It was about to rain. May always had unpredictable weather. Arorhea enjoyed the cool breeze while paddling towards the mall. 

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

She remembered Ember and smiled. Ember's happy place. Suddenly, someone jumped before her bicycle and she applied the breaks, skidding on the road and almost falling off. It was Ember. She looked at him, "If you want to die, do it somewhere where I'm not caught into it"

Ember pressed his hands on the bicycle handle. He looked into her eyes "If I die, will you be sad?"
Rhea snickered, "Absolutely not!"
"It's a promise then," He smiled, "By the way, remember you told me you'd do anything if I beat you in the arm wrestling match?" Ember grinned.

"Oh...That" She remembered, "...What do I have to do?"
"You're coming home with me after today's class" Ember said.
"Why?"
"I want to show off my place," He smirked.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, mister Richie Rich"
After class, Ember called Chuck right in front of the mall to pick him and Arorhea up. As the car entered the streets, everyone was stunned. It's was a luxury mechanical beauty. Meenu and AJ stared with their eyes open. Ember opened the door, "Make yourself comfortable,"

"We are gonna go in this car?" Rhea asked.
"Yeah," Ember smiled, "We gotta share a seat though,"
Rhea just looked at the sparkling car, "I can't possibly sit in this car! It's an insult to the car!" Rhea covered her mouth Ember started laughing. 

"Dude," AJ touched the car, "My eyes and hands are blessed,"
Meenu pressed her face over the glass, "I feel like I shouldn't touch it but it's so tempting!" She squealed.
"You guys are over reacting, it's just a car," Ember said, "You should see the car Loraine owns,"
"My parents are never gonna allow me to go to your house," Rhea said. 

"I'll drop you home within an hour, I promise," He said.
"But..."
"Go Rhea. You might never get to ride in such a car again," Meenu said.
"Have fun bro!" AJ said, "Or I will go!"
"We'll take care of your bicycle,"

Rhea looked at Ember and he just shrugged his shoulders. Rhea slowly walked into the car and sat on the seat. Ember sat right beside her on the same seat and closed the door. They put on their seatbelts. 

"Chuck, be as slow as you can," Ember said.
"Yes sir," And thus started the car's engine. The headlights turned on and AJ jumped, "I WANT TO RIDE IT TOO!"
Rhea held her breath and Ember looked at Chuck. He gave him a signal and out they went, overtaking all cars. 

"We are too fast!" Rhea said.
"Leave it to Chuck,"
"What if we crash!"
"We won't,"

It took a while for Rhea to be normal again. Once she did, she looked at Ember,
"Why do you ask him to bring the car near those abandoned buildings if you can easily ask him to come here?" Rhea asked.
"This car is too fast. We can't bring it at such crowded places everyday. Plus, it attracts too much attention,"

Once they were at the highway, the speed went up to three hundred km/h. 
Rhea laughed, "We're gonna die,"
"Are you okay?" Ember asked.
"Ask him to slow down, I don't want this to be my last ride! Please Ember!" Rhea hugged his hand and closed her eyes.

He looked at Chuck, 
"We're almost there, sir. Just one more minute,"
Rhea felt herself sinking into the seat due to all the pressure. The car sounded like roaring tigers, the engine, its mechanics, the dark goth music playing on the stereo. And suddenly, everything just turned quiet and all the pressure stopped. She slowly opened her eyes, Chuck sat at his seat and looked ahead. Ember opened the door, 

"Wanna get down now?" He asked and got down. She left his arms and got down. There was an empty road ahead of them, fading into darkness. They could see the red sun at the end of the road, where it turned dark. Golden street lights lit up the street only till there.
"There's nothing here" Rhea looked at the empty lands surrounding the road.

"You're looking the wrong way, turn back," Ember said. She slowly turned back and saw a gigantic glass building which had a completely different design from all the other buildings standing there. It seemed to be a business house as it had a huge logo on its side, which read "Nason!" Rhea shouted out of excitement and turned towards Ember,

"You live here?!" She never expected this huge surprise and knew she wasn't going to regret the decision of coming here with him tonight.
"Well, we own the company after all," Ember chuckled.
"...What?"
"My dad is the founder of Nason. Harnston Nason Helberg," Ember said as his blue eyes looked into hers. 

All her dreams seemed to assemble in his eyes. The company of her dreams. Her dream to be a graphics designer. Everything made sense. This is why he was so insanely rich, and why wouldn't he be? Nason ruled the animation market for ten years now. 

"I love all your comics!" Rhea exclaimed.
"Wow there! You know about it?" Now, this was a surprise to Ember.
She smiled, "I do,"
She felt like jumping and screaming, but she decided to maintain her composure. They both looked into each other's eyes and soon two butlers stood behind Ember. Ember was still looking at her, and he smiled "Shall we?"

"Oh, of course," She turned around and the butlers took Ember's bag and his jacket. He walked in his white T-shirt. Soon, people surrounding him increased. Everyone dressed up in suits and formals. She grew farther and farther away from him as people completely surrounded him, showing him certain documents, asking questions, talking to him or greeting him. 

