The audition was getting closer and closer, the theatre club auditionees were crazy busy rehearsing, and the others began discussing the set since Oddey was in charge, so she instructed the members on her ideas.

Gage watched her be a leader and just admired how Oddey was encouraging and motivating students who were assisting her without being bossy to them. As for himself, Courtney, and the other students who were trying out for their chosen roles while Madame Vestia wanted to see their progress again for the last time.

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse the name. Or if thou wilt not be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." Courtney maintained her fine acting skills for Juliet, so once the professor turned to Gage,

"Wonderful." Madame Vestia turned to Gage. "Now you, let's see what you got for me."

The art student subtly watched Gage from where she was standing. "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious," he recited and remembered Oddey's advice that he had to feel the character's emotion as he spoke his line and not just become it.

Once he finished, Gage looked at Madame Vestia to see her expression. It was blank, though her mouth curled, and just nodded her head, "Excellent progress," she told him. "I can see you practice."

Gage was taken aback by her feedback, and Courtney seemed impressed too, "Really? Thanks," he said to her.

"Keep it up." Madame Vestia went on to the other student. "And you have a good chance of getting the part."

"I must say, she is right. You really have improved since the last time we rehearsed together," Courtney expressed.

"Thanks," Gage said to her for the first time. He was satisfied that she wasn't giving him an earful about his acting. "Oddey helped me out and gave me cool tips too, and I went from there."

Of course, Courtney didn't like it when the guy he liked mentioned the other girl's name, Oddey's to be exact, and then glanced over to her, "Oh! she's to thank," she mumbled and turned to Gage again with a fake smile. "I'll thank her when... if you get the part, then."

Gage strangely looked at her, "Okay..." he snickered. After that, his eyes towards the kind-hearted art student as she happily talked to her fellow set designers.

Courtney looked to where he was looking at that, which made her blood boil at how he leered at Oddey. "Uhm... Let's keep practicing."

"Oh, yeah... sure."

----

The day ended, and Gage met with Oddey in the campus garden while she was working on her assignment for a class, "Hey." He appeared in front of her.

"Hey," Oddey said to him.

"Is it okay if I sit with you?"

"Sure... you can sit here... with me."

"Thanks." Gage sat across from her and took out his laptop so he could do his assignment. "Good news, Madame Vestia said I have gotten better."

Oddey felt elated that her eyes lit up. "She said that? that's awesome. I knew you could do it."

"All because of you, so thank you. I owe you one."

The art student blushed, "it's nothing," she stammered. "Or maybe you didn't realize that you have a hidden talent."

"If there is, I'm not interested in acting anyway. I'm just gonna do this one-time thing, and it's over. Just like that," he claimed.

"Come on, it's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you can act, so how come you don't sign up for theatre class?"

"Because I like being an illustrator even more," Oddey answered.

"Well, anyway, if... I got the part, I want to ask you if you can, you know...?" Gage became nervous, and the girl before him waited for him to finish. "Help me practice along the way?"

Oddey was surprised and got flustered. "Yeah, but wouldn't Courtney mind?"

Although Courtney was his partner in this, Gage couldn't say that he didn't want to practice with her. "No, not at all," he said, though it was true. He just couldn't say that he didn't like the nagging and the berating that followed. "She knew that you were the one that helped me."

"Well, I do owe you for helping me with the set." Oddey contemplated for a second. "Hmm... Okay."

"Yes!" he grinned. "Nice doing business with you."

"Same to you."

Gage started doing his homework while Oddey continued hers, but she had a hard time hiding her happiness that he was so close to her. "By the way, I saw your recent Instagram stories," Gage began talking to Oddey. "Awesome drawings of those Japanese shops."

"Really? Do you think so?" Oddey agaped that he noticed and praised her artwork on social media. "Thanks."

"Are those original designs or...?"

"No, they are a real local shop, but the design isn't originally like that, I just DIY from there."

"Cool and the style it's like... what do you call those...?" Gage was snapping his finger, trying to recall something. "Ghibli."

"That's right, I'm a sort of a Ghibli fan."

"Yeah, I like Ghibli too. Which one is your favorite?"

"I wanna say everything, but the ones that I always love to rewatch are The Cats Return, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro, but my ultimate favorite is The Wind Rises."

"Wow! Same." Gage put up a hand for a high-five, so Oddey gave it to him. "That and Howl's Moving Castle and Arriety."

"Oh, yeah, those are great too."

"Originally, I wanted to make planes because of you know, Wind Rises, but when I got older, I'll stick to buildings instead."

"Can't argue with that," Oddey giggled.

About half an hour later, the architect major completed one assignment. "Alright, math homework is done," he muttered, then he took out his laptop from his bag and clicked on software with his 3-D design of an unfinished design of building.

