Keelan's POV
"You were awake?" Euri and Vanessa asked in unison.
I was already awake when I heard Vanessa said to deepen the kiss. My heart was pounding so hard but I couldn't move any part of my body. I couldn't even open my eyes or kiss back, but I enjoyed the process. I knew it was the woman I loved. I didn't know how, but I just knew it.
I shrugged as I raised my brows. Smiling, I replied, "yes, when I felt familiar lips on mine. I thought it was Euri, but— who is she?"
I turned my gaze at the woman who looked like Euri. I knew it was her even with her golden eyes, but I just couldn't believe it I needed confirmation. How could she be this gorgeous? This woman kissed me? This goddess saved me from burning into ashes?
"She's Euri, indeed," Vanessa answered as she glanced at her, and then she returned her gaze at me. "I can't believe it. How can you tell it was Euri's lips?"
Fuck! What the heck did I just say earlier?
"Oh, just a guess, I think," I answered as I averted my gaze somewhere. It was embarrassing, I couldn't look at Euri's face.
"How can you all be relaxed when you know that I am right here with the black abrow?" Queen Mother joined.
We all turned our attention to her. Carl was the first one to say something. "Mom, would you stop this?"
Her mother huffed. "You don't know anything, son. My life in the human world was worse than living in hell!"
Euri stood up. "I don't know what happened to you in the human world, but I won't apologize if I didn't do anything wrong to you."
"Well, of course, you don't feel any guilt at all. You didn't even apologize to Vanessa. Have you realized that both your human and cupid mother died because of you? King Vertroth even sacrificed himself for you, Keelan almost burned into ashes, and it's all because of you! So how come you're still calm as if nothing happened?"
"Why would you blame her for all that? We did it by ourselves, it was our own decision. Euri didn't force us to do anything!" I snapped out as I stood up.
Queen Mother scoffed. "Okay, I understand your point. But what about how she mismatched Vanessa to another man?"
Suddenly, I couldn't find the words to say anything as if my mouth forgot how to speak. I already heard from Vanessa that she was Euri's mother. But I still didn't get it. How did she become a healer cupid? And she said that I was in a 10-year relationship with her? I was a human? We were once a human? How was that even possible? I didn't remember anything about any of that. I was born cupid, I was never a human.
"She's right Keelan. It was all my fault. I was the reason why you almost disappeared. I was also the reason why my mother took her own life," Euri said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She avoided my gaze and instead looked down and then she turned her attention to Vanessa who was still sitting. "I'm truly sorry for the mismatched—though I do still believe that I didn't make a mistake. Because why would I even do that? There was no reason for me to mismatch you to another man. I didn't know how it happened. I was surprised too when I found out that I had committed a crime. I know that you won't accept that excuse, and I won't expect you to believe it either."
Vanessa stood up. "I wondered about that too. Why would the Princess of the Cupid Kingdom do that? It didn't make any sense to me."
Euri neared Vanessa and reached for her hands.
"Mom," she uttered hesitantly. "I don't know if I even deserve to call you mom, but as Eurivin, I'd like to apologize. I'm sorry that I wasn't born a boy and I'm sorry for being your daughter too. I'm sorry for everything." She pulled back her hands and averted her gaze away from Vanessa and continued, "I should've just banished to hell. Why am I even still here? I don't deserve to be here. I should've been the—"
Vanessa pulled her into a hug, making Euri surprised. Her eyes widened as Vanessa patted her back and said, "shhh, don't say that. Don't you think that your mother would be hurt by those words?" She broke away from the hug and reached for Euri's hands. "Mom has already forgiven you, Euri."
"I still can't believe it. How can you be Euri's mother?" I asked.
Queen Mother suddenly laughed. We all turned our attention to her. "All cupids were once human except for the ones who have royal blood. Healers remember their human memories while matchmakers don't. Do you know how tragic was your death? You were in a car accident trying to stop the wedding of Vanessa and her mismatched."
My brows furrowed. "Then why did the Princess of the Cupid Kingdom who has royal blood become a human?"
She chuckled and then deactivated the black bow in her hand. She then folded her arms and said, "come to think of it, Heart should be in hell right now since she had committed a grave sin, so how come she was reincarnated as a human and became cupid again? It was also a mystery when her father, King Vertroth disappeared not long after she was dragged to hell."
Queen Mother walked idly, the smirk on her face was visible to the point that it was annoying me for some reason. "Fascinating, what could be the cause? Do you think it's related to Heart's reincarnation?"
"No, I'm sure something must have happened," Euri said.
Queen Mother snorted, "was that really the case or that's what you want to believe? Come on, Heart, think hard." She tapped her index finger to her temple. "It was all your fault! Can't you see that you always make your loved ones suffer?"
