Rhea got into the park and sat on a bench. Maybe her sister was just exaggerating. The park looked in good condition, in fact, better than most parks she had seen. The benches were clean, the grass looked fresh and green and there were purple laburnum trees overhead. She sat under the shade with the laburnum hanging flowers over the bench. She was dressed in a white frill top, blue high waisted jeans and a cream coloured mini shoulder bag. She wore two daisy-shaped earrings and a white stone ring. White daisies flocked around her, and she looked at the metal gate, waiting for Ember. She held her glass paintbrush and two sketchbooks in her arms.

Suddenly, she saw him walk into the gate in light blue, torn jeans and a white sweatshirt. She got up and waved at him. He smiled and waved at her. He soon reached her, she could smell the strong scent of sweet Autumn Clematis. She looked down at his white sneakers.

"Hello, young lady," He smiled.
"Hello," She giggled and looked at him. His blue eyes were staring into hers. She looked down again. Why was it so hard to look at him now, she wondered.
"You got your sketchbook too?" He asked.
"Oh yes!" She held it tighter, "I was wondering if... We could paint together,"

"Oh?" He laughed, "Sure, but I'll tell you, I suck at painting,"
"It's fine. As long as both of us enjoy it," She passed him the sketchbook, "That's what matters,"
He gently took the sketchbook from her, they sat together on the bench with her white mini bag between them, holding all the art supplies they needed. They shared the same colour palette and a multitude of tube paint colours.  A plastic water bottle was resting on the bench. Rhea had just brought it from the store, her tinted lip balms mark over its tip, and half of its cold water poured into a mini porcelain bowl. Their white sneakers matched over the green grass. 

Ember held a wooden paintbrush and Rhea held her glass paintbrush. Her page was covered with a lilac shade, just like the laburnum over them. She peeped at Ember, who was busy painting with a smile. They seemed to talk without speaking. He caught her staring and chuckled. She quickly looked into her sketchbook. She felt his gaze upon her but decided to ignore it. 

But whenever he was around, 
Time went by so fast.
Whenever he was around
She caught herself smiling for no reason,
Whenever he was around
She forgot about all her problems

Whenever he was around
She felt this euphoria you experience when you're first falling in love.

It's such a wonderful thing to love.

"I'm honestly surprised though," Ember spoke as he continued painting and she looked back at her sketchbook, "What?"
He smiled and turned towards her, enclosing some distance between them, "That you still have it" He pointed at the glass paintbrush.

Rhea looked at the glass paintbrush Neel gifted her, "This paintbrush?"
"Yes, don't you remember? I bought this for your birthday,"
"...What?" Rhea's eyes widened.  She thought about Neel. How did he find that brush?
Ember kept his paintbrush into the water bowl and turned towards Rhea, "This is what I made, I wish I could draw better but well,"

It was a stick figure of a girl. With two brown dots on its face as eyes and a wide smile, two pigtails and a blue dress, with a caption that said, "Very cute,"
"...Is that me?" Rhea laughed.
"Mhmm," He smiled.
"It's so cute, what the hell," She felt like crying out of happiness. She took the sketchbook from him and looked at the painting. 

"No one has drawn me before," She looked at him.
"Aw, it's not even that good, come on,"
"No," She hugged the sketchbook and smiled at him, "I'll keep it with me forever,"
"Now, that will be embarrassing. My "15-year-old friend drew this stickman figure" People are gonna judge me," He laughed and she looked at the wrinkles around his eyes as he laughed.

But she didn't plan to show it to anyone. 
She wanted to keep this happiness to herself. She felt like showing it off would make her lose it. 

"What did you draw yet?" He peeped into her sketchbook and saw the painting of the lilac laburnum flowers and a pair of sky blue eyes looking through them.
"They look like my eyes," He touched his eyelashes, "Except that my eyelashes aren't that long, and they're definitely not black,"
"Wait, really?" She moved closer to his face. He was right, they weren't black, they were a dark shade of blonde, "Wow, I never noticed..."

He smiled, "You could've drawn my entire face, you know. I'd love myself a portrait made by you,"
"No, I'll never paint you," She looked at her sketchbook.
He looked worried, "Oh yeah, you told me. It's okay though, I respect your decision," 

She smiled at him. No boy was more attractive than a respectful one. Suddenly, it started raining. The sun was still out, but they both were drenched. 
"Come, let's go inside the mall,"
The paintings, they were ruined in the water. Rhea looked at the soaked paper that once held a stickman figure on it. She closed the sketchbook and kept it nack into her bag.

Raj stood above the laburnum tree with a hose, "How was that?" He asked and Jessica popped out from one of the bushes, "Nice, let's keep going,"
Rhea and Ember walked into the mall, "We gotta change into something else," Ember said.
"But, I don't have spare clothes with me and I'm starting to get cold now," She shivered.
Ember looked around, "Let's buy some clothes from there,"
"But I don't have money to buy clothes,"

He took out a card from his pocket, "I can pay,"
"Yeah, I'll pay you later,"
"If you want,"

They walked into the shop and one salesgirl girl stopped them, "Good afternoon, what would you like to buy?"
"Just a shirt and jeans," Ember looked at Rhea, "And something for her,"
"Sure," She grabbed Rhea's hand, "How about you try some shirts for a while, sir?"

"Sure," He picked up a blue T-Shirt.
She gave a T-shirt to Rhea, "Try this on, ma'am. You need a changing room?"
"This looks too short for me,"
"Try it on and we'll see,"
"Okay," She pushed her into the changing room and went towards Ember, "You found a shirt, sir?"

"Yeah, I'll buy these,"
"How about you try it on in the dressing room?"
"Sure, which one?"
"I'll take you to one,"
While they were walking towards the changing room, Raj pulled down the circuit breaker and everything in the shop went dark. Ember entered the changing room and removed his jeans. Suddenly, his elbow tucked on someone, "Ow, my chest! What the fuck someone else is here?"

His face lost its colour, "Wait, Rhea, is that you?!"
"Ember?!" She clicked on her phone to see his face, but he grabbed it, accidentally pushing her on the wall, "Don't, I'm only in my briefs right now,"
She looked at his face, as their eyes adjusted themselves to the dark, she could now see him clearly. His skinny and pale body, the lightly toned muscles on his arms, the moles on his chest and his stomach, the light blonde hair shining over his skin, his chest rising and falling as he breathed and the silver thread resting around his neck. 

She looked up at his face and their breaths collided against each other's lips, sweat rolled down the tips of his blonde hair behind his neck. Rhea intertwined her fingers, still looking up in his voluptuous eyes, like a wild animal staring at her through the dark. She could feel his breathing hasten up, she felt anxious, suddenly he moved away,

"I'm sorry,"

He quickly wore his pants and grabbed his T-Shirt. She awkwardly stood before him, waiting for him to speak something. The lights were back on again, he looked at her, "I'm going back home," and left the changing room. She looked down at her fingers, curled before her skirt. 
Jessica watched Ember come of the dressing room, wearing his shirt. He quickly ran down the stairs and disappeared. She patted the salesgirl beside her, "Good job, Chitra,"

Rhea looked down, what was he going to do, she wondered. Ember quickly got into the car and Chuck began driving. Ember looked out of his window while crossing his legs uncomfortably, his face was red.

-To be continued

Can't I Touch Your Heart?
Teach Me The Art of Living