DHIJI
I watched my brother help the woman descend the stairs. I couldn't help but notice the tender looks that passed between them. Here I was thinking she was just warming his bed, I shouldn't have been disrespectful to her.
"I am sorry" she bowed in apology causing my brother to gasp as though, the action was beneath her. "...for hurting you, I was caught off guard. It will never happen again, I swear it"
"I'm sorry too" I blurted, embarrassed "I shouldn't have entered the room without knocking and I'm also sorry for being disrespectful towards you" I bowed back.
"I am Naga" she extended her hand.
"Dhiji, I hope we can put this past us" I shook her hand. She was pretty up close and I was really proud of my brother, regardless of not knowing what was between them.
"I'm not sorry!" Neema pouted "she hurt you and tried to kill me for defending you!" She yelled
"Still, I am sorry for hurting you Neema." she bowed again. "I hope we can be friends" She extended her hand again and Neema swatted it off and walked away. The girl replied with a graceful smile and ignored it. "I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you, friend" She smiled wider. Which I found scary.
"Neema, come on... she's apologized...let it go." I went after her. That woman had a terrifying atmosphere about her and I wouldn't want to make a mistake and piss her off.
"No, I don't want her apology." she shook her head violently.
"why?"
"don't you get it? I saw the tender looks they exchanged, you saw it too. That stranger isn't warming your brother's bed, she's here to stay! I love your brother and you know that... I can't let her take what belongs to me!"
"Dhara doesn't belong to you." I stated "no offense best friend but if he wanted to be with you, he'd have snagged you up a long time ago but that didn't happen...he looks happy! isn't that what you wanted, for him to be happy?"
"with ME! I want him to be happy with ME! I want to be the one who makes him happy!" she stressed, a single tear running down her cheek. she looked pitiful.
"That's selfish, you know" I shook my head and walked away
"you're going to leave me too, because of that woman?" her voice was shaky
"Nope, I'm still your best friend just that I can't stand you right now" my heart clenched. It hurts me to see her cry but she was far gone...I couldn't reach her...my feelings couldn't reach her. Neema was hopelessly in love with my brother and there was no coming back from that.
"where's Neema" he asked.
"still sulking" I plopped down on the couch "just give her a few minutes to cool off" I waved it off
"it is my fault, I will go talk to her" Naga offered. Hesitation filled my brother but he let her go.
"you really care about her, huh?" I was still surprised. My brother wasn't exactly closed to love, just that the thought of it for him was a distraction so he'd prefer to be a bit of the ladies man.
"how many days, bro?" I needed to know.
"a week" he sat down by me, reclining "it's very complicated and I doubt you'd understand easily"
"what the fuck, Dhara!" I frowned "make it make sense then"
"She was the treasure I spoke about and I'm not speaking figuratively...she appeared in the temple I was working on...Dhiji, that woman is the forgotten goddess of Kaos, worshipped by the Old Wesi civilization. She told me, my presence woke her from her slumber and I was the one her fate was entwined with...I didn't believe it at first but after everything that happened with Yara and our encounter I threw logic out the window and I turned into a believer. if you've seen her in action, you would become a believer too." I looked at him like he had finally lost it.
"yeah, get up...I'm taking you to the crack hospital" I grabbed my keys
"you don't believe me? look at how she lifted Neema like she weighed nothing! you gym everyday, you take combat classes three times a week but you couldn't get out of her chokehold"
"she caught me by surprise" that was true
"look at her eyes, her hair...you felt the atmosphere around, didn't you?" I'd admit, I did but it's just so hard to believe, there's a old god in our house and she had me in a chokehold.
"let's say I believe you, what are you going to do? is she here to stay?" He looked at me and nodded "why?"
"it's not safe out there for her...You know how greedy humans are...Yara wanted her power, she already had other gods in captivity and who knows which of her kind they would try to capture again"
"you think Yara wasn't working alone?"
"yes, Naga's best bet to stay hidden is with me...I promised I would keep her safe..." he leaned forward
"and Neema? She feels threatened..." I shrugged "you are aware of her feelings towards you, right?"
"That...I already told her how I felt about her. I know you like her, when are you going to tell her"
"It's no use now... she's hopelessly in love with you" I shook my head "I'll just keep getting hurt over and over again if I keep hoping...enough about of that... I'm tired." I shut my eyes, ending the conversation. "we should go check on them..." he pulled me up and we went outside.
I should concentrate on my life now, I own a small restaurant, that's my pride and joy, I should focus on her. I'm turning that page over.
KAOS
She was sitting on one of the rocks close to the waters when I found her, her shoulders shook. She was weeping. I gently tapped her on the shoulder in order not to scare her.
"What the fuck do you want? to gloat in my face?"
"No...are you okay? you were crying" I held her hand
"go away!" she snapped at me, yanking her hand out of mine.
"I mean you no harm" I was this close to killing her but as Dahime advised, i am going to try to be as human as possible. "I did not mean to hurt you and I have no idea why you are so angry at me"
"You're a thief...you just waltz in and stole my man and you think I'm gonna cozy up to you?" She screamed, she was moving dangerously close to the edge.
"you are going to fall if you keep moving around recklessly, the rocks are slippery" I cautioned
"what, pretending to care now?" she glanced over my shoulder and smirked "let's see how long your relationship lasts with him" I frowned, confused.
"what do you mean! Hey!" I tried to grab her as she stepped backwards, failing her arms and then slipped.
"Help!!!!" she screamed as she fell.
Without thinking, I jumped after her, hitting the cold sea water seconds after her. I located her immediately and pulled her unconscious body back up with me.
Lights flashed before my eyes when we broke the surface and her memories flooded my line of vision and was gone as quickly as it came.
We were surrounded by rocks and they was no way I could climb back up with her like this.
"Need help?" a sultry voice called out to me, calming the rough water. "you forgot about us, didn't you?" I felt a nudge at the back of my mind and I remembered the sea goddess.
"I am sorry..." I apologized and I seem to doing that a lot now.
"Hold on tight, my lady!" Like a geyser, the water rose rapidly, throwing us gently on the nearby soft sand, away from the rocks.
"Neema!" the two men chorused, running towards us "Naga!"
Neema coughed up water soon enough after I pulled out water from her lungs. I did not care if Dhara's brother saw me use my powers as long as she did not die.
"what happened? what were you doing on the rocks?"
"She pushed me! she did it, she pushed me!" she pointed, scampering away from me.
"What?" My eyes grew wide in surprise. Now I understood why she smiled earlier, it was intentional.