"Strange love" by Halsey
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I expelled the contents of my stomach into the porcelain toilet, certain I had never felt worse in all my life. As soon as I woke up and tried to adjust, I found I was in a very unfamiliar place snuggled against pillows that had Ajax's sea-breeze scent. I then felt the overwhelming need to vomit. It had nothing to do with his fresh scent; it was merely sitting up too fast along with my stomach feeling queasy. I bolted for the bathroom in the next room, even pushing past the strangely pale man who had come into the room to see what I was up to. I slammed the bathroom door shut on his abnormally pale face before rushing to the toilet.
Now that I was recovered, I felt cold and clammy. I relished the idea of sleeping in until the horrible memory of yesterday hit me like a freight train. Walking over to the sink, I gargled some mouthwash I found sitting on the counter before washing my hands and cupping some cold water to splash across my face.
"So, how long have you been pregnant?" The pale man questioned beyond the closed door.
I took a startled breath before remembering I had no real idea of where I was. My last memory was seeing Ajax in his true form.
I trembled upon the insane memory of him owning a tail. It was a real-life shimmery one that reminded me of all the pretty fish at aquariums I had seen in my life. I could not determine the color given the darkness, but that didn't matter; Ajax still had a tail. The insanely sweet and beyond thoughtful young man I had come to know had a tail.
It was remembering what the stranger said outside the bathroom door that had me trembling. He couldn't know about the pregnancy; I didn't even officially know if I was truly pregnant.
I was personally hoping this was all a nightmare. Maybe I had been so incredibly nervous about starting a relationship with Ajax I imagined that he was engaged to a monster who tried to kill me. Maybe I even imagined he could disappear by magic and grow a tail while in the ocean. I slowly opened the bathroom door, trying not to tremble. A tall man with a beyond pale face stood behind the door with a raised eyebrow. He was utterly breathtaking to look at from his too white of face to his frosted white hair color. Maybe I died when that truck was coming at me and everything that happened since then is some type of normalness to happen upon death. "Are you an angel?"
The too beautiful of a man snickered. "You and my betrothed would get along fabulously. She uses the same terminology to describe me."
I did not know what to make of this so I said nothing. Quirking a brow, the man remained leaning against the door frame. "Now how about you answer, how long have you been knocked up?"
I shook my head rapidly, not even paying attention that the man seemed to be emitting an icy coldness similar to if one would stand in front of an open freezer. "I'm n-not..." I trailed off, covering my mouth with a hand. I nearly wanted to vomit again; it was as if my body was trying to punish me for her attempt at denying the obvious. The overwhelming desire to sleep the last two weeks, the tender breasts, the missed period....
I had plenty of experience of watching pregnant women due to aunts or cousins having babies. Still, it seemed too surreal that I could be expecting. Then again, I knew my ovulation cycle due to studying women's anatomy in a college course. Right around the time with Ajax I was ovulating, and we did end up having sex four times unprotected in one night...
It wasn't insane to assume one of those times was just enough to make a baby. I hadn't been on birth control. I had broken up with Tate a week before and he hadn't even wanted to touch me for months before that. I unintentionally made myself completely vulnerable to getting pregnant that one night with Ajax. There hadn't been condom usage either.
I barely noticed moving to the bathroom sink to spread some more cold water on my face. "I c-can't be..." I stuttered, unsure of who I was talking to; myself or this abnormally pale stranger.
"I'm gathering the impression you were not aware of this," said the man casually.
"M-maybe I'm not..." I tried weakly, willing this person to be wrong. What did he know? It was my body; he couldn't simply look at me and randomly guess I was pregnant. It wasn't as if I were overweight and showing in my stomach; I was slender, there was nothing obvious to give away being a little over five-weeks pregnant if I was. "Well then, if you're not a little bit knocked up, then I'm afraid to be the one to tell you that something is residing in your gut and has a heartbeat." The man nodded, looking bemused.
It was then that I stiffened, realizing that whoever this man was he did not have a strange appearance due to odd fashion choices regarding his hair and makeup usage. "Are you a m-mermaid, too...?"
A bark of hollow laughter escaped the man as he closed his eyes to laugh. "No. I would go into detail of what I am and watch your little eyes go wide, but I'm afraid there's no time. Ajax will probably be coming back soon to introduce you to his family. I'm not sure how they're going to handle the knowledge that you're expecting-"
"NO ONE CAN KNOW!" I suddenly shouted, surprising myself and the man by my shrieking yell. His silver eyes widened as he looked about to remark before I cut him off. "I don't even know if I'm p-pregnant, no one needs to know a thing, got it?" I was surprised with how much hostility I could hold in this one question. I couldn't help it. The thought of being pregnant terrified me.