"That's not true at all!" I shouted at her and softened when I turned my gaze at Euri. "Don't listen to her, Sweetcake."
My eyes widened from what I just said. I looked at their faces and they all have the same expression. I turned my gaze at Carl to my right who was looking at me blankly, and then to my left, Vanessa and Euri were staring at me the same as Carl.
Euri was the first one to break the silence. "Did you just call me sweetcake?"
Fuck! I could feel my cheeks burning up from embarrassment.
Suddenly, the awkward moment became light when they all cracked up, including Queen Mother. They were all making me nervous as hell!
"Sweetcake?" Queen Mother repeated as she wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes. "You sure know how to be funny, Keelan."
"Sorry, Keelan, I have to agree with Her Majesty. I can't believe you just turned the intense situation into something like this," Vanessa said, still laughing while holding her stomach.
I turned to look at Carl, expecting him to be on my side, but it turned out he was just shaking his head at me while trying to hold in his laugh.
"Okay, as I was saying earlier," I said, trying to get their attention, especially, Carl's mother. "Euri is loved by people around her, that's why they are willing to sacrifice for her. I never once blamed her for what happened to me."
The way I said it was awkward, but still, it worked out in the end. I made them move on from what I had said earlier. We all became stern-faced. Please forget the 'sweetcake' thing, I chanted in my mind. I didn't know where that came from, I just said the first thing that came to my mind. Was it because I loved sweets, especially cakes?
"How can you still say that? If only you remember, I'm sure you'll hate me," Euri said, and then she averted her gaze from me. Her face was so sad that it was giving me heartache.
I walked towards her and cupped her face with both of my hands so that she wouldn't have a choice but to face me—though she was still not looking at me.
"Euri, look at me," I said softly, and when she looked at me in the eyes, I continued, "I don't care about what you've done in the past—"
"You're only saying that because you don't remember anything!" Queen Mother interrupted but my attention was still on Euri.
Ignoring her, I began again, "Euri, it's okay. I don't care about the past—well, I admit that perhaps, it's because I don't remember. Nevertheless, that's already in the past and I knew for sure that you didn't wish for that to happen. What's more important is the now—the present and the future."
I pulled her into a tight hug when I saw a tear coming out of her eye.
Queen Mother's clap took our attention. Euri gently pulled away from the hug and muttered, "thank you" to me.
"How sweet," Her Majesty said sarcastically. "But is it really okay for Heart to move on and let her father suffer in hell instead of her?"
My gaze went to Carl when he blurted out, "Mother, will you please stop? Give it a rest."
Her mother huffed and then smirked at him. "Why son? I was just asking if she is okay with this set-up."
"Of course, I'm not okay with this! That's why I'll go to hell to see it for myself. If you are right that my father is indeed there, then I'll do the right thing and put back things the way they should be. I won't let my father suffer because of me," Euri exclaimed.
"That's a good decision," Queen Mother jested.
"What? No! I won't let you!" I objected Euri's idea.
Why would she do that if her father was the one who made that choice?
"If you do that, then all the sacrifices he had done for you would be in vain!" I added.
"No, I have to do this," Euri said as she shook her head at me.
"Your Majesty, the King, if you may, please. Start the ritual for your Aunt Heart," Queen Mother ordered Carl.
"Are you sure about this, Euri?" Vanessa asked.
"I won't start unless you want me to," Carl stated.
Euri was still having a second thoughts. She didn't answer right away. I still had the chance to change her mind. I pulled her into a hug as I begged, "no, Euri. Don't do this, please. Tell me you won't do it."
Without any warning, my tears began to flow to my cheeks. I hugged her tighter. "If you do this, then bring me with you. I want to be with you even if it's in hell. Now that I know that you're a cupid too, that we can finally be together, I don't wanna lose you. I love you, Euri—Heart. Whatever your name is. You saved my life, you now have my heart, you're my angel, and an angel who just saved a life isn't fit to be in hell. I hope you know that."
I pulled away from the hug and instead placed my hands on her arms. She was crying too while staring back at me. "Would you change your mind for me? Please?"
"I'm sorry," she uttered and then walked past me, making my heart drop.
I didn't succeed. Did I mean nothing to her? I was dumbfounded I didn't know how to react. I froze in my spot trying to let all that was happening to sink in. I tried my best to convince her, but why? I guessed it was really one-sided love after all.
I couldn't believe this was more painful than being hit many times with the arrow of pain. It was unbearable to the point that my tears wouldn't stop. But it was then when I fell to my knees when I heard her say, "please start the ritual and open the gate of hell."