‘Th-thank you, Hera.’ Psy could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, as the adrenaline coursed through her.
Hera inclined her head and let the corner of her mouth flick up ever so slightly. ‘You’ve earned it.’
As Psyche left the meeting room, she saw Venus working hard to hide her ire and asking an impassive Hera for ‘an emergency meeting of high minds’。 Attempting to look like Psyche’s success wasn’t consuming her from the inside made Venus’s beauty suddenly look askew – she looked slightly demonic. Psy smiled to herself. She was free. She’d done it. She’d wrenched herself from the claws of an unhinged tyrant, and with this knowledge she felt lighter, emboldened, her knowledge of her capacity made more acute.
By the time she reached her desk, she felt like the most powerful woman in Olympus. She was going to tell Eros how she felt, tell him that he hurt her and that she wasn’t okay with how they left things all those months ago, and though telling him might destroy their friendship, it would be better than enduring the steady erosion of her heart. If she’d impressed Hera, then her situation with Eros wasn’t anything to be freaked out by. What was a small workplace will-they-won’t-they romantic entanglement compared to pitching to the most influential woman in the media world? Nothing. She was ready. Before she grabbed her phone from the desk, she noticed a small white jewellery box resting on top of her laptop. In gold cursive, ‘Ambrosia’ was emblazoned on the cushioned leather of the small case. Psy knew a gift from one of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world had to be for Venus, but she couldn’t help but flick it open, in one last act of assistant privilege.
Within the royal blue velvet encasement glinted a dainty gold chain with a beautiful, delicate bow-and-arrow pendant hung from it. It took Psy’s breath away. And when she read the blue post-it note folded up inside of it, her pulse jumped:
I knew you would do it. Can we talk? Roof?
‘Did Pheme tell you?’
Psy’s voice pulled Eros out of his own churning thoughts as he paced the roof, trying to excavate his emotions and iron them out into actual words he could say. Eros stopped pacing and turned towards the heavy industrial doors that Psy had just walked through. The morning sunlight shone directly on her, causing her brown curls to glint golden as they bounced with each of her steps towards him. The closer she got, the more of Psy the sun released to Eros – proximity revealed the bright of her eyes, the slanted twist of her lips into a smile that was half teasing, half delighted and the sparkling bow-and-arrow necklace that hung from her neck, its gold bringing out the deep copper tones of her skin. All the words that Eros had figured out to say so far dissipated through his deep exhale. She was so lovely.
Eros straightened up and tried to coax his body into a casual stance. ‘Uh, yeah. She literally tweeted it as the meeting was happening. Hashtag “PsycheSlayed”。’
Psy laughed and it soared over the city sirens and the bustle of the street below. ‘Of course she did . . . Thank you for this necklace, by the way. It’s stunning. I love it. How did you sort it out so fast? Do you just have a bunch ready to give out to girls as some sort of Eros Experience souvenir?’ Her voice was jaunty, but tentative, and the vulnerable way she looked up at him made the air feel heavier and harder to haul down his throat.
Eros swallowed. ‘No, uh, I got it a while back. For when you got your promotion.’
The playful smile melted off Psy’s face as her lips parted slightly, her eyes glistening. ‘What? Seriously?’
Eros shrugged. ‘I knew you would get it, Psy. I knew something would happen for you. I knew that you would shoot your shot and Muse would be a hit because you’re smart and brave and incredible. Speaking of . . . I feel like we need to talk about earlier—’
Psy shook her head, still looking slightly dazed as she scooped a tear up from the corner of her eye. ‘Yeah, yeah, I think we do. You’re really sweet. Like, the sweetest guy I’ve ever met and that’s part of the problem. You can’t keep doing things like this and expect me to forget that the kiss ever happened just because you have. It’s not fair—’
Psy’s chin lowered and her voice cracked, and Eros’s heart cracked with it. Though he still hadn’t discovered the formulation of words that would accurately convey how he felt, he realised that it didn’t matter. All he needed to do was to prevent there being any more moments where Psy didn’t know that she was the most important thing to him. He stepped closer to her.