She looked at him from a distance. He looked like some abstraction, hiding his cold gaze, he looked dead inside. His face didn't look pink, it looked white. Disturbingly white. She could see the green veins on his neck. People shaking their hands with him, their flesh coming in contact with his. He was just not there, with them, with anyone.

Did he always look so away from reality?
Like a walking illusion that could fade away any second.
So transient, yet so strong.

As the people around him slowly cleared, he walked towards Rhea but someone interrupted him.
"Sir," A man walked towards him, "Your father is calling you,"
Ember turned towards him, "I am with a guest right now,"
He looked at Rhea, "A brown girl?" He smirked as he looked down at her. 
"You shouldn't even be having guests in the first place,"
"Mister Zed!"

"That's what your father would say," Zed Wisterburg, Mr Helberg's personal assistant, said.
Ember turned towards Rhea, "Tell him I'll be there in a bit,"
"Don't make him wait," Zed went back inside the building.

Ember closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and looked at Rhea. She looked at him. He smiled, "Let's go,"
He held her hand and walked inside the building. Rhea looked around. All the glass chandeliers, the white marble on the walls and the floor, the paintings on the walls and then she remembered Ember's white face. She turned and looked at him.

He smiled, "What?"
She pressed his head with her hands, "Are you okay?"
He looked at her as his smiled vanished, "Just...A bit tired," He chuckled, "Anyways,"

They got on an elevator, "Life is just a bit wickity wackity sometimes,"
Rhea figured he didn't wanted to talk about it, "How many floors are there by the way?" She asked as Ember typed sixty four on the computer screen of the elevator.
"Ninety-six floors" Ember replied.
"Wo-...Wow..."

While Ember and Rhea were waiting for the lift to reach his room, Ember started describing the building's structure to Rhea. "We can go to any floor except the first ten floors, those are for official purposes like the place where anime series are made and where we get the copyrights and stuff. After the 10th floor, on the 11th floor, we have the theatres. You can play your personal movies but generally, they are also used for official purposes like quality checking of the anime. We have two private and two official theatres on that floor".

"How the hell do you clean this place-It would take years!" Rhea asked. 
"We have around one hundred maids in this household"
"Is that a joke?" Rhea asked. Ember giggled and continued "After that, we have different floors for different things like library, computer floor, gaming rooms, herbarium, garden"

"Garden?"

"A terrace garden. You should see it, it is beautiful. I love going there." He smiled, "Also, we have a swimming pool on the 45th floor and our dining hall is on the 88th floor. I'm telling you all this 'cause if I decided to show you every floor, it will literally take one full day and an entire night to explore the entire house"

Rhea nodded.
"My room is on the 64th floor," Ember said.
"You are given an entire floor as a room?" Rhea asked.
"Yeah, I am. Oh! Looks like we're here, let's go" Ember got off the lift.

"Follow me," He posed like a diva and did a catwalk towards the door. Rhea laughed as she looked at him "You're just missing some heels and then you're ready to go all Naomi Campbell on the floor" Rhea said. He was about to open the door when his phone started buzzing.

He looked at it, "My dad,"
"You should pick it up then," 
He hung up, "I'll come back in a while," Ember moved towards the lift, "Be right back, Rhea!"

She waited for Ember in the hallway, at the same place where he had left her. It had been around five minutes when the lift opened again. She turned towards him. Ember was now dressed up in a plain, white shirt with black jeans. He was looking at a bundle of papers which he held in his hands. As he looked at Rhea, he paused.

There was something different about him. His presence was much stronger and more intimidating. Rhea felt uncomfortable as he looked at her. His eyes were green, his stare was bold. He tilted his face and looked into her eyes, "Who are you?" His voice was cold and gravelly. He had a strong British accent. 

"Huh?" Rhea had no words.
"I think you've gotten on the wrong floor, miss," 
"Is this a prank? Where are the cameras?" Rhea asked.

He took a deep breath and stared right at her face "It's scary to think that people like you are the future of this country. That is why it is still a developing nation," He shook his head, "Bloody brown idiots,"

"That's just racist," Rhea said, calmly.
"I'm not asking for you opinions, miss. Get the hell out of here before I myself chuck you out,"
"Well, now that's not a very civilised thing to do either, bloody white idiot," She laughed.
He narrowed his eyes, "Woman," He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the lift,
"Ow! It hurts!" Rhea said and kicked his leg.
"Ow!" He turned back and glared at her. His eyes were green, 

"You're not Ember!" Rhea shouted, "You're an ass!"

"Loraine," She heard Ember's voice. He turned back and looked at the lift. Ember stood at its door, "Let her go,"
"Of course you got her here," He said.
"Yes, now leave her. She's my guest,"
Loraine left her hand. He walked past Ember, "Cheap taste," He left that bundle of papers in Ember's hands.

Ember looked at the papers and then at Rhea, she flinched.
He smiled, "I'm sorry if he scared you. He is an idiot,"
Rhea smiled back, it was okay now.

But little did she know that she only saw the petals of the rose
The thorns were yet to come.

-To be continued

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