Her Fire

02 - Forget me... Forget-me-not

"Ma'am, there's a Miss Jane Bowman on line 2, she says it's a matter of life or death…? I'm sorry, she's very insistent and has been frantically calling all morning. The phone has been ringing non-stop since I came to the office…"

Her secretary Christine tells her as soon as she arrives.

Having had another sleepless night and still feeling thoroughly disconnected from reality, Darago frowns, distracted. "Who?"

"A Miss Jane Bowman, ma'am. She's been calling all morning—"

Suddenly the name clicks in her mind and she grits her teeth. The nerve of that b¡tch to harass her office as if she were the aggrieved party!

Granted, her cellphone has been turned off since last night, to avoid Mark's calls as well but…

Really, Darago had said everything that she wanted to tell them last night and she has no intention of giving them another chance. Anything the woman would have to say would not matter anymore, and Darago is not changing her mind.

They can both burn in hell for all she cares.

"Ma'am? Are you going to take the call?"

When hell freezes over! She almost lashes out.

But her secretary does not deserve her foul mood and so Darago takes a deep breath and calmly replies.

"No. Please block all future calls from her and tell her if she doesn't stop haranguing me, I will let my lawyers deal with her and they will not be as nice as I have been."

Christine stares at her in surprise for a split second before immediately nodding and turning away to do as she's told.

"Oh, and uh, Christine?" She calls again before the door closes.

The secretary stops in her tracks and peeks from behind the door. "Yes, Ma'am?"

Darago sighs. "Same goes for Mark. He is no longer welcome here or in any other building I own. Security has already been given the order to not let either of them within the premises. File a restraining order if needed, I don't care, just make sure he never comes anywhere near me. That's all."

Thankfully, her secretary is very professional and merely nods her assent without any question before closing the door firmly behind her, but Darago would bet that the secretary has an incredulous expression on her face as soon as she has turned her back.

Everyone knows she doted on him, what with all the extravagant gifts she showered him once she could afford it. Being so busy with work, she tried to cheer him up and to make him feel less abandoned by buying whatever she thinks will make him happy.

She didn't mind that she was the one working and earning more. For her, it hadn't been a competition, it was a partnership. And all she had asked for in return had been his love. And she thought that it was implied that love includes faithfulness and respect.

She thought it was enough. It baffles her why he acted the way he did.

He had wanted for nothing…why would he cheat?

Well, it was not the case, apparently.

Darago sits on her chair and smacks her forehead, muttering angrily to herself. Her temper had overwhelmed her again.

Maybe purchasing the company the woman works in and getting her fired was a bit too much.

Maybe she should have simply confronted them and walked away, graceful and mature.

Maybe…

No. No, it wouldn't have been as satisfying.

Being graceful and mature would not have given her the same feeling of closure and self-respect after being so horribly slighted.

She bites her nail, then realizes what she's doing and curses under her breath. It's an annoying habit she's trying to break but with the stress of these past few days, the habit has sneaked past her again.

Sighing, she thought back at the words she said to Mark's…other woman, cringing a little as she remembers the hint of bitterness seeping through her words as she recounted the old days before things turned sour.

There was even a little bit of nostalgia… Sadness for their simple but happy past that no longer exists. Maybe it never did and it was all in her head because she was so desperate to finally find someone…that she simply settled.

Oh, but he was so charming and sweet, and for a long while he was so focused on her that it had felt like the real deal!

Real enough for her to take a chance again.

"Maybe I could have worded that better…" She mutters, groaning and rubbing her face with both hands.

Deciding she has wasted enough time and thoughts on that a$$hole whom she had thought is truly 'the one', she closes her eyes and takes a deep, calming breath.

It didn't work.

"Grrrr!!!" She is still terribly pi$$ed and she knows that all the revenge in the world is not going to make her feel better.

Well, that is not exactly true, she felt a little bit mollified knowing those two got what they deserve. It eased the feeling of self-pity for being betrayed again, by someone she trusted and it gave her a twisted sense of dignity because she made them see that nobody messes with her and gets away with it, but… it still left her feeling…empty and…just unhappy.

It's just so…frustrating!

She seems to be a magnet for horrid men.

One would have thought she'd have learned her lessons by now.

Just a few years before Mark, there was Anthony, back in college.

