AVEN WAKES UP at dusk, his eyes drained of mirth and malice- it is a vulnerable sight, and I realise that I could do anything to the siren at this point and no one will know. 

But something holds me back. I may have bonded with him. That isn’t far from the truth. I am pretty close to him, I decided at that - close enough to share burning kisses and mind-numbing emotions that overcast the glowing, turbulent waves of loneliness churning inside me. 

I hand over the glass of warm chamomile tea. He tries sitting up but fails, and I frown at him. 

It can’t be that bad, can it?

Regardless of my doubts, I lend him a hand and pull him up so that he is sitting, leaning against the headrest of my bed. I am about to move away to grab him a pillow to make him comfortable when he suddenly wraps his fingers around my wrist softly enough that I almost mistook it for a brush of some fabric. I pause and glance at him quizically. 

“What is it?” I question him softly. 

Pinching his temple, Aven mutters painfully, “Don’t.”

I gently grab his hand and stop him from applying pressure to his temple; instead, I slowly rub the spot with my thumb, soft enough to make him relax and sigh in relief. “Don’t what?” 

He licks his bottom lip, dry and chapped from the sudden dehydration. Sighing, I reach out to the jug I placed on the bedside table and pour some water into the glass for him. Aven wordlessly drinks it, and I take that as an opportunity to sit beside him on the bed. The bed softly creaks under my weight, and I ignore it, my focus solely being upon the siren. 

“You didn’t say what’s bothering you.” I try to coax him. 

He shakes his head. “Nothing is bothering me…just…” he peers up at me with his beautiful blue eyes, and it breaks my heart to see it so dark and vulnerable. “Stay beside me, Clara.”

I suppress a shiver at his voice. No, it is the way he said it. It is not an order. 

It is a plea. And so I comply with his wish and stay. 

I let myself be comfortable on the bed while staying right next to him and inhale sharply at the feeling of my chest contracting. It's been like that ever since childhood. Maybe I have developed asthma from staying in my grandmother’s ship for so long. I scratch my hand and feel the brush of the chain against my wrist. I glance down and frown. 

“Hey, Aven?”

“Hmm?”

“Open your eyes for a second, please?” He sighs but listens to me regardless of his wish to stay with his eyes closed. “What is it?” It’s he who speaks this time. 

I lift my arm and turn it towards him.  The chain in my hand dangles by my wrist, the blue stone in the middle gleaming a little brighter compared to the other two tiny beads next to it. As expected, Aven frowns. He grasps my wrist, careful not to touch the stone and observes. 

He lifts his face and stares into my eyes. His gaze then wanders down and down to my now exposed nape and then the collarbone, and they stay there for a while. “This doesn’t make any sense. How are you unaffected by this?”

I glance down at my wrist again. “What is it exactly?”

“Tears.”

My mouth twists in surprise. “Huh?”

“Warena’s tears. Didn’t know it existed till now.”

Despite my situation, I stifle a laugh. “Don’t know if a literal siren should be saying that.”

I think my eyes are playing a trick on me, but I swear, a corner of Aven’s lips curled up in a slight smile. But the sight was gone before I could appreciate it.

“So,” I retreat my hand and watch as Aven’s falls on his lap, still within my reach. “What’s this Warena’s Tears?”

Fidgeting with the glass in his other hand, Aven hesitates before speaking. “Do you know about the origin of Sirens?”

I think about it and then shrug. “I’ve heard stories, but I cannot say I remember them entirely.”

Aven stares into the glass and starts softly. “A long time ago, before even the tales of the stars began, there lived a young boy who went by the name Ignis. Like his name, he was feisty, full of spirit and radiant. Every woman desired him, but he only desired one- the sea.” he turns to me. “Does this ring a bell?”

“Hmm…sort of? Is it the one where Goddess Warena kidnaps him and makes him her lover?”

Aven scoffs. “Prisoner would be a more befitting term, trust me.” he leans back. “I won’t tell the rest of the story since you seem to know it. You see, in the end, she cursed him. She cursed him in the hope of earning back his love, but it backfired, for she earned nothing except for his grief. Warena never intended to hurt him, but she did, and the result? Ignis grieved for what all he lost. Warena, who loved him, grieved for him. And she grieved and grieved and grieved near the sea, waiting for him to come back until she bled, and the dried tears became stones that got carried away to the bottom of the sea where Ignis was. Somehow, Ignis was left unscathed; however, those who came after Ignis, the ones who he cursed and came in contact with the tears, all felt intense pain, and some even burned until reduced to foam.”

“Why haven’t you turned into a foam yet?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“Answer me first.”

“I don’t know?” Then, smirking with all the energy he has restored, he says, “ Probably because I am a half-human?”

I hesitate before looking down at myself. “...And me? What about me?”

Aven frowns. “I don’t know.”

I roll my eyes. “What is it that you know?”

Aven stares at me for a good few seconds before breaking into a radiant smile. He leans towards me and taps my chin with his index finger, which he grabs down to my collar bone. “That I am about to steal a kiss from you and you’ll give me it willingly?”

I push away the man for good measure and take my leave. 

“Hey, what about my water remedies?!”

“Go ahead- use your half-human legs and walk to the tub yourself.”

“Come on sweetheart, that was a joke!”

I slam the door shut behind me. 

The morning after arose peacefully like the smooth flow of a curtain. I am putting on my shoes, which still look brand new despite being over two years old. The black and blue crisscross pattern above the smooth cloth has dust clinging to it, something that escaped my eyes. I lift it and try blowing on it in the hope of success, but it is an utter failure. I look around for the shoe brush when my eyes rest on Aven, sitting on the bench before the windows of my room. He is watching me carefully and patiently, expecting something from me.

