EMMA’s POV :
"Well, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.But, what a great surprise,"he chuckled lightly, pausing for a beat before saying, "How did you know I was here?"
"I don’t.I just happen to walk by,"I replied.
"Wow, fate must have a great sense of humor,"he smirked.
I hadn’t seen him in two years and I forgot how much his smile or his eyes had an effect on me.
Quickly, I averted my gaze.
I didn’t want him to know how much of an impact his presence had on me.
"What is all this anyway?"
I blurted, trying to sound as nonchalant as I could.
"It's an art exhibition, of course.My art exhibition,"
he said matter-of-factly.
"Yours? Wait, but how? I mean, what?" I was stammering like an idiot.
He stifled a laugh and said, "It seems like you have a lot of questions.You're lucky I'm on my break, I'll be glad to answer all of them,"
He took a step closer to me and I stepped back involuntarily.
My eyes darted around the room and I noticed that the exhibition visiting hours had ended.
The door was closed shut and it was just the two of us in that room.
Suddenly I felt a shiver up and down my spine.
"I don't understand,"I said to him.
"Why are you exhibiting your work here? You're not working in that gallery with Ally anymore?"
"No.As it turns out, we don't have the same vision for the gallery,"he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
That gallery meant the world to him, he poured out his time, heart, and soul into that gallery.
But here he was, making it look as if it was nothing.
"Why? I thought you two are..."
"Are what?"
"Together,"I said bitterly.
"No, we're not,"he shook his head.
"But, that night? You two were — "
"That night was a mistake,"he said firmly.
"I was ridiculously intoxicated and I was totally blacking out, I would've made out with a dude if he was in front of me,"he laughed.
"So, you weren't in love with her?"I had to repeat that again to make it clear.
"Fuck no,"he scoffed.
"We've been through this already.She was only a friend to me,"
He was shrugging and grinning, but I wasn’t amused.
That night was the night that scarred me for life.
I didn't understand, I thought he was being difficult with me because he wanted an out from our relationship to be with Ally.But if that wasn’t it...
"So, why did you break up with me then?"I asked.
"Because I thought you were cheating on me with someone else.But man, was I wrong about that too,"he rolled his eyes.
"Huh?"
"I saw you and your friend Tristan around your campus.I came because I wanted to apologize for the whole Paris program thing.But then I saw you two and you looked like you were kissing each other, so..."
' "Oh, that was..."
"Fake, I know," he cut me off, nodding his head and he said, "Your friend told me about it when I came looking for you,"
"So you knew I never cheated, why didn’t you try to get me back?"
"I was too late.You were already gone.And I've messed up so much already.I kissed another girl, drunk or not, that was an ass move.You clearly don't deserve that,"
It was starting to make sense now, all of it.
on the quad when Tristan and I were pretending to
that looked like lan, but I thought it
was really him and he thought I was
Ally, and everything got all
but I'm sorry.I was such a shit fiancée,"he said, and I knew
warm.Warm enough to
"That's alright,"I smiled.
either.I should’ve been honest with you about the Paris thing since day one.I didn’t
and grinned a lot, but this smile was different from all of
smile that
caught in
I
could do was lamely stare at
said after
I was just talking a walk around the
"A job interview?"
New
"Wow, that’s great,"
said they'll contact me within
you're in,"he said
do you know?"I narrowed my eyes
just tell you they'll
said they'll contact you within a week
a lot of
made me smile
was really hoping I'd
all the more certain for me."I suppose, congratulations are in order?"
"Thank you,"
my lip to stop
gaze was penetrating so deep into my soul,
away again, looking
you? How have you been?"he said with his head
and I might have just got hired for a job in the New Yorker,"
be as casual as possible, if you didn't know
bad for yourself," lan opened his arms out wide and said, "I’m elated.This is probably the highlight of
a
my works with my muse
caught
up at his face, asking him, "What
a look around.Who do you
all the art pieces all
over the paintings and the
was the inspiration behind all
it was very
appear casual, so I just kept walking around the room, taking a closer look at each and every one
one? I don’t
pointed to the big installation in
were hundreds of glass bottles hanging from the ceiling and some
piece was titled ‘277
all the bottles it took for me to finally hear
"What...?"I gaped.
was a rough year
"It was?"
to myself, but I had
shrugged like it
I felt a pang
I thought he'd moved on so
thought he was
know about all
"What's this one?"
quickly, pointing at another
eyes were starting to blur and I
the airport.I went looking for you the
instinctively, forgetting about
"Yeah,"he said simply.
I
ruin Paris for you.Or to force you to turn around
waited for
was in the hospital.I was unconscious for days.I had severe dehydration, it was
to the
my face and I hated
didn’t wanna stand in front of him and
I pointed to
a confession to
"What?"
took of you, and one day I saw...some French guy posted a picture of a homemade meal and
Anyway, I got jealous.
never made me
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