Rhea slowly paddled her bicycle up the slope of the bridge and came down as the evening breeze struck her face, "Why are you so heavy?!" She yelled and Ember began laughing while sitting on the pillion, "Half of my body weight is my heart," He said.
"Cringe,"

He laughed and she looked at the blue sky, "Ember,"
"Hmm?"
"How's painting?"
"I'm still horrible at it," He laughed, "I'm not an artist,"

"Keep trying,"
"Yeah,"
"By the way, I joined the painting club,"
"Really?" His eyes lit up, "That's wonderful!" She couldn't look at him but his voice told her that he was smiling. And that made her smile. But sadness soon took over, 

"I don't know what to do though,"
"What do you mean?"
"My dad would be angry if he knows that I've started painting in eleventh grade. He'll be like you should study, not waste time on art. He'd call me crazy again,"
"To create art is to always be crazier," Ember said.

"Not for people like me. I mean...I'm not that good at painting that I can continue it for the rest of my life,"
"Rhea, chill! You don't have to start worrying about life already. Do you like painting right now? At this moment?"

"I guess,"
He smiled, "Then enjoy it while you do. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want,"
She smiled, "So do you!"
He smiled at her but didn't say anything.

"Rhea, stop here," He stopped in front of those ruins again, "I'll get going now," Rhea looked at him leave. Was his house nearby? He always got down near those abandoned building. 
Was Ember really poor?
But his clothes spoke otherwise. 

What if those clothes were just for show off?

She got curious. So, she got down her bicycle and followed him quietly. He walked through the algae covered roads, through the broken walls and the rusty metal works. That building was a grand project the government started about ten years back, but never finished due to some public dispute and hence those ruins just lay like that ever since.

He was a slow walker. Really slow. 
He seemed to be dreaming as he walked, looking up at the sky. She followed him quietly. He soon wore his headphones and continued walking. It was a long way from that street she had left behind. She looked back. She was far away from the main road. She looked ahead. Ember was still walking towards the fields crossing the ruins. She walked behind him through the fields, finally ending on a highway. 

It was dark already. The stars were shining in the sky and the city lights shone far away. Ember was beginning to disappear in the dark so she moved closer to him. He couldn't hear her anyways, he had his headphones plugged in. The highway was completely empty and quiet. Wasn't this man scared of anything?

The fields were empty and so was that highway. Someone could kill him there and bury his body in the field. No one would ever find out. Suddenly, Rhea saw two bright lights far away, at the edge of the highway. It seemed like a car, approaching him at an extremely high speed. He stood at the middle of the highway, looking into his phone and the car approached him at full speed.

"EMBER!" Rhea shouted as she ran towards him. But he was too engulfed into his phone. The car almost hit him but Rhea pushed him away and stood before the car. It stopped immediately. Ember fell on the other side of the road. The driver came out of the car and looked at Ember, "Are you okay, sir?" He asked Ember. He was a white man too. His hair was grey and he seemed really old.

"HEY! YOU COULD'VE KILLED HIM!" Rhea shouted.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Rhea!" Ember got up and brushed his clothes, "Hey-"
"STOP BEING SO ADDICTED TO YOUR GODDAMN PHONE! YOU COULD'VE DIED!"

Ember looked at that old man and he looked at Ember.
"What?" Rhea looked at them.
"Chuck won't kill me," Ember said.
"Yes, he would-Wait-You know him?"

"Yes, he's my driver. His name is Charles Harris, I call him Chuck," Ember smiled and his driver bowed. 
"Driver?" Rhea looked at him and then at the car. The moonlight lit up that beauty. 
"Wow...I've never seen anything like this. Is this Mercedes?"

Ember coughed and hid his laughter, "No, it's a...It's a Chiron,"
"Oh...Looks like a luxury car,"
"Luxury car? It's a super car," Ember stood before it and the logo lit up under the moonlight, 
Rhea's eyes widened, "Bugatti?!"
"Bugatti Chiron, yeah. You want a quick ride home?"

