Falling In Love With Him – Her First Love

Chapter 290 He's Not Guilty

The shift in Hera's mood made Hunter snap out of his thoughts. Throwing his head back in frustration, he ran his fingers through his hair, still annoyed that she didn't let him kiss her.

Hunter sighed in dismay.

Regardless, when he finally looked at Hera, one of his eyebrows arched up while his lips twitched into a smirk.

"Hmm," Hunter hummed and paused, nodding and pretending to ponder over her words. "Apart from you realising your mistake and apologising, what else is there to talk about?" he asked, his voice starting with sugary sweet only to end bitterly. "Feeling guilty and apologising is inevitable because you always jump to conclusions without knowing the whole context," he said accusingly, reminding her of her mistakes.

Pursing her lips in displeasure, Hera glared at him while Hunter scowled at her disapprovingly.

"Alright, Lucifer, you don't have to rub it in my face. I've learnt my lesson," Hera admitted, "And besides, it's your fault that I end up assuming things and judging wrong every time," she shot back. Hunter's eyes narrowed into slits in disagreement. He shifted to change his position and sat with his legs spread on either side of the stone bench to see Hera face to face.

"My fault?" Hunter asked, crossing his arms. Pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, he nodded while his eyebrows arched up in disbelief, touching his hairline. "Wow, how interesting, Hera Hunter! I'm intrigued. Please elaborate, would you?" he requested, feigning a polite tone.

Hera shifted, changing her position as well. She turned around and sat cross-legged to face Hunter properly.

Hera sighed, composing herself for the big talk she had been evading for a while now. She dropped her playful act, her childish attitude sobering up quickly. Her heart leapt, filling her body with nervous energy as she decided it was the right time to address Clara's issue. However, she had to beat around the bush since she couldn't muster up enough courage to voice it right away.

"Have you ever thought about why I assume things?" Hera asked but didn't wait for Hunter to reply and instantly answered herself. "I assume things because you don't tell me anything, Hunter," she pointed out, her tone bordering on an accusation. Hunter fixed her with an unimpressed stare which Hera conveniently ignored.

"I jump to conclusions without knowing the context because you keep secrets from me. Had you told me about everything that happened between Evie and Noel beforehand, I would never have judged or blamed Bianca," Hera pointed out, reasoning her impulsive behaviour regarding that matter.

Hunter scoffed and shook his head. Clearly, he disagreed with everything Hera said.

"No, Goddess, you would've still blamed Bianca somehow. You always held her responsible for every bad thing. It's more like a default setting now, as if it's mandatory to blame my friends," Hunter argued. Hera couldn't contradict it because it was true. She had always accused Bianca and deemed her guilty, not bothering to learn or dissect the truth. It was easy to judge and blame her.

As Hera was Bianca's plaything to bully and have fun at her expense, in the same way, Bianca was Hera's target to take out her jealousy and anger. Hera couldn't say out loud that she had trouble accepting Bianca's closeness with her boyfriend, resulting in the girls' mutual hatred towards each other.

"I know, Hunter. I admit my mistake. I didn't know the truth about Nathan and misjudged Bianca. If any of you were sensible or generous enough to let me in and share the truth about what happened between Bianca and Nathan, I would've understood," Hera voiced her inner thoughts, firmly trying to defend her juvenile behaviour.

After all, she was an adolescent and gave into her immature, impulsive decisions. Back then, she was childish, stubborn, and irrational and didn't know how to resist temptations or think sensibly, and so was Hunter. Regardless, Hera did forgive him for all his mistakes and gave him another chance. She believed she deserved one too.

"I took the wrong side because you kept the truth from me. Why didn't you tell me anything?" Hera demanded, her lower lip jutting out in a sad pout.

Hunter looked away for a brief moment. Hera intently watched him, gauging his body language and trying to read his expression, but he kept his face blank. Hunter brushed his tongue over his lips and stared wordlessly at her for a few seconds. Hera knew he was rearranging his thoughts to reply subtly so that his words wouldn't hurt or offend her.

