"I am actually considering writing a book." Kris mused, tapping her chin and giving me a sideways glance. After that incident inside the cafe, we both decided to head back to my gallery.

The main reason I had to come back here was because I wanted to suppress the already illuminated humiliation I had to go through.

"Wow!" I clapped my hands in excitement. "That's really awesome. What's it going to be about?" I asked her with my eyes widened, wanting to know further. I could take anything to forget all about my embarrassment.

"The embarrassing events of Aria Clarke," she said, scrunching her nose. I gasped and scowled at her playfully.

"And here I thought that you were actually going to write a book," I muttered, crossing my arms across my chest and huffed out loud.

"Just kidding, Ari baby," Kris assured me, draping an arm over my shoulder. "Stop sulking."

"I can't. I actually humiliated myself in front of Atlas," I said with a heavy sigh and continued. "He's not just a crush, y'know. I actually like him and now everything just… urgh, went down the drain."

Kris patted my shoulder and passed me a stimulating smile. "Don't feel low about something so trivial, Aria and don't push yourself either to make him like you. Be what you are and just go with the flow."

"Easier said than done, Kris," I mumbled, looking at her.

She shrugged and spoke, "Maybe. But, I think we only meet people who play an important role in our life. And I mean not everyone we see and walk past by but the ones with whom we have a good hearty talk. They come into our lives because they're meant to do something. And Atlas has entered your life even before you'd met him so there is something planned out for the both of you. There has to be," she said it with so much conviction that I couldn't help but believe it somewhat.

"You should really stop giving me those false hopes, you know." I laughed at her 

She just shrugged, giving me a small smile and replied. "Or maybe I can turn into a badass philosopher. Who knows, right?" We laughed and it was silent between us for a few minutes.

That's when I remembered something and glanced at Kris to find her staring into space. She seemed to be in her deep thoughts. I didn't want to disturb her but I was too excited to not say it.

"Kris." I nudged her arm and she seemed startled for a second.

"What?"

"I actually forgot to tell you something." She nodded for me to continue. "Today, I actually saw the face of the guy who sneaks into my dreams."

She whipped her head in my direction with such a speed that I actually felt a bit sad for her neck. "Are you serious?"

I've been having these dreams for a year and it all made sense now. There's this guy who always appears in my dreams but once I wake up, I'm unable to remember his face. After waking up, all I could remember is that he's got those beautiful blue eyes. So imagine my surprise when I woke up today, his face was imprinted on my mind, that too with no difficulty. No strain on my brain.

"I am. It was Atlas," I replied and her face morphed into one of those mouth splitting grins. "Yeah, I know. Exactly my reaction."

--

I decided to cycle around the town for a bit, thinking it might be best if I took some break from the gallery. The first place that popped into my head was Paradise. I parked my bike against a huge tree in the woods and walked through the dense forest to reach my destination.

The afternoon sun was glistening through the tiny gaps from the leaves of the humongous trees. I had to close my gallery early because I didn't feel like working today.

When the scenic beauty came into my view, I sighed in content. I took a seat and leaned against the trunk of my favorite tree in front of the lake.

Clutching the straps of my bag, I sprawled my legs lazily onto the muddy ground and stretched them. I leaned my head against the tree and closed my eyes with a smile, taking in the tranquillity of the place.

And just when I thought that I'd gotten my much needed peace, I heard the crunching sounds of the branches behind me. I sat upright and my entire body was on high alert.

Quickly getting up, I turned around and clutched my hands into tight fists in a defensive position. A few seconds later, I saw a tall, built figure appear from behind the trees.

My eyes popped out of their sockets when I saw who he was. 'What is he doing here?' I thought to myself. I looked at Atlas with furrowed eyebrows and confusion. He looked immaculately handsome like usual. He was wearing a black t-shirt paired with whitewash jeans. That's when I remembered that he knows this place as well.

"Are you really going to stand in that stance, the whole day?" He asked me with amusement clear in his voice.

"You are not wearing your shades," I blurted out without even thinking. To be honest, this question has been bugging me ever since I saw him without them the other night.

"No," he replied, shrugging. "Actually I had nasty sore eyes," he told me, answering my unasked question.