The man's brows raised. "Unless you constantly keep your heartrate high after a series of jumping around or something such, there is no way you'll be able to hide that strange fluttering beating in your gut. I don't really know much about child growing, but I'm somewhat certain someone will figure it out once the child is popped out."
I stared at the man's rude bluntness. He made a point. Although I didn't find myself caring if he were right or not; I just knew not a soul beside me and now this stranger could know what I felt was true; I was pregnant.
"I need to get out of here," I breathed, using both hands to hold my hair.
"Where are you going to go?" said the man, watching in amusement as I stumbled out of the bathroom and down the hall. "You won't get far; not simply because you are in a house surrounded by four-hundred and seventy acres of farmland with no vehicle, but also because you can bet Amphitrite will be looking for you after your affair with her son."
"HEY!" I snapped aggressively, that specific word irritated me. I turned back to face him angrily. "I didn't have an affair! That makes it seem like I knew he was engaged! Ajax LIED to me, you got that? LIED! He said he wasn't with anyone so don't you dare say affair like I was some tramp just hunting to break apart a relationship!" I shouted, my eyes narrowing as my hands landed on my hips.
A smirk lit up the man's pale features. "You hadn't a clue our dear Ajax had been betrothed to a nymph the last couple thousand years?"
"No! I also did not know Ajax was an immortal magical mermaid." But my angry words simply caused the man to laugh.
"How long do you believe you have before Ajax figures out you're expecting?"
"Do you really think RIGHT NOW is the proper moment to say I might be-"
"Oh there's no might about it-"
"I'm not doing it right now!" I snapped in interruption, causing him to fall silent.
There were no other words exchanged as someone started yelling down the hall. "Jack! Where's Mia!?" Ajax froze once he spotted me on the other end of the hall. He appeared before my very eyes, causing me to momentarily hide behind the man named Jack. I trembled behind him, although, I was unsure how much of me hiding was based on fear or how very cold Jack was to be around.
"Mia, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Oh no, but your monster fiancé might try again!"
The man named Jack swiveled his head between the both of us. "Aura tried to kill her?" He looked impressed by me for a moment. "Kudos, kid. People barely escape a fight with her without a limb torn off. I can't believe you came out unscathed-"
"You're not helping, Jack," Ajax interrupted sharply.
"Who said I was trying to?" A rather annoyed look from Ajax silenced him. After that, Ajax tried approaching to get closer to me.
"Please come with me," he pleaded quietly. "We need to meet with my parents to put a stop to my mother's temper tantrum."
Jack groaned before sparing me a look. "I'm rather not fond of a vast majority of women and children due to my not-stellar social skills, BUT it would not be a good idea to put your human on display in front of your family-"
A hard punch to the back by me caused him to stiffen before Jack turned to look at me. Luckily Ajax didn't notice the slip. "Who the bloody hell cares about your tolerance for individuals, you piss ant!" he scowled. "The point is..."
Neither me or Jack paid attention to Ajax's point. The move by me did not seem to hurt Jack. It only annoyed him greatly while deeply hurting my own fist. As the man glowered, I gently shook my head, using my eyes to silently beg him not to reveal the pregnancy.
More than anything I wanted to wake up from this nightmare. The young man before me did not say a thing nor did he give any indication he would respect my wishes. He merely nodded once, perhaps out of pity. With his back to Ajax still, he pointed at me. You will tell him. He mouthed, causing me to give a curt nod.
"As I was saying, if we speak with my parents, perhaps all this shall blow away."
I only now realized Ajax had not stopped talking the last full minute as Jack and I shared our private conversation. Suddenly Ajax came forward, holding out a hand. "Shall we?"
"Touch me and I'll slap you again."
Jack chuckled at my furiously cold response. Ajax, however, looked entirely let down. "I take it things haven't quite settled in mentally for you...?" He asked hesitantly.
"Let's put it this way," I said, standing as tall as I could even though it in no way reached his eye level given the height difference. "I wish you and your homicidal monster a lifetime of misery."
"She doesn't mean anything to me."
A harsh laughter from me broke off his sentence. "There is something seriously wrong with you. Besides the being a mermaid-"
"Merman," Ajax corrected quietly. "For five whole minutes can you possibly hear me out?"
"No." I said this so very coldly my skin tickled with goosebumps. Or this was perhaps the man named Jack providing chilliness to the atmosphere. "I don't want to hear one more lie come out of your mouth. You lied about absolutely everything."
"Mate, I think it's far time you leave us be," said Ajax before Jack vanished.
I jumped in startled surprise upon his impromptu exit. Never had I believed in the magical or irrational, but what was occurring right before my eyes was utterly unexplainable. "Don't touch me," I warned, glaring as Ajax made some type of impromptu move to console me. "Hi Mia, I'm engaged and I'm actually a mermaid, would that have been so hard to say-"
"Merman."
