‘So, what do you think?’ asked Acalea

‘It looks… weird’

‘Nah, it’s fine! This is basically my home, and my place of business’

‘“Your place of business”?’

‘Yes! I help people with relationship problems around your world, you’re not alone’

‘OK, that’s…’ Angelica started to stare at her ‘Why are you doing this, anyway?’ Acalea just shrugged.

‘It’s my duty, Angie’

‘What? You don’t money for this, do you?’

‘No. Money is worthless. It’s just a little tool used to control your species. I just want to make people’s lives better, honest’ Angelica just glared at her ‘Ugh, may I tell you something I hate about your world?’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s how… materialistic, everyone is. How is it so hard for some people to understand that I’m willing to do things just for my own happiness? And I’ll tell you this: so many people  I talk to there only care about money! It’s ridiculous! Everyone wants to be rich and famous, like there isn’t anything more to life than that!’

‘I know, Acalea. I’m not really like that’ she then sighed ‘As long as I can provide for myself, buy a house, have enough to raise a family, I’ll be fine’

‘To be honest with you, most people say that’ Acalea lead Angelica over to a room with a huge bath that was large enough to tit eight people ‘Do you fancy having a bath?’

‘Oh, really?!’

‘Yes, really! I’ll leave you be, too! And don’t worry, when you get back home, it’ll be the same time as you came here’ Angelica hurried herself over to the bath and spent an hour inside of it. She came back to Acalea with a big smile. 

‘My goodness, I thought you were never going to come out!’ she remarked.

‘That was probably the best bath I’ve ever had’ said Angelica ‘If I get to own a house, I’ll get a nice big bath with it’ Acalea looked confused

‘That home isn’t yours?’

‘No, I rent it from a landlord?’

‘A land lord?’

‘Ummm, that’s just the guy who owns my flat’

‘Right… that’s an odd name. It sounds like they like feeling important about themselves’ Angelica chuckled

‘They really do!’

‘I see’ Angelica started to walk back to the portal she came from ‘Will you be OK for now?’

‘I don’t know, I’m just stumped about how to meet new people’ Acalea just smiled.

‘Don’t worry about that! Just be yourself and learn to recognise true love. When you do, that someone will appear right before your eyes’ Angelica just looked at her, presented a face devoid of emotion.

‘You know, I keep seeing my friends getting engaged, getting married, having kids. I feel like my life is so… empty compared to theirs’ Acalea put her hand on her shoulder.

‘Angie, listen to me. When you see people like that you think that their lives are better than yours and that everything’s just sunshine and rainbows. I can tell you right now, as a goddess who sees these people every day, it’s never the case. They only want to show you their happy side of life, they don’t want you to know that they have their own problems. Problems worse than yours. They can be in unhappy, even abusive relationships. And as for them being pregnant and having children, well some of them are in for a nasty little surprise! They might also find out the hard way their spouse is not who they thought they were!’ a smile had somewhat returned to Angelica’s face.

‘I see. I supposed I should be patient, then’

‘Indeed. Always take the long and hard road, Angie. You’ll be glad you did. Too many people take shortcuts in their lives only to never get where they want to be’ Angelica look at her, looking confused.

‘What do you mean?’ Acalea took a while to answer.

‘Angie’ she began ‘As a human being, you are programmed to obtain instant gratification when you do something, is that right?’ Angelica scratched her head ‘Like if you decided to drink a bottle of alcohol, you’ll be happy in the moment that you drunk it, wouldn’t you?’

‘Yeah, sort of’ Acelea was smiling.

‘Well, what happens after that?!;

‘I get a hangover from hell!’ Acalea was clapping.

‘See? You do know what I mean! Always think of what’s best for you in the long term, that’s what I’m saying!’

‘Yeah, I see!’ Angelica walked back over to the portal, very close to entering it’

‘We’ll meet again soon, OK?’

‘OK, thank you, Acalea’

‘It’s my pleasure! Have a good sleep!’

‘You too- wait, do you sleep?’

‘Sometimes. I can become more human if I want to’ Angelica had entered the portal, going back to her home. The clock was at half past five, right before it was before she entered Acalea’s realm.