"Oh, shit. Are you okay now?" I asked him and retracted my hands back. I gave him a sheepish smile. He nodded his head, reciprocating the smile. I turned around in a haste to sit on my usual spot. He joined me too, taking a place right beside me.

It was way better to have him in my thoughts than to meet him in real life. I felt really awkward to face him because of the talks we'd had when I didn't know he was Jeff. My heart was beating so quickly that for a second I thought it might just pop out of my chest any moment now.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me after a while. He was staring at me intently as if trying to decipher something. But I think it was just my imagination.

I cleared my throat so that I didn't make a fool out of myself like I did earlier today in the morning. "Just... hanging out." I chuckled nervously and waved my hands around the area while nodding my head in the process. "You?"

"Same," he said, shrugging again and going back to staring ahead. 'God this is so awkward.' In my mind, I'd always planned out the ways of how and what I'd talk with my love if he ever exists in reality but when he does, all I could think about was how to end this awkwardness.

I craned my neck to look at him more clearly but my conscience couldn't believe if he was even for real or whether I was just hallucinating. I bit my lower lip and fought the inner dilemma of whether I should touch him or not so that I could finally reach the conclusions of his actual existence.

'What if he truly is just my hallucination? What if he is made up of gas and if I touch him, all that I can feel around me is air?'

I didn't know that I had already extended my arm to touch him. I was just inches away from ending my dilemma to know that I was not dreaming when Atlas took that exact same moment to look at me with a perplexed expression.

My eyes widened and I retrieved my hand back, totally mortified by my thoughtless actions. I averted my eyes to look at everywhere but him. Leave it on me to put myself in such unthinkable situations.

"You're not being your snarky self today?" Atlas questioned with an imperceptible smirk.

"Just not in the mood," I lied because I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. If I did then he wouldn't even dare to look me in the eyes, let alone talk to me.

"Sure." He smiled slyly as if he knew something that I didn't. 'What if he is thinking about the portrait I've sketched of him?'

The portrait of Atlas brought another thought in my mind. The thought of Jenna. I wondered if he knew her. My brain was working at a really fast pace and I ended up making a mistake.

"Do you know Jenna?" I queried yet again without thinking and I guess it was the worst mistake I'd ever made. 

His face contorted into a painful one and it seemed like he was trying to control himself. His eyes were expressing all the pain just like the other day I'd witnessed under the streetlight. I even saw his hands clench and unclench as if trying to release the tension collecting there.

I gulped nervously and slapped myself internally. I knew it was stupid to ask him if he knows Jenna but I just wanted to feed my curiosity with an answer. That night when I saw him, all I could think about was, 'Does he know Jenna or does Jenna know him or do they both know each other?'

Jenna is the author of my favorite book and is the only reason I am in love with Jeff Styles aka Atlas. The chances were really slim as to whether they'd be knowing each other but I took my chances. It couldn't be impossible for me to sketch someone whom the author was describing but if he does exist then I might as well ask him.

From the looks of it, I could tell that he knows her. "I am sorry if my question made you uncomfortable. I just thought I-" he cut me off in mid-sentence by showing me his hand to stop me. 'What is the use of amending my mistake when it has caused a disastrous havoc?'

"Yes, I know her," he replied curtly and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. I actually heard a crack in his voice when he said 'her'. His playful expression was all gone. I ruined his jubilant mood and I was sure that he might be cursing me in his head by now.

"How?" I asked him cautiously as if talking to a wounded animal. I don't know why I even asked him that when he was clearly aggravated to talk about it.

He turned to look at me with an indifferent countenance. He was concealing his emotions and he was very good at it. I've always seen Atlas as a playful guy but right now seeing him all riled up was really intimidating.

"None of your business," he gritted through clenched teeth. He stood up and walked off, leaving me alone with my thoughts and maybe even hurt.

My eyes widened and my heart constricted hearing those words. Tears were threatening to spill down my cheeks but I refrained them. It was really hard to keep up a strong facade and the lump that formed in my throat was arduous to clear too.

We weren't even dating and yet it felt like my heart was breaking already, knowing he was not even a tad bit interested in me. Every thought of mine was centered around how he reacted to my question but not once did I think what actually made him react this way.

"Of course it's not," I whispered but he was long gone.