Dark Secrets

Chapter 37: Do You Tell Them That You Love Me? (2 of 2)

I played some sporty events with his family like the old days, though they’re not just his siblings but also his cousins and new members in their family since his cousins and oldest sister are married and have their own families now.

I’ve got no spare clothes to change with so Hestia gave me a dress and let me use her bathroom for a quick shower instead of keeping me wearing the sweat-soaked dress of mine.

If only I knew that I’ll be on a sports field event I shouldn’t have wore a dress nevertheless it didn’t stop me from having fun with everyone as if I’m just playing games with my neighbours.

“Yellow looks good to you.” Hestia complimented me as soon as I stepped out from her walk-in closet wearing the dress she gave.

“Thank you.” I shyly replied.

“Come, let me dry your hair for you.” gesturing me to sit in front of her vanity table while she holds the hair blower.

“I-I can do it on my own. Please, you don’t have to do it for me.”

“Just sit down.” she pushed me down on the chair to sit and start drying my hair. “I’ve always wanted a younger sister and because you’re here, you’re making my dreams come true.”

She’s the youngest in their family and older than me by a year, so I somehow understand where she’s coming from.

“Don’t you like being the youngest?” looking at her reflection through the mirror.

“I love being the youngest. My sisters put me first before them and my brothers treats me as a princess, also my parents spoiled me, so what’s not to like being the youngest?” she smiles at me. “The reason I want a younger sister is because I want to give back the love, I received from everyone at the same time gain some respect too since I’m older.” explaining herself.

“Ah, I see. How does it feel like to have 5 older siblings? Sorry, I’m only asking because I’m curious. I’m an only child in my family.”

“No need to apologize, I understand. Well, I feel special though it’s stressful most of the time.” she pouted her lips like a cute girl.

“Stressful??” I curiously asked.

“My sisters are quite famous to the boys but they never cared about anyone that doesn’t concern them at all. So, these boys always ask for my help to get through my sisters.” she sighs deeply.

“You’re a beauty yourself yet men used you as their bridge for your sisters?? You must be bothered a lot by your sisters’ suitors.”

“Boys are easy to handle. What stress me more are the girls chasing after my 3 handsome brothers. There are girls who came to me and stated their intention straightforward but there are girls who befriended me just to use me as their stepping stone. The reason, I have trust issues. They say that I’m anti-social because I’ve got no friends but they don’t understand why I’m keeping distance from everyone.” she’s combing my hair gently. “I don’t want to be used.”

“I don’t think your anti-social, you’re just being careful on selecting people to trust. Not everyone can do that, the reason most people get hurt by others because they easily trust strangers.” I grab her hand. “Thank you for giving me an opportunity to enter your world.”

“Geez, what are you thanking me for. I’m only getting along with you because you’ll be my sister-in-law sooner or later. I don’t care about anyone who won’t be part of my family in the future.” she replied.

“Eh??!” I turned around to face her directly. “What exactly did Pluto tell you about me? Does anyone else knows about it??”

“Hahaha. No words are needed when it’s obvious to everyone.” she walked towards her bed and sit on its edge. “Toto only have male friends, so when he introduced Alessia to us, we all thought that maybe she’s his lover but that thought only stayed in our minds for only a few minutes because Alessia is one of the boys and he doesn’t see her as a lady so there’s no chance he’s into her.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that. Alessia is really one of the boys.”

“Everybody knows that Toto was searching for the girl we played with one-time when our family went for a vacation in Canada. He’s his first love that can’t forget, that’s why he always come back to the place where we spent time with her every summer break for a decade, taking his chance to meet her again.” she continued.

“Does it mean that everybody also know that it was me??” I asked.

“He said he found you and he’ll bring you to our family gathering one day. You’re the one he brought here so that explains everything.”

I was speechless when she told me that everybody knows and when I’m about to say something someone knocked on her door.

“Come in.” Hestia said after 3 knocks. “That’s Toto.”

“Tia, you’re spending too much time with Desa. She’s my guest not yours.” Pluto opened the door and stand on the doorway with his arms crossed on his chest. “Get your own friends, will you?”

“Desa is my friend too.” Hestia come to me and wrap her arms around me. “We’re friends, right?”

“Of course.” I nodded as I hold her arms. “By the way, how did you know it was him behind the door?”

“Everyone got their own demeanor when knocking through the door, he knocks 3 times without saying a word then calls out my name if I don’t respond after his 3rd knock.” Hestia explained.

“Yeah, only the men here knock on the door, women just come in without knocking.” Pluto added. “Come with me Desa, I want to show you something. I think you two had enough girl talk.”

“You’re not going to show her that room, right??!” Hestia released me. “I’m telling you Toto you might regret it; you’re going to scare her.” she looks at me worriedly.

“She’s not a scaredy-cat like you.” Pluto responded.

“I’m not a scaredy-cat, you weirdo!” Hestia yelled at Pluto.

“I wonder what you two are talking about.” I stand up and walk towards the door. “What’s with this room??”

“Forget about that curiosity, Desa. Trust me, it’s no good.” Hestia said as she shakes her head.

“Come, I’ll show you.” Pluto grabbed me by the arm.

“Toto, you’re making a big mistake. No girl would ever want to see your collections.” Hestia telling me not to go inaudibly.

“Closed that door.” Pluto told me as he pulled me away.

“What collections does she mean?” I closed the door behind me as we leave towards to another room.

“You’ll see.” he took me to a black and red room with sky blue ceiling.

“Is this your bedroom?” looking around at his dark themed bedroom.