However, Hera also knew how brutally blunt Hunter could be when he wanted to voice his honest opinion or reaction. His straightforward nature was one of the traits in him she admired the most. He hated sugar-coating his words.

"Goddess," Hunter finally broke the silence, and Hera sat more upright, ready to face his judgement. "I never hid anything from you, and you know I don't keep secrets from you either," Hunter stated and put his palm up to stop her when she tried to express her disagreement. "It's not that I don't tell you things. It's just that you actually don't listen," he pointed out the obvious.

Hera knew he was disappointed in her, yet his eyes held tenderness, and surprisingly he spoke in a softer tone.

"That's not true, Hunter," Hera said timidly, shrinking in her place. Though she was trying to deny his statement, she didn't sound convincing enough to her own ears. Rubbing more salt on the wound of guilt Hera was burdened with, Hunter reminded her of how she reacted during Nathan's incident.

"How many times have I told you that bastard Nathan is neither worthy of trust nor friendship? Did you ever listen when I asked you to stay away from him?" Hunter questioned and continued without waiting for her response. It was a rhetorical question anyway. Both of them already knew the answer to that question.

"You chose to side with him anyway just because he was your friend, and you believed him over mine. Whether it's Bianca, Evie, Danny, Eric, or Mike, them being my friends was enough reason for you to judge them wrong," Hunter declared, blunt and brutal as she expected. "And now you repeated the same mistake with Noel," he expressed disappointment, hurt lacing his tone.

He made her recall how she never let him speak and believed Bianca had something to do with it when he and his friends were hitting Noel for molesting Evelyn.

"I didn't tell you anything because I didn't get the chance to do so. You never let me speak and never listened when I tried," Hunter declared his judgement, accurate to the point, much to Hera's remorse. He shifted, pulling his legs up and wrapping his forearms around his knees with his finger interlocked.

Hera sighed tiredly, wordlessly admitting her fault. She scooted closer to place her hands on his forearms in a gentle touch to assure herself he was still with her.

"Then try harder next time when I don't listen, and I assure you I'll listen from now on," Hera promised. Hunter flicked his finger on her cheek in reply and let out airy laughter when Hera yelped in surprise. She pinched the tip of his nose in retaliation and giggled when he swatted her hand away.

Hera moved closer again. She removed his hands from his knees only to rest her own on them. Crossing her arms over his pulled-up legs, she let them support her chin above them. She stared at him, the purple of his eyes soothing her nerves.

After a few seconds of their silent staring contest, Hera blinked before taking a deep breath and readying herself.

"Now it's your turn to listen. So let me speak," Hera commanded.

She clicked her tongue in frustration, realising there was no use in sugar-coating her words. Hence she didn't bother finding fitting words and blurted her thoughts out loud. "Clara said you raped her after I left that day when you were fighting with Nate." Holding her breath, she stared at Hunter, studying his expressions, searching for the truth in his eyes.

Hunter scoffed, snorting a sarcastic laugh. "Of course she did," he said, his tone ridiculing what was implied by her. Though there was no surprise or anger behind his voice, it undoubtedly radiated disgust.

Hera still stared at him, waiting for his explanation while he seemed unbothered by the dirty accusation. She couldn't tear her gaze off him, for his eyes shone with so much clarity she could read him like an open book. She didn't find any shame, guilt or fear in his purple orbs. In that instant, Hera saw the truth with crystal clear transparency in his eyes, and she knew her Hunter was not guilty.

'How the hell did I even think my Hunter could ever indulge in such a disgusting act?'

Hera was ashamed that she even dared to doubt him and almost believed Clara.

Hunter frowned in worry as Hera's eyes watered. Her lips stretched wider into a contented grin, pushing her cheekbones up only to shove the tears out of her eyelids. She felt her heart flutter in absolute ecstasy, spilling warmth inside her chest. She bit her trembling lip while tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. Something between a sob and giggle tore out of her throat, sounding weird.

Meanwhile, Hera's concerned boyfriend was confused by her odd behaviour, worrying about what made her cry and why she was smiling like crazy. Frowning, Hunter brushed his fingers over her cheeks, wiping the tears away. Hera smiled fondly at him, affection flooding through her eyes.