✸
OO2 / The Angel of Temptation
Hera was surprised at how long the journey to the market was. She underestimated how hard it would be to get there. After going in the wrong direction a few times, she finally understood her memory did not serve her well and asked a couple for directions.
Hera spotted the store and made her way towards it, bumping into a couple kids playing on the street, she apologized and smiled before finally making it into the store. Turning around, she bumped into a display. Most of the apples fell to the ground, and Hera flushed in embarrassment.
What was going on with her? Hera turned to the worker and apologized profusely as she bent down to pick up the apples.
As she started, the door opened, Hera hoped that the newcomer wouldn't comment. As she looked up, she held her breath.
He looked like an angel.
But anyone could tell he was far from it.
"Apples of temptation?" The boy questioned as he stared down at her. Hera was confused. The boy bent down and took the apple from her hands, cleaning off the dust, he took a bite.
"Hey! You have to pay for that!" Hera stated. Unimpressed.
The boy looked down at her in amusement. Hera stood up and, not wanting any part of the boy she now knew was trouble. All the apples were in place, and she headed towards the produce section. Searching for her tomatoes.
"What? No response?" Hera looked up from reading the sign. Seeing the boy with glasses again.
The Angel of Temptation seemed like a good nickname.
Hera took a deep breath in as she turned to properly face him, crossing her arms, she tilted her head. "Excuse me?"
The boy chuckled. "What, you are not going to ask for my name?" He questioned. Hera looked at him in slight disinterest.
"Should I?" She replied.
"My name is Joseph." Hera nodded, she attempted to brush past him and leave the shop, she would get tomatoes elsewhere. But he blocked her way. Now, she was annoyed.
"Congratulations? Here I thought you were some angel of temptation." Hera voiced, clenching her jaw. Joseph cracked a smile.
"I'm an angel, you say?" Hera rolled her eyes. Of course that's what this arrogant fool could pick out. Hera was beginning to get annoyed. She lost sight of why she came to the market in the first place, and now this irritating man was here up in her business. Even if he looked like an angel, that did not excuse his cocky attitude or his persistence Hera was not interested in.
Hera ignored the man once more, now successfully pushing past him. She headed towards the tomatoes, inspecting the fruits.
She took two handfuls, 6 tomatoes to be exact, before she began moving towards the cashier. She smiled at the older individual, who raised a brow at the lack of her bag. Joseph liked her smile. It almost seemed genuine, like everything else in his life.
"C'mon, am I really that hard to talk to?" Joseph questioned. Hera did not feed into his questions.
"That'll be five miss" Hera nodded as she began to fish out coins.
Joseph was amused at the highly irritable girl but refused to back down, after all. Hera was not the first girl to act in such a way towards him. Hostile, mean. So on and so forth. He cracked a smile at the thought.
Joseph was intrigued by the girl. Not because of her looks or beauty, but because of how much of a goody-two shoes she seemed. A goody-two shoes with a sharp and silver tongue. Joseph was not a fool. He knew what he would be getting himself into if he continued to pursue this girl. She could want something more that he was not willing to give, or she could call the police on him for being mean to her. Her father and brothers could possibly attack him so he would leave their daughter and sister alone.
But he would risk it. She could be a good distraction from the hell that the next two months would be.
Joseph paid right after her as Hera placed her tomatoes in her bag. He grabbed the cucumbers and practically shoved them as he sped up to catch the girl now walking away from him.
"Hey! Wait up!" Joseph called out, smiling. The girl did not turn to look at him, instead she continued walking. Joseph was quite surprised with her goal to ignore him, she was doing such a great job and Joseph could not help but want to bother her more.
That's why he decided to run, placing his hands on either side of her shoulder to scare her. She yelped in surprise and pushed him away from her. Hera's face went red in embarrassment and in anger and completely annoyed at the cruel bully in front of her, she kicked his shin on a whim.
"Hey!" Joseph yelled, leaning down to press on the area she kicked. "Who exactly do you think you are?" Hera practically yelled.
The more she ruminated, the more she left her emotions get the best of her. She stopped to take a deep breath, kneeling down to pick up the bag he dropped in the middle of the altercation.
Joseph was dumbstruck.
Hera sighed, resigned, tired and wanting to return to her ancestral home. "Here" She offered the bag to the teenage boy. Joseph could do nothing but stare. He wasn't used to girls necessarily arguing back. He spent most of his time at school, the only other time he could really see the opposite sex was during holidays, when he was far away from home. Able to do anything without facing the consequences of his actions.
Joseph paused. Who was he?
"Hey! I would appreciate having your existential crisis when I'm not here and when you have taken your bag." Joseph was taken out of his deep thought and smirked. Taking the bag as he chose to respond to her previous question with another questions. "Why do you want to know who I am?"
Joseph was not sorry. No, he wasn't. How could he be?
Hera sighed as she turned around once more. Choosing to escape from him.
"Hey, you didn't even apologize to me! I'm going to have to limp home because of you!" Joseph yelled out. The two got looks as Hera paused in her step. Taking another deep breath, she turned and made her way back to him.
Joseph was amused by the way she responded.
"And?" Hera questioned. Joseph tilted his head, his glasses shifting as well. "You are indebted to me. I could sue you for assault y'know" He made clear. He watched as the girl in front of him crossed her arms and scoffed at him.