“You can lay down on my bed if you want.” he smirks at me.

“W-Why would I lay down on your bed?!” I stuttered as I suddenly become nervous of his intention for bringing me to his room.

“Hahaha. Just saying, in case your tired and you want to take a nap.” he stood in front of his bookshelf and pulled one book.

The shelf moved to the side and revealed a sky-blue secret door that stand out because of his black and red stripes wall.

“Wow!” I come immediately beside him. “Does every room in this castle-like house have secret doors??”

“That’s a secret.” he opened the door and instead of a room full of stuffs like I expected it’s just a stair that leads down to his room.

“What’s down there??” trying to look down but I see nothing because it’s all pitch black.

“Follow me.” he climbed downstairs first as I follow him from behind.

Every step we made lights up the pathway for us but still I don’t have any idea what’s in his secret room, just an eerie feeling because of the temperature dropped.

Once he reached the floor, I even bumped on his back since I’m only looking down to watch my steps.

“Sorry, I was …” I was dumbfounded when I notice the whole room.

The room is dim lit that’s why it really looks like I’m in a horror house of an amusement park because of the stuffs around me.

“I’m out of here.” I turned my back immediately and about to climb the stairs again but he grabbed my hand. “This isn’t funny, Pluto!”

“I’m not making fun of you. I’m only showing you my collection.”

“Why the hell are you collecting these stuffs?!!” frowning at him.

“Because it’s my interest. I didn’t expect you to react like this. Alessia and Troye are cool with it when I showed them this room.”

“That’s because they don’t see things that I can see, they perceived them through other senses not sight.” getting mad at him.

“Fine, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I thought you’ll be the same with everyone in SOS and not like everyone who doesn’t know that these supernatural beings exist.” he looks dejected.

“I … sorry. I’m just overwhelmed. I shouldn’t take it out on you.” I walked past by him to take a look at his horror items collections. “So aside from the albums in your room upstairs you collect these too?”

I never get used to seeing things so putting every mad stuff in display like we’re in a horror museum makes me a scared little girl that need to hold my Dad’s hand for me to be brave.

I’ve only realized that I’m holding onto him the whole time when we reached the end of the horror maze that led us to another room.

It has a sofa, a small wooden round table, a white screen on the brick wall, a film shelf on the left side, and another door on the right.

“What’s this your own movie room??” I sit on the sofa as my leg gave up after a long silent battle I had within while passing through his collections. “Can I rest here for a while? I don’t think I can walk.”

“You’re making me feel guilty.” he sits beside me and give me a hug. “You’ve been putting a brave face as we walked along the corridor even though you’re trembling in fear. Sorry if I scared you, Desa.” he’s patting the back of my head gently. “I’m really sorry.”

“I’m fine, you don’t have to say sorry. I’ll just take it as a practice so if I see the actual thing, I won’t be super scared.” I’m about to hug him back when he pulled away to look at me in the eyes.

“You’re not mad at me??” gazing at me with his puppy eyes.

“No, I’m not.” shaking my head.

We just stared to each other for a while and the next thing I know our lips are touching each other.

I didn’t respond to his kisses before but this time maybe because I got crazy, I learned how to kiss him too after a while.

As we keep on kissing, I didn’t even notice that he lay me down on the sofa and he’s on top of me, if not for his hand that suddenly touched my leg, I won’t be able to realize what’s going on.

“Stop, this is wrong.” I pushed him away from me.

“S-Sorry. I got carried away.” he took his hands away from me and get off above me. “I think I need some air to cool down.” walked out from the room and left me alone.

“What the hell, I was thinking?!!” I sit up properly. “Why did I kiss him back and let him get on top of me??! Desa Ha, you’re crazy.”

Scolding myself for losing control though I admit I like the way he kisses my lips this time than the kiss he gave me for the first time.

The sensation still lingers on and if I let myself submit to him completely, we might end up doing what married couples do.

We’re not even lovers yet and I clearly told him that we’re friends for now but why did I almost give in to the temptation?!

After that incident we still try to be cool with each other like nothing happened.

Aunt Rhea, Pluto’s mother, invited me to stay for dinner when I tried to come back home before sunset.

Meeting everyone in his family in one day is already an honor to me considering that the Nevaeh are one of the wealthiest family in the world and they aren’t the type of people you can meet easily but treating me like I’m one of them is too much for me to process.

“Thank you for the warm welcome everyone, I’m an outsider who I crash into your family gathering but still you made me feel like I’m a special guest.” I bow my head to his parents as they see me off along with his siblings.

“That’s what we intend to do, also you’re not an outsider. You’re the first girl that my son brought home and introduced to everyone in the family.” Uncle Cronus, Pluto’s father, said with a sweet smile.

“Right, though technically you’re the 2nd because he introduced Alessia to us first but clearly they’re just friends and nothing more.” Aunt Rhea added. “Anyway, you’re welcome here anytime, don’t be strangers to us anymore, you can also treat us like your family since it’s obvious that my baby boy is in love with you.”

“Mama, stop pressuring her.” Pluto told her off. “She’s not ready yet. I don’t want to burden her, let’s give her time, alright?”

“That’s Toto being considerate.” Poseidon, his older brother, said.

“Uh-huh. He’s not the brother I know who can’t wait for anyone or anything but he is to you, Desa.” Zeus, his oldest brother, added.

“You’ve changed my annoying brother for the better.” Hestia said. “Don’t say yes to him easily, give him a hard time to pursue you.”

-End of Chapter 37-