As if noticing that I won’t be giving him an answer anytime soon, he stands up from his seat and walks over to me. His presence towers mine like a soft barricade of overflowing coolness in this summer heat. I gulped at his intense gaze. 

“Where are you going?”

My eyebrows shoot up in response. “Why should I bother telling you?”

He frowns slightly. “Tell me.”

“No-”

“I will use my power on you.”

I gasp and turn to him. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Then tell me.”

I contemplate my answers, skimming over the blank paper of lies that I had decided only to tell him the truth. I run a hand through my hair and squint my eyes at him. The sunrise from the opposite direction casts a delicate shine through the white and golden clouds. It appears behind Aven, and I am baffled by the man’s beauty for the nth time. 

“I’m going to Victor’s. I need to talk to him and Bastian.”

He crosses his arms across his chest. “Don’t they usually come here?”

I stay silent. Then I speak. “What is it to you? They are my friends, and I can choose to visit them anytime I want.”

He scoffs and weaves his slender fingers onto his golden locks. They flutter in the morning wind, and the sight would be otherworldly if it weren’t for Aven’s hostile air. It is charming in its way as it is dangerous. 

I feel a tremble in my chest. The crashing of the waves rumbles in the distance. I do not back away from this staring contest that I have with Aven and stand on my ground. I’ve been too lenient on this siren.

“Aven-”

“Take me with you,” he cuts me off. It is then that I see it- there is a hint of something that I cannot decipher lingering in his eyes. An emotion familiar but one that I could not grasp. I gulp and unintentionally look away.  Aven’s stare is intense as it bores holes into my face, and I have to hold myself back from putting my hands over my cheeks to not show the slow burning of my cheeks.  Instead, I cough and walk away from him. 

“I don’t have a reason to take you with me.” Aven’s eyes flash with anger, but I do not see it, as I am at a distance. “You know what, just put on your shoes and come with me-”

A sudden surge of pain bursts inside my chest, under my rib cage, squeezing my heart, oozing out all the blood. I fall on my knees on the soil and gasp in pain. It hurts.

It hurts so much!

“It seems as though you have forgotten your place. I am the one who decides for you, got it?” he speaks as he inches close to me. Hands in the pocket of the jeans that once belonged to my brother, he crouches down before me and lifts my chin using his fingers. “I need an answer, Clara.”

Gasping through the pain, I glare at him in resentment. Aven stares back, unfazed by my emotions. There’s nothing in his eyes except for pure darkness. 

“Fuck you,” I say through gritted teeth.

Aven’s eyes flicker. His fingers on my chin tremble. He quickly removes them from my chin and goes back to being indifferent. His hands tremble by his side as if they are unsure- unsure of what, I may not know- they at last rest on my shoulder, which I slap away harshly. 

I try to stand on my feet, my chest still throbbing in pain. “You do whatever you want. Until we are free of this mess, do not talk to me.”

“Clara, I-”

“Don’t.”

Aven swallows what he intends to say and quietly follows behind me as I trudge across the path that leads me out from the prison of my home. 

It is Bastian who catches onto the shift between our dynamics almost immediately. He throws a glance at Victor, who is busy preparing drinks for us- orange juice, presumably. Bastian approaches me, grabs me by my hand and takes me to a corner of the room, away from the siren, to speak. “What’s wrong with you two?”

“Nothing. Why do you ask?”

Bastian stares at me disapprovingly. “I have known you for years, Clara. I know when things go down the hill for you. Tell me, what is it that makes you so tense around him?” he throws a glance at Aven. “Should I punch him to senses or something?”

I sneer and glance away. “Oh.” he starts. “It would not end in a punch, would it?”

He sighs when I show no effort of giving him a response and instead turns to Aven and mumbles. “Whatever you did, you got no hopes now. Good for her.”

It earned him a very nasty glare from Aven. Bastian doesn’t even bother giving him any attention. He simply disregards a sight that he considers amusing, as seen from the slight upturn of his eyebrow. 

Victor steps in a minute later, carrying two glasses of orange juice in his hands. He hands over one to me while taking a sip from the other. Unknowingly, I take a glance at the siren to see him stare at the duo with his mouth slightly hung open. Bastian stifles his laugh while Victor pays no attention to him.

“I came here for your help.”

Bastian raises a brow at that. “You are always welcome to ask us for help, Clara.”

My eyes soften, and my body relaxes at that. “I know.”

He takes a relaxed posture in the chair and gestures at me. “So what is it?”

I take a long breath before starting. I am hesitant in my moves, but I need to know more about it before I reach any conclusion. Gently, as if to not bring it any harm, I remove the worn-out chain from my wrist. Bastian, Victor and Aven, who don’t know the significance of this item, stare at me in surprise. 

I cradle it in my palm and extend it towards Bastian. “Can you find me what exactly this stone is?”

“Clara,” Bastian starts while taking the chain off my wrist. It’s as if a part of my being is erased all of a sudden. I feel oddly empty, and my wrist feels heavy. I blink in an attempt to hide my tears. If Aven notices my feelings going into disarray, he doesn’t mention it. “Is it just an ordinary stone that Cameron picked up randomly?”

“It should be. But I have a feeling that it is not.”

Bastian and Victor exchange a glance. Suddenly, I am unsure about my visit to them. I do not want them to feel like I’ve gone insane on top of my pre-existing worries. “It's okay if you-”

“Please.” 

We all freeze in our place. It is Aven who speaks, without looking up from his lap. 

“I requested it.” he gulps and then continues in a softer tone. “Stones, regardless of memories they hold or their high-end values, are just items that can be tossed. This, on the other hand, is more precious than you can imagine. I beg you, please look into it.”