Destined for love

Destined for love 

By Aleksandra Borovishki 

  This story begins with a beautiful day, as always, in the realm of gods. However, this day was not like any other. Under the heavenly sun, the bees were not the only thing that was buzzing. This year's class of young gods and goddesses was on its way to fulfilling their last assignments in the School of Gods and accepting the honor of their powers’ s true potential. The big ceremony on the occasion was being prepared and the hard-working nymphs and dryads were running all around the place, taking care of everything with their gentle divine hands. It was a complete frenzy because there were only a few minutes left until the start of the Ceremony.

  At the other end of the school, Priya, the future goddess of love, was sweating, running through the hallways in her golden sandals. She was running as fast as her godly legs could bear. Priya was learning about the art of love since she was born, destined to one day become the goddess of love and beauty. However, she was not the goddess of time by any means and was always late. Just like today. 

  When she reached the amphitheater, it was already full. Careful not to attract unwanted attention, she slipped between seats, using the noise to mask the sound of her footsteps. She climbed the stairs of the stage and stood at the end of the queue, almost in the shadows.The next few hours went by fast. All the future gods and goddesses got their assigned tasks for the final exam. Each student, standing in the middle of the stage, had to open the schoolbook on the page determined to him and read out loud the quest he had to complete. Listening to all these missions was fascinating both for the public and for Priya. Some of them had to retrieve a powerful artifact or heal a divine being, others to purify a cursed land or help a god ascend. She was boiling from excitement to figure out what her task will be. 

    When her time came, she stood in the middle. Priya's shaking hands reached into the book and gently touched the covers with their soft pink fingers. A big breath followed. Collecting all her courage she opened on her page and read agog. The letters started dancing on the page forming the sentence: Choose somebody and make him fall in love.

Shimmers went throughout her divine body. Was that it? It sounded so easy that the eager smile on the goddess's face was impossible to be hidden. She hurried to turn her gaze to the Earth. Her eyes darted through the crowd of people. They were searching eagerly in pursuit of her chosen one. Priya could sense that there is someone special disguised in the mass. Someone who was destined for great love comparable to no other, but who was determined to escape from the demanding sight of love.  Finally, her godly stare stopped on a human boy named Rue. 

  Rue was a simple boy, living in a dormitory close to his university. He was studying English literature and was spending hours in the library reading about everything from historical documents to cookbooks. His head was full of thoughts born from all the things he had read and all ideas he wanted to write about. Ironically, the only belief that was never in his curly head was the concept of love. Now he wasn’t willing to spend even a minute of his precious learning time running after girls or pointless flirts since, in his opinion, they were entirely useless. 

  The next three weeks, Priya spends with Rue, in disguise, of course, but always by his side. Following him around on all his daily tasks, Priya was like a part of his shadow. From the moment he opened his eyes to the middle of the night when he was going to sleep the goddess was never leaving his side. She was whispering in his ears, showing him images of a pretty smile, daring eyes, and fin fingers running through his hair. The sound of someone's vibrant laugh was following him all around. Their sudden appearance in his mind intrigued Rue. Even during his favorite reading time, he was getting distracted by the floating images of somebody’s beautiful features or by the familiar tender voice he was hearing in the distance. Even in his sleep, Rue was seeing someone’s vague silhouette and was feeling his daring presence. Once when the boy was sipping from his morning coffee, he could’ve sworn that he saw in the foam a woman’s face. And on top of all plenty of women were following him the past few days. During his entire life, Rue had never seen such an interest towards him from the ladies. But lately, they were constantly either bumping into him or staring weirdly from the corner of the room, smiling, winking, small chatting. It was so weird that to him it looked absurd.

  However, he was determined to not pay attention to any of these weird occurrences and to not allow this sudden change of interests to play with his ambitious perspective. Rue wasn’t planning to accept any of this event as a sign or as something more meaningful than most simply tiredness by any means. In his mind, he had another goal to accomplish and other tasks to concentrate on. Rue used to be in love before. He loved his best friend, to whom he confessed his love before he departed for college. By the middle of his first semester, they weren’t even friends anymore. Every memory of her that sometimes appeared in his mind was reminding him how much better he was on his own. 