Oddey happened to take a glimpse of it. "Wow, that looks so cool."

"Thanks."

"It's like constructivism and a bit Avant-Garde in a way."

Gage darted his head to the art student as he was taken aback by her observation of his work. "Exactly. I didn't know art major knows about constructivism."

The girl giggled. "Maybe not. My da... mom is a personal assistant to an architect."

"Really? What's the name of the archive..."

"Oh, wow." Oddey was amazed at the software that she got closer. Look at it. "Look at that rendering detail. And that tiny grid by the window. You are so meticulous."

"That's what I get for wanting to design buildings," he chuckled.

"That's true, so ahem... what makes you want to be an architect?"

"My dad works in Ebony Estate. VP actually," Gage revealed, Oddey flinched when he mentioned that company name and the fact that he began talking about his father. "It's a real estate business. When I was little, he would bring me to work, and I would see these pictures of their works until I found out in school what architecture is. That's my dream, to be their in-house architect."

"Is your dad an architect or...?"

"Not really, but he was the company's engineer."

"Yeah, you told me that before," Oddey recalled.

"I hope I get an internship in a good firm when they see my diorama," Gage said.

"You will."

"I don't want the employees to think that I get the job because my father is the VP."

"Meh, it's not your fault that he is."

"Right. The thing is, I want to work there because of him." The aspiring architect unraveled since he felt inspired, while Oddey just sat there listening to him babbling on about his father. "Not a lot of kids would say they want to work with their parents, but I do."

"I get that," she responded.

"His colleagues told me that he's the company's hero."

Oddey became stumped. "Ahem... really?" she uttered, trying to sound interested.

"Yeah. About a year before I was born, he caught the company's top architect embezzling money, so my dad reported him right away and put him in jail."

"That's... terrible of him," she stammered. Oddey could not express how painful it was to hear that the guy she liked talked about her father like that but at the same time, he didn't know the truth so the poor girl had no reason to not like him. However, hearing how Gage believed all those lies about her father killed her inside.

"Well, thanks to my dad, he's in jail," Gage added.

"He sounds... amazing."

"He is." The proud guy had this look of admiration. "So what about you?"

"Hmm?" She flinched. "Sorry?"

"Sorry, what I mean is, where's your dad?" he questioned her. Oddey nearly choked up now that he wondered about her father. "Was he there when he got out from the elevator? Maybe I didn't notice."

"Uhmm... no, he wasn't," Oddey stammered as she lied through her teeth and cracked her knuckles underneath the table. "Just my mom."

"Oh, so it's always been the two of you? where's your dad?" he quipped and noticed that she looked down, and the vibe became different. "Oddey? Erhm... sorry, is it kinda private?"

"No, no, it's not like that," she rambled. Oddey stopped and looked at his concerned face. This was a chance for Oddey to tell him the truth when he stared at her with his sincere eyes. "It's just that..."

"What?"

"There's something you should know about me," she gulped.

"Okay..." Gage had this strange look on her face from her demeanor.

"I'm..." she stuttered reluctantly as her crush waited for her to finish. "I'm actually adopted."

The guy seemed surprised that his eyes widened, "Oh..." he responded.

"I did have a dad, but he died when I was five," Oddey revealed to him.

Gage sympathized with her. "I'm so sorry, how...?"

"Earthquake. It's a blur, but all I remember was he carried me, and we both hid inside the closet. He kept the door shut while I clung to him because I was so scared. The next thing, I knew he... must've let go of his hand, and everything just fell on us."

Gage felt bad for her. "Oh Gosh, that's... that's terrible. I'm so sorry."

"Most days I miss him, and I wish he was here seeing me going to college, but I am thankful that fate brought me to the coolest da... mom, who loves me and took care of me, she taught me to draw too."

"No wonder you're taking fine arts, and it's great... that you're doing fine now from all that."

"Yup."

"So what are your plans when you graduate?" Gage asked her just to make her not feel sad about missing her father.

"I want to be an art teacher," Oddey answered with glee in her tone.

"Really?" he became impressed. "Like in an elementary school or a high school?"

"More like my own art school, I will teach young kids first in a school to save up and get experience too, and then I'll open up my own art school."

"For little kids?"

"Someday, I'll teach adults too. I'm also thinking about being an artist as a career and having my works in a museum," she added, while Gage was in awe just listening to her talking about her goals. "Or maybe a mural artist, I mean, who wouldn't want to have their paintings on a huge wall, right?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Don't worry, once I become an architect, I'll design a mural-friendly and calamity-proof art school."

Oddey contained her euphoria. "I... look forward to that," she told him.