She was a hard shell to crack.
"Give me something to write on" She instructed rather abruptly. Joseph was taken out of his thoughts as he raised his right eyebrow, confused. She sent him another unimpressed look. The teenage boy spent no time as he pulled out a marker from his pocket, looking around him for something to write on.
He looked around but there was nothing, only mother nature and the occational hidden barrel of the shops. Sometimes a flower pot. Joseph sighed looking at his pockets before his white shirt entered his vision.
"Oh." He muttered, but took of his jacket in no time, turning around. His white shirt on his back bare and ready to be written on.
Hera let out an amused snort as she took the marker from Joseph and wrote something down.
"When you sue me, send the letter to this address" Hera said before putting the marker in his shirt and walking away. This time, Joseph was not able to bother her due to his challenge in taking out the marker that was down his back and now apparently stuck to his hair.
"Hey! Will I see you again?" Joseph asked, yelling from where he turned, but this time not doing anything to follow her, not even if she was going in the direction of his home.
"If you don't want me to throw salt at you, then no! Hopefully not!" She turned as she yelled. Raising a brow at the boy with glasses and short curls falling gracefully on his forehead. She turned around once again and this time, the longer she walked, the further they grew apart.
✸
Hera finally returned home, taking off her jacket and hanging it up as the sun began to set. Now that she thought about it. She did wake up later, and she did leave the house later than expected. "Maman!" she called out. Carrying her bag of tomatoes that she went through multiple trials, or in other words that annoying boy.
Hera's mother had made her way downstairs, apron off and fresh linen dress on her. Hera smiled when she gave her mother a hug and her tomatoes. "I am never going to that market again, Maman" Hera announced as she walked to the living room and pushed her self to lay on the couch.
"What did something happen, dear?" Her mother asked, Hera paused as she thought about telling her mother, but she decided against it. She sat up and turned towards her mother. Her mother who was as kind as anyone she had ever known, her mother who was always the talk of the town, her mother who she was sure would go to war to protect what was dear to her heart. Her mother who was forced to become a housewife, her mother who did not know her own wants and needs because she had to sacrifice them to play the role of the mother.
Her mother who Hera believed she did not deserve. Her mother that she adored.
No, she would not tell her mother.
"No, Maman! Just a long walk" Hera sighed dramatically, indicating how tired she was from her trip. Her mother chuckled at her daughter before taking the tomatoes and beginning her cooking once again.
Hera walked upstairs, making her way to her room. She sat on her bed in darkness. The darkness was welcoming, it was engulfing and completely dominating in some way. Although she was always uneasy in the darkness, she found her safest place to be in it.
Hera thought about the boy at the market. Had she overreacted? What if her father saw them? How would he feel?
No, she did not overreact, she did the right thing after all, her life would be filled with unwanted encounters for men, regardless of her achievements or attitudes, she behaved perfectly rationally and hopefully talked some sense into that annoying boy.
The burnette girl laid down on her bed for a while, not sure of what to do or think. It was nice. Nice that her thoughts did not bother her for once, that she was just able to expierence silence and darkness. It made her drowsy.
She forced her eyes open, before sitting up. Groaning as she did so and stretching her arms,. She moved her back in a certain way until she heard the crack and the relief that washed over her body. She felt good. Standing up, she walked over to her window and opened the curtains.
She was exhausted for some reason.
But that exhaustian was washed away with complete shock and horror.
That damn boy.
That stupid boy was there and she was watching him. It seemed as though the window directly across hers was his. She felt like she was going to puke.
Hera was frozen in shock, and not knowing what to do she forced her curtains to close shut as she ducked under the window.
She hid. Why did she hide? Why was she hiding?
This whole situation was hilariously stupid and completely out of bad luck. Someone must have put some sort of sin on her. This annoyances and pestering individual was in her life and from the look of his face, she did not think he would leave her along out of the kindness of his heart, even when asked nicely.
But that was an assumption, how could she knowing anything about him.
Now that she was thinking about it, this must to have been some horrible joke right? No way. Absolutely not.
The horror then washed over her. Which address has she given him. The summer home or home-homs. Oh no.
Hera screamed silently as she covered her face in embarrassment.
"I am and idiot, an absolute idiot, what the hell!" She finally yelled out. Most likely startling her mother and father.
Hera began to spiral. "What am I gonna do, what if he sees me— saw me. What if he tells mama and papa about the ordeal. No, no" Hera assured herself in the end, taking deep breaths as she held herself on the floor.
"He wanted to see me again, he wouldn't jeopardize that just to be petty right?" Liar, he would and you know it. If Hera assumed right he was just as petty as her.
Hera was screwed. Completely royally screwed and for the first time ever, she didn't want to be here... in the city, in this house coincidentally next to Joseph's. This had to be one of the worst things to happen and summer break hadn't even begun.
She sighed as she hid her face in between her knees. Now in complete darkness as she thought about how to fix this situation.
It would seem as though, Hera's decisions are coming to bite her back in the arse. And the worst of all, she would not be able to control it.
2300 Words ━━ Alaska Speaks / Important Notes
✸ Second Chapter is done, I Don't know if this is honestly an accurate representation of Joseph Descamps but whatever it's a fanfic. I hope you all enjoyed and have a spectacular evening!!
Sincerely, Alaska