She caught him red-handed, with her roommate, doing it on her bed.

Before Anthony, there was Dylan in High School. That didn't last very long. A cheerleader waved and he was gone.

There's also Murphy before Dylan. They have been together since Middle School. A new girl next door made him forget all those years of calf love.

Darago doesn't think it counts but she had a childhood crush who didn't even glance her way. All the boys in their elementary class, grade 5, had a crush on the prettiest girl in school, Miriam, who also happens to be her best friend. No one really noticed the rough little redhead with braces and freckles, next to Miriam's delicate and refined beauty, a perfect porcelain doll who had the temperament and charm to match.

She could have hated Miriam but the girl is genuinely nice and they are still good friends to this day.

And before Murphy?

Darago sighs.

Before Murphy, there was another life.

Another era. Another time.

There was… Ouranos.

Ouranos, who made Darago hate the fated bonds because it kept them prisoners when it should have been a sacred blessing.

Ouranos, the Sky god, fated mate to the Fire goddess Darago but who defied Destiny's will because he was pining for the Earth goddess Gaea.

Ouranos, who allowed himself to be corrupted by a dark entity and ki[[ed his own fated mate in his mad quest to keep Gaea for himself.

Ouranos… who died… loving someone else.

Darago can still remember that day. She holds onto the memory, ugly and devastating though it was, because she never wants to forget. No, she never wants to forgive that man who took her life so that he may pursue the woman he was obsessed with, even though it was a lost cause.

They both perished that day, for the sacred bond between the elements was never meant to be broken as they are the cores that sustained life, but in Ouranos's twisted mind, getting rid of Darago means he'll finally have a chance with Gaea.

Somehow, the four elemental gods were given another chance, another life, as the prophecy had predicted, with the sacrifice of two people and the balance of nature maintained after the surrender of the white spirits.

Their fates were entrusted to Time who took them to the future, to start anew.

But while the others have accepted a clean slate, that is, a beginning with no memories and no baggages of old heartbreaks to carry, Darago had flatly refused.

She never wants to forget and to end up with the same man who made her suffer so deeply. She never intends to forgive him.

And so when Time offered the potion of oblivion that would make her forget everything so she may regain her peace and start from nothing, Darago took the vial and threw it on the ground so that it breaks into tiny million pieces, stepping on it and crushing the shards for good measure.

Time sighed. "Very well. But be warned, Fire goddess. There is no avoiding destiny."

Darago sneered. "Watch me."

Brave words.

Brave angry words from a spurned soul.

Darago wonders how long she can maintain her stand. She really does not want to come begging to Time to just forget about what she said and just let her get drunk on the blo0dy potion of oblivion, just to be able to experience a little bit of... what? Is it happiness?

She knows not.

Briefly, she wonders how Oceanus and Gaea are faring.

Have they finally resumed their happily ever after? Damn…some people are lucky.

Well, luckier than most, at least.

Despite Gaea's issues, she was loved. She is loved and wanted. Desired so much that men would lose their minds trying to have her.

Just like that girl in Greek mythology…Helen of Troy. They seem to have been given a chance for a new beginning but the scripts apparently remain the same.

She wonders if that is the timeline where Gaea had ended up in and that she is, in fact, Helen of Troy. She hopes not. Envious as she is of the earth goddess, Darago wishes her well. Gaea has no mean bone in her body and her only fault had been to be naive. She is as much a victim of the same cursed bond and the same miserable fate as Darago and Oceanus.

Ouranos doesn't count. Ouranos chose to be selfish. He chose to listen to his dark side and broke them all in the process.

It seems unfair he has been given a second chance, like the rest of them. He doesn't deserve it.

She hopes he's burning in hell!

Annoyed that she's still thinking about him, Darago stands up and goes to the window, sighing, utterly depressed as she looks outside. The sky appears stormy. She doesn't like the way those clouds are hovering. They look ominous and angry. It might even start raining soon.

She would have missed it if she hadn't been distracted from her musings by a passing ambulance so she glanced at the street. But as fate would have it, Darago's eyes narrow at a familiar figure walking casually down the street.

Well…speak of the devil…and the devil will appear.

IT'S OURANOS! Or at least someone who looks exactly like him is walking around the streets of Seattle!

"What the flying fvck, Destiny!?"