"No, I'll go by myself,"
"Come on, I'll-"
"Sir, we are getting late," Chuck said.
"We can at least drop her. It's not safe for a girl to be out this late,"
"Your father will be angry,"

"It's okay, Ember. I'll go. Take care," She smiled and ran away.
"Rhea-"
"Sir, we're getting late," Charles opened the door of the car and Ember sat inside it. Charles sat beside him, 

"Charles," Ember looked outside the car as it started pacing, going to two hundred miles per hour on the long highway.
"What is it, sir?" Charles asked as he looked ahead.
"Don't do that again while I'm talking to her," Ember said. 

"Yes, sir," Charles said as Ember looked outside the window. His blue eyes were icy and cold, "What does my father even want from me? I feel so caged," He seemed sad.
Charles just drove quietly.

Next day, Rhea walked into the class and looked at Ember sitting beside AJ and laughing. He was so different from all of them, why was he even at that shabby Crash Course center full of middle class people when he could afford a car like that? His clothes were not a show off, those Louis Vuitton shoes and Gucci shirts he wore were not a showoff. He was insanely rich.

She looked at him as she walked towards him, he had long, blonde eyelashes that were curled up. His lips more peachy that pink and he had light blonde hair on his face. 

His skin had pink undertones and his eyelids were lightly pigmented. He had a few wrinkles here and there on his face and his skin seemed papery like a butterfly's wings. The sunlight from the window fell on him and something shone from under his shirt. The teacher soon came behind her, "SIT DOWN CLASS!"

Rhea sat down beside him. That shampoo he mentioned, his smell, everything about him seemed expensive and luxurious. She moved a bit away from him as he looked into his books. He looked like a holistic masterpiece from an aesthetic point of view. She couldn't understand him...Why was he there?

"Rhea?" He looked at her as she stood beside her bicycle that evening.
"Huh?"
"You've been staring at me all day today," He said.
"Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking about things,"

"What things?"
"Why do you come here? Among us commoners,"
"Are you still thinking about yesterday night?"
"...Yes,"
"Rhea, come on now, would you discriminate against me just because of how rich and poor we are?"

Rhea looked down.
"Oh Rhea, I'm just a normal teen boy. I'm not rich, this is my father's wealth that I'm exploiting."
"I just cannot see myself in a future with you," Rhea said.
He smiled, "Chuck Klosterman said it once;" Ember pressed his hands on the handle of her bike,  "Art and love are the same thing, it's the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you,"
She looked at him, "You really have a way with words,"
"No? I just quoted someone,"

She smiled, "Yeah?" They began walking. Rhea had her bicycle beside her. She pointed at the glow on his chest, "What is that?"
"Oh, that's just a pendent," He pulled it out of his shirt. It seemed like a silver thread, "I always wear it,"

"Is it something special to you?" She asked.

"I took it from my mother,"
Rhea smiled as she touched the pendant, "It's so pretty,"
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah. Do you always wear it?"

"Yeah, I've never keep it away from me,"
"You must really love your mom," Rhea smiled.
"I don't want to talk about it," He looked away.
"Why? Does she not treat you well?"

"No," He shook his head and smiled, "She's gone,"
"Where?"
"Where stars live," He pointed up at the sky.
Rhea just looked at him and realized what he meant, "I'm sorry,"
He looked at her, his eyes seemed round and blue, 
"It's not your fault," He smiled, "Sometimes, things just have to fall apart to let us know what truly matters,"

She looked at him, "You must really miss her, right?"
"Not really. She's gone...But I know she's everywhere,"

Rhea looked into his Persian blue eyes, "I think..." Ember smiled as he looked ahead and shook his head, "Nevermind what I think,"
"Tell me,"
"Some other day,"
"Alright, whenever you're comfortable,"

It was crazy to think he was still smiling as they talked about his mother's death.
Rhea realized how much pain his smile held.

A gentle breeze flew through their hair. She stopped and turned towards him, he was already looking at her. She slowly moved her hand towards his blonde hair, gently touching his flicks. He was looking at her, "Rhea?"
She smiled, "You smile a lot. It's my favorite thing in the world, seeing you smile," 

He looked like he was about to cry. But he looked down and held her hand,

"Of course I smile a lot,
You're my happy place, after all"

-To be continued

Arorhea Laghari
Can't I Touch Your Heart?