"I don't care!" I exploded in protest. "You're nothing but a liar! Even after getting to know me and finding out how broken I was from my last relationship, you lied-"
"Would you have believed me had I told you what I am?" Ajax countered crossly, his bourbon-colored eyes narrowing. "Would you have believed that I am a god?"
A shiver shot up my spine. "There's only one God-"
"Seven billion people on earth and many have heard of myths and legends descended from folklore around the world. Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Norse, Hindu, the list is endless!" Ajax declared. "There are immortal beings who walk among the humans. Your world is much larger than you originally imagined."
"I don't want it bigger!" I yelped stupidly. "Don't you get it!? I don't wanna know any of this! All this time I thought you were such a sweet guy who would never lie to me! Now you're...y-you're..."
"I have NEVER lied to you apart from my engagement!"
"AND being a mermaid, let's not forget about that!" I shouted, feeling furious and rattled out of my mind.
"Admit it!" Ajax shot back. "You would not have believed me had I told you any of it! You would have thought I was off my rocker. Maybe not telling you about Aura was wrong-"
"OH! You think!?"
"I don't love her!" Ajax snapped furiously. "I never have, and I never will. The moment you entered my orbit you've been the only woman for me."
"Oh my gosh!" I laughed without humor. "What, are you getting this out of a player handbook? Quit trying to make me feel you actually like me!"
"I DON'T SIMPLY LIKE YOU!" Ajax shouted passionately while looking completely exasperated. "I love you."
"Oh don't you go there." I warned, holding my head. "Don't you dare say you love me after the way you've lied to me for weeks!"
"You wouldn't have bloody-well believed me!"
"We had SEX, and you didn't say a thing," I said, the traitor tears stinging my eyes yet again. "That entire night and all those nice things you said about me...What, did you just go back home and say them to your fiancé?"
Ajax's eyes were wide as he shook his head. "I have always been upfront with you apart from my engagement-"
"Do you say the same thing to your monster when you have sex?" I said through my tears. We were both adults; I could be blunt with him. I couldn't hide my anger. "What, was it a two-in-one kind of day? Banging the bride and then wedding planner? Bet that was just a load of fun for you to laugh to your little friends about, right-"
"Our night together was the very FIRST time I have ever had sex!" said Ajax. His tone was harsh even though his eyes looked deeply pained. "I lost my virginity to you, Mia."
A stumped silence took over.He was being honest; I could see the truth behind his glossy eyes. That mostdefinitely explained his awkward timid nature and not quite knowing where toput his hands when we fooled around. Even when it got to the point of doing thedeed Ajax clumsily did not seem to know what to do even when we were completelynaked. I had attributed that to his drunkenness. The overwhelming sadnessbehind his eyes at that moment showed the upmost of honesty. He was not lyingwith his declaration. No words exited my mouth as I felt overwhelmingawkwardness. "You were a twenty-seven-year-old virgin?" I finallyasked, looking for complete clarification.
"No," Ajax disagreed, shaking his handsome head. "I was atwo-thousand-nine-hundred and ninety-nine-year-old virgin," he explainedquietly. I could not even do the mental math to what year that would mean hewas born. Nine-hundred and thirty-five AD?
"That's not possible," I said slowly. Then again, I wasn't sure whatwas possible anymore. There were icy men who radiated coldness and women whogrew fangs and green skin simultaneously. I had obviously slipped off the trainof rationality and ventured into the land of strange and paranormal.
He was about to approach me when I held up my hands and motioned yet again forhim to stop. "Darling, I could not tell you-"
"Don't call me any of your pet names anymore. Don't touch me, don't even talkto me..." I trailed off realizing there was something I had yet to giveback. Quickly I worked to remove the lovely sea-inspired bracelet he had giftedme. It was by far the prettiest gift Ihad ever received and at the time I received it, I felt positively certain hesaid what he meant when he claimed he only wanted to give it to someonespecial. By the time I fully removed the lobster clasp, Ajax looked positivelybroken.
"I was nothing but sincere when I gifted you that."
I willed myself not to cry. It was difficult looking at his handsome face. Helooked as heartbroken as I felt.
"How would I know? It seems lying is your best quality," I said as I tossedhim the bracelet. The will to sit down due to queasiness was overwhelming.Nothing more was said as Ajax looked incredibly pained by the one small statement.He looked about to say more before he seemed to think better of it. "Comealong."
I ignored his hand and looked anywhere than at his face. The very idea that heleft me pregnant when he was already getting married to someone else left mewanting to break down in horrible tears. Her gaze diverted to the floor as Irefused to take his hand. Ajax slowly approached. "Whatever you do, love,don't leave my side."
With that, he grabbed me before we disappeared.
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