Athena finally awakens from her dreams.
"What?" she mutters and shuts her eyes again.
Why was she dreaming about this?" She thinks to herself. That event had taken place many years ago and so, she wondered why she was dreaming about it now.
She opens her eyes again but this time, there is a very handsome man hovering and peering into her eyes. He had light brown hair that was styled into a faux hawk cut. He had soulful ocean-blue eyes that stared down at her with worry. His body warmth resonated on her skin due to his close proximity and she mutters once more, "What?"
"Are you okay?" The handsome man asks.
Athena sits up with an unfathomable speed and moves to the other end of the bed, clutching the blanket for fear that she might be naked.
"Whoa, be careful or you will break something else", the man said.
"What? What are you talking abo-", she started to say before looking down at her own body.
Athena stared at her body with shock in her eyes. She had not realized that she let the blanket drop but lucky for her, she wasn't naked as she had thought earlier. She had bandages running all over from her wrist to her thighs to her chin. She touched her face and winced; there was bandage wrapped around her head as well. She gasped as she finally remembered what happened to her and tears filled her eyes again. She tries to get up from the bed.
"Ow", she yells and sits back on the bed.
"You really should be careful, Thena. You have broken bones all over and your back was bruised terribly", he says with his gaze fixed on her. On hearing this, she gapes at him.
"What did you just call me?" She asks.
"I called you Thena. Is there a problem?" He asks with furrowed eyebrows.
"No, not really", she says looking into the abyss.
"Someone I used to know called me that", she adds quietly.
"Someone, you knew?" He asks as his eyebrows quirked.
She doesn't answer him instead, she tries to get up again.
"Ow!" She screams once again in pain.
"For the love of God, will you stay put, woman?" He snaps at her.
"No, I won't. What am I doing here? Why did you bring me here? Thank you for your help, but I need to leave", She says without a pause and finally manages to stand on her feet.
"And where is it you think you are going to?" The man asked her.
"I'm going home to meet my father", she returns, making her way to the door.
"Your home is now here, with me", the man says and stands in her way.
"What nonsense are you spewing? Get out of my way!" she utters as she tries to push him out of the way but, he doesn't budge.
"Your father does not have rights over you anymore, I do. He surrendered claim over you to me", the man declares, now folding his arms.
"No!" she speaks strongly.
"No, no, he wouldn't do that", she utters with a doubtful and frightened tone after a short pause.
"What? No, he wouldn't, why would he do that?" Athena demands, running her hands through her hair while staring at the ground though, she already knew the answer deep within her.
"He gave you to me as a way to pay for the Osmium you stole from my mines", the man answered her.
"He let me go? He finally sold me off like he always said he would?" Athena said, with her pupils vibrating as the thing she feared the most had happened. Her father had given up on her.
"Hey, hey, are you okay?" The man questions in panic as Athena drops down to the floor and loses consciousness again.
Athena regains consciousness once more but this time, she keeps her eyes squeezed tightly. She smells something enticingly delicious but her stomach knew better than to betray her. She inhales and exhales praying that it was all a dream. That it was one of her many nightmares and her father had not sold her to this man. She heaves, opens her eyes slowly, and then completely. Her spirit broke.
He was staring at her again but his time, with a glass of a drink in his hand and one of his eyebrows raised in question.
"Thought you were having a seizure or something with the way you were heaving and squeezing your eyes", the man utters as he took a sip of his drink.
"I can't believe this is happening", Athena says as she sits up and begins to sob into her knees. He drops his drink and goes in to comfort her but she stops him, putting her hands against his chest.
"No, stop. Don't touch me. You can't make me do anything because I will never agree to be your mistress or sex slave. You should just kill me or turn me in to the cops like the people wanted", Athena spews angrily and the smile on his face vanishes as though it was never there.
He dusts his shirt where she had made contact with him to push him away from her. He walks away from the bed, turns around and comes closer to the bed again. He hovers over her and then he looks her straight in the eye, his facial reaction so unrestrained and raging that she was not sure the man standing in front of her was the same man who had ogled her with distress some moments ago.
"Do not flatter yourself; I have more suitable ladies for that station so you don't need to bother yourself with such foolish thoughts. Look at you, I don't think you could handle me with how thin and fragile you look. One thrust and you might just lose consciousness again", He says and unbuttons his sleeves.
"I mean I don't want such muddled humor on my hands and I don't need an angry delusion-driven woman to ruin my untarnished reputation", He spits like a cobra spitting venom and moves away from her to fold the sleeves of his shirt.
Athena swallows and bites her lip after he moves back to stop the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. She doesn't move, all she does is sit folded with her knees bent to her chest, biting her lips. The man watches her and sighs.
He moves closer to her and sits on the bed just beside her. He takes her face in his palm and used his other hand to wipe her tears. She stared back at him with honey-brown eyes that glistened because of the tears; she looked so shattered that he feels terrible for everything he just said but he was furious at what she said to him, so he does not utter a word.
He exhales, gets up, and runs his hand through his hair as he paces around the room. He picks up a chair, places it in front of the bed, and sits, staring at her with so much focus. Athena felt naked and so she dragged the blanket up against her body again.
"You can't leave, Miss Ellis because you are here to pay a debt", He says abruptly.