like an impatient child "I can't wait to see that little face happy!" the little brown-haired woman bounced as she said it.

"I see" the golden eyes were as gentle as his smile "so I hope everything turns out as you plan..." he stopped, stopped because he noticed something very important, something that not even an idiot would forget.

Asking the name of the person he was talking to.

"Pardon me for the question, but I've noticed that... we don't know each other's names..." the blond turned his face away as he said it, thus not knowing where he would stick his face in.

"Oh, that's true..." the brunette's face turned crimson "Daphne..., what about yours?"

'That's rather cruel, universe...' Apollo couldn't help but wonder.

Like a child who eventually became addicted to mythology - because of his name - he found the whole thing an incredibly cruel joke.

Daphne, also known as Apollo's first love and the nymph who also refused to love him.

A cruel joke, a very cruel joke.

"Apollo..." he sighed as he replied.

"Like the Greek god?" The brunette looked somewhat surprised at the situation "that's so... different..."

"Maybe it is" he tried to emulate a relaxed tone "and that's because my mother wasn't even a fan of Greek mythology."

"Is that serious?" the woman laughed "my mom was a HUGE fan of Greek mythology."

"And she named you after a nymph who was turned into a laurel?" the blonde satirized "that's kind of sad."

"In that case, she just liked the name" she explained "but I think if it was really up to her alone, my name would be Aphrodite or even Hera."

"The goddess who keeps getting betrayed on Olympus? Does your mother hate you?" The blond seemed to be in genuine doubt.

"I never thought so" the brunette laughed "but I must admit, Hera is a beautiful name."

"Yes, it is a beautiful name" he agreed in the end "but if names carry something, being betrayed doesn't seem like a good fate."

And at that point, Apollo seemed to believe faithfully that names could achieve such a feat; just as all his muses died... she would probably be betrayed one time after another if her mother had dared to put that name on her.

And maybe... he just didn't like that goddess; she basically killed all of Zeus' mistresses - for things that were usually his fault - and disgraced them all at once.

Yes, Hera was the victim in the whole situation because Zeus was a big piece of shit, but that also didn't give her the right to end the poor soul of a woman who was usually just caught and forced to be in the arms of that white-haired thing.

"Well, your name doesn't seem to carry anything" the woman punctuated "or by any chance do all your lovers die in some tragic way?"

He laughed.

Just laughed in a complete nervous way.

Lovers? No, but muses? God... countless.

"I haven't had any lover to know" he tried to answer quickly "but in the end, names are just names, aren't they?" He seemed to be trying to convince himself by saying those words.

"Yes, after all... I'm not going to turn into a laurel, am I?" She joked "and you're not going to be named the new sun god either."

"Obviously not" he let out a slight laugh "imagine if every Apollo who was born became the new sun god?"

"It would be chaotic!" she stated.

How did she do that?

It was a question that had arisen in the troubled mind - as of any artist - of Apollo. She just made the dark clouds in his head vanish, the subject that bothered him so much become lighter, more full of color.

Perhaps, she did resemble a nymph when the subject was her soft aura, her supernatural beauty, and her words that seemed so sweet; all spoken in a beautiful melodious voice.

"But seriously now, if you were likely to die from getting involved with me... would you still try?" The blonde couldn't help but ask.

"What a depressing question" The brunette frowned her eyebrows "you are very nice, I hope I don't die for getting close."

"Me too."