Selenophilia

Fifty Nine

Elise immediately felt like she was finally home. In this stranger's embrace, she felt safe. It was weird. It was as if this was what was missing all her life. This weird warmth that spreads in her chest felt like the one she was yearning for.

"That's my child." That deep, gentle voice made Elise shudder, her eyes widening.

"I know she is." Euphoria said, her tone serious. It was scary. She was previously joyous but now she looked like she was facing death.

"And you dare take her away from me?" This stranger—no—Nova asks in this frightening tone that made everyone's mood to dampen, including Hugo's

Elise was suddenly turned around to meet the face of her creator. She thought that she would be scared, but she wasn't.

The man wasn't all she expected him to be. His eyes were so soft and gentle with concern filling up his eyes. His hair was slightly long and it was sticking all over the place.

"You're..."

"Oh, my love." Nova breathed a sigh in relief, a smile breaking through his worried expression. "My sweetest dove, you're alright."

Elise expected herself to get angry at him. She was supposed to tell him that if he loved her as his daughter, he would have let her live a peaceful life beside him, he would have let her stay beside him. He should have. He wasn't supposed to let his daughter suffer like what she did. She wasn't supposed to endure so much pain.

But she couldn't even open her mouth.

Elise's eyes watered for some reason.

Maybe it was because he looked so genuinely worried about her, maybe it was because of his soft and kind touches, maybe it was his tone of voice, that soft and buttery gentleness that made Elise's heart flutter.

Maybe it was because Elise couldn't accuse him of her pain.

"O-Oh, Eli... Shhh..." Nova immediately looked panicked. He immediately wiped the falling tears away with a sad look in his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, love."

"Why can't I blame you?" Elise bluntly asked while looking at him with tears blurring her vision. "W-Why... Why can't I loathe you?"

The pain in his eyes brought more tears in her eyes. Why was he in pain? Shouldn't she be the one in pain? Shouldn't she be looking that sad right now?

"Why can't I stop? This needs... I can't stop. I want to stop." Elise let's out a pained sob as Nova continued to wipe her tears like a father. "W-Why can't I hate you? What's— What's happening? I don't understand."

"The reason why you can't hate him was because you also liked being the uncrowned king despite the pain." Irenic, the ever so wise one in the group, answered.

Elise looks at him. "N-No... That's not true. I can't possibly like that. No. That's not true."

"You loved the disgraced children, the unwanted, and treated them like one of your own." Selene added albeit a little hesitant. "The only thing you didn't enjoy was the grief when you remember the pain of losing them, the pain of remembering their death, the sadness and lonliness you received."

"You don't hate Nova." Euphoria said with a sad smile. "You were just sad and lonely. You yearned for him sometimes, you wanted his love sometimes, like a child yearning for their parents."

Elise cried some more when she heard it.

Hugo couldn't take it anymore and so he stood up and went towards her to give Elise a comforting hug. He hushed her gently as Elise grabbed onto him.