 This resistance was irritating for the future goddess. Why was he so stubborn? He ignored the pretty girl that Priya send him in the library, completely cut out the woman in the subway, and didn’t even notices when the barista in the coffee was flirting with him. All the signs that she was constantly sending him in all these forms and shapes were useless. She was just trying to show him the way, to help him fulfill his destiny. She knew, from the moment she felt his spirit, that he was destined for love. Why was he so against it then? 

  The same night, Priya couldn’t sleep. She was playing with her long raven black hair, plotting her next and probably final move. The ideas were floating among the stars, tracing consolations of thoughts in the sky. Her heart was beating fast, unease because of the way the events were unfolding. In the morning, when the moon changed its place with the sun, she concluded desperate times need desperate measures. The ichor in her veins was boiling- slightly excited and somehow enraged. 

  Minutes later, determined to succeed, she appeared in the human world. It wasn’t the perfect day for visits, since the skies were grey and a storm was expected. People were hurrying to find shelter before the heavy rain. She mixed up with the crowd and went with the flow of people to Rue’s favorite coffee place, where he liked to spend most of the rainy days. The coffee was deep in the suburbs of the city, hidden between a few bigger buildings. Because of its size and location, Priya was expecting to find the place almost empty like it was usually. Opposite of her expectations, because of the bad weather now all the tables were full, and the bar was overflowing. She stepped  inside and stood next to the entrance so she can have a better view of the room. Her eyes started wandering around, analyzing the customers until finally, she spotted Rue sitting in the corner, almost entirely hidden behind a plant.

  Her plan was simple–to assist the girls she was sending for Rue to catch his attention. She was going to start the conversation for them, or maybe was going to directly ask him to take the girl on a date. The details were yet to be polished, but the goal was crystal clear. Seeing how many girls were in the coffee that day made the goddess pretty confident in her plan. There was so much choice that she was going to struggle with deciding where to start. 

  Lost in her thoughts walking to the target, she missed seeing the server hasten to take the latest order. He stumbled into her and made her lose her balance. Surprised, Priya bounced a few steps away and grabbed the nearest table to restore her stability. She looked around to gain back some orientation. Strangely, Rue was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he left, and she didn’t see it because of the accident?

-       Excuse me!- a voice said behind her.- your hand is on my book.

  Her whole body frizzed in shock. She furtively looked back in disbelief at her luck. From all the tables In the coffee, she landed exactly on Rue’s one. The goddess tried to keep her cool, looking for a way to turn the situation in her favor. Or at least to find some dose of strength to lift her hand from the pages. He was looking at her calmly, but a particle of annoyance was visible in the corner of his eyes. Some curls were escaping the strands of hair behind his ears, forming loops on his cheeks. His eyes squeezed slowly at her. 

-        Do I know you?- Rue asked. 

  He put his two fingers on his chin like he used to do when he was trying to concentrate, awaiting her answer. On her side, the goddess could not say a word. Her anger vanished, making a place for fear and confusion. She came so determined and now everything she was planning for was gone. All kinds of thoughts were creeping into her mind in the few seconds she spent under Rue’s demanding gaze. Was she going to fail? Could he possibly uncover her true form? Maybe it was better to say something.

-        I don't think so,- she hasted to speak, but her voice came up shakier than it was supposed to. He smiled.

 Surprisingly, she noticed something unusual in the surrounding energy. Some shift was happening as they were exchanging glances. She couldn’t yet tell what kind of shift was befalling Rue’s energy, but his gaze also transformed into a more soft and welcoming one. The annoyance was gone, and even a little smile appeared on his lips. 

- Do you want to sit with me, and maybe I’ll tell you about the book so you won’t have to hold it?- he said. Her irises expanded, her eyesight blurted a bit, and her heart fastened its beat. A second passed. She nodded positively and while she was sitting in the chair, the last thing going in her mind was the thought of her mission. Nevertheless, Rue escaped his destiny…or did he?