“Does it hurt?” Hera asked as she lowered her head, avoiding his eyes. Whatever Hunter was going to say was interrupted, and he got up from the makeshift bed, walking briskly towards the staircase. “My phone is ringing, I’ll be right back,” he said without turning around. 

She didn’t hear the phone ringing, but the way his hurried footsteps climbed three steps at a time confirmed it. It was close to midnight, and Hera knew it was his parents calling. They were aware of Hunter’s habit of going late to bed as he would be busy with his books at night. 

Hera fell on her back on the bed, legs crossed at the ankle and eyes fixed on the ceiling, she got lost in her private thoughts. The image of Hunter wincing at her touch crossed her mind, and her heart sank in shame. She tried to recollect everything that happened while kissing him. 

‘I did everything exactly how he taught me! Where did I go wrong?’ 

Hera wondered. 

.

She pressed her lips to his, kissing him, and then sucked his lips one after the other. She gently nibbled in between with her teeth. That’s how he kissed her all the time. She imitated everything she learned from him. She couldn’t understand when or why she got aggressive to the point of hurting him. 

Hunter came back and joined her in the bed. Putting his arms around her, he pulled her to him and brought her back from her guilt trip. Pressing himself more into her, Hunter held her tight against his chest. She stared at him while he kissed her on the forehead. Hera closed her eyes and tried to relax under his comforting warm embrace. 

Resting her head on his chest, Hera listened to his heartbeats, thumping in a soothing rhythm. They stayed silent for a few minutes. She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at him. He gave a faint smile while his hand was gently caressing her hair affectionately. Placing her palms on his chest, she bent to kiss him on his cheek. 

“Hunter, why did you do it? Why didn’t you wait?” Hera asked, voice no more than a whisper, and then looked at him with her big eyes. Confused, he frowned as he couldn’t make out what she was saying. “You know, for our special day or wedding night or whatever the fuck I assumed it to be. Why didn’t you wait for it?” She asked, resting her chin on her hands, her brows furrowed, making her eyes appear smaller. 

Hunter’s face mirrored her expression. Brows furrowed, eyes looked smaller, and he scowled. His look said it all. He didn’t want to go on that road again, but Hera’s eyes were screaming for him to answer her question. His hold around her tightened in reflex. 

“I want to know, Hunter, if kissing someone else felt gross, then why didn’t you feel disgusted when you were screwing someone else? Why did you cheat on me? What made you break your promise to me?” Her tone was assertive and voice demanding. Her straightforward approach told him that she expected nothing but honesty. 

“I don’t know, okay,” Hunter half yelled in frustration, but immediately softened his tone, realising that he yelled at her. “I was young, immature, and desperate. The hormones, I guess,” he shrugged, unsure, “Made me want to explore more about the newfound discovery.” He finished and held his breath, bracing himself for Hera’s reaction. 

“Desperate, you say?” Hera asked through her gritted teeth, glaring at him. Her fingers curled into fists as if ready to punch him, “As in, desperate to fuck someone?” He flinched at her venomous tone as it stung him at heart. “What did you want to explore? Can you tell me more about that newfound discovery that made you cheat on me? What was it, Hunter, that you couldn’t resist breaking my heart?” 

Hunter looked at her hands as her fingers clenched, clutching his T-shirt in her tight fists. She was trying to hold back her frustration. “Before we could move on from the past, I want to know where we went wrong in the first place. So let’s talk about it starting from the discovery that young, immature, desperate, hormonal teenager had to go through.” Hera said, taking a deep breath. 

Hunter didn’t miss how she’d repeated his every word as if she’d memorised those words. 

“And, speak only the truth, Mr Hunter,” she added. Hunter was quiet for a few seconds, and she looked at him with her widened eyes and raised brows. His large hands covered over her fists and he took a deep breath. 

Much to his disappointment, Hera removed her hands from his hold and left the bed. She walked to the fireplace with a pillow in her hands. She sat, crossing her legs in front of the bright flames. Her elbows dipped into the soft pillow resting on her lap as she held her palms up to feel the warmth of the fire. 

When Hunter maintained his silence, Hera turned to him with a silent stare. She watched as he got up, reached her with two long strides, and sat at the edge of the bed, placing his feet on the floor. He leaned forward, crossed his arms, resting them on his thighs. Impatiently Hera arched her brows and gestured for him to speak. 

Her gaze followed his hand as it moved up to his face. He silently pointed his finger to the cut on his lips. “Why did you do it?” He asked. Taken aback, Hera frowned at his question. 

‘Why did I do it?’ 

She couldn’t answer that question as she didn’t know why she did it. Her lips pulled down, her frown deepened, and she shook her head. “I don’t know. I just felt like doing it, and I got carried away, I guess,” she said, shrugging. 

“Did you like it?” Hunter asked again, and she shot him a glare before turning away from him. “Are you trying to avoid answering my questions, Mr Hunter? Don’t you dare distract me from our actual conversation by asking nonsense questions and I hate it when you do that brainwashing thing,” she said, without looking at him. 

Hunter smiled to himself and winced when the cut stung. 

“When you hit puberty, it affects your feelings as well. The hormones your body is producing cause you to have sexual feelings. The body feels excited, and you want to be close to the person you’re attracted to. That’s why you’re encountering such strange feelings. Hitting puberty influences our emotions, and it brings unexpected changes. Even I went through the same phase,” he said, and Hera turned to him with a sarcastic smile. 

“You’re doing it, manipulating my mind with your research stock of knowledge,” she said, glaring at him with her accusing eyes. Hunter shook his head in denial. “I’m not manipulating or brainwashing you, Goddess. It’s a fact every teenager goes through. I know that no explanation will justify my wrongdoings, but I want you to understand my part of the story. Didn’t you say you want the truth? I’m speaking the truth,” he stated. 

Hera focused her gaze on the reddish-orange flames, melting the wood into ashes in the fireplace. “Go on,” she prompted him to continue. Hunter sighed and lowered his head, running his fingers through his hair. He hesitated for a minute while Hera waited in absolute silence. 

“One day, while I was washing in the shower, something felt good, and that feeling came out of the blue. I had no idea how or why it felt so good,” he paused, frowning when he looked at her confused face. Apparently, she’d no idea where he’s going, with the shower and washing. 

Hunter shook his head, disbelief written all over his face. “God, this is more awkward than I thought. I can’t explain everything in detail to you,” he said, hoping for her to drop it. 

“Why not?” She questioned, challenging him. “You don’t have to give me a demo literally. You only need your tongue to do it. Come on, keep talking, I want to know the exact reason why you went to other girls,” she said with finality, and he groaned in irritation. 

“I was cleaning the gun in my pants, and rubbing my fist over it felt good,” he said, watching Hera as she scrunched up her nose in disgust. “Now don’t ask me to explain how it felt, because I can’t,” he immediately added when he saw her furrowing her eyebrows and she gave him a dirty look in return. 

“I wanted to talk to someone about those feelings, but had no idea how to voice it out. It wasn’t easy to talk about sexual desires for the first time. Thankfully Mike did it before I could, and turns out that I wasn’t the only one to discover that new feeling. We browsed on the internet to learn more about it and watched some videos,” Hunter said the last part with much hesitation, and Hera’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

“You watched porn,” she stated, and he didn’t deny it.