31

The studio was empty the following afternoon as Tahti kept flipping her pencil between her fingers as she eyes her piece. One would think she wasn't satisfied with the way it had turned out but it wasn't the case. She hadn't been herself ever since the previous day and she kept doubting if she was doing the right thing by hanging out with Demir.

"Do you know any hot girls?" She heard someone ask from outside the studio and she turned to see it was Mason and Jared, one of their juniors. She'd spotted them working on their pieces earlier and she guessed they'd obviously stepped out for a break.

"Ask Demir to introduce you."

"Demir? Demir Wilson?" Mason asked and she could hear the smugness in his voice. "To be honest, I don't feel comfortable around him." He said and Tahti rolled her eyes. How long would Mason keep like a loser who went around, discussing other people's matters?

"Why? Did something happen?" Jared asked and Mason raised a hand to hair shoulder.

"Don't you feel he shows off because he's popular?"Jared looked interested as he sighed.

"When I told him to introduce me to a girl, he said something about feeling guilty towards them. It totally pissed me off."

"What? Demir really said that to you?" Jared asked and Tahti wanted to curse Mason for stooping so low as to say such about Demir.

"He's so rude, just because he's popular. A lot of us don't think of him as a real friend, but we just keep him close because he's good looking, that's all."

Deciding she had finally had enough of the bull crap, Tahti sprang to her feet to announce her presence, but stopped when Mason continued.

"His target is Tahti Lee, these days."

She clasped a hand over her mouth, not trusting herself not to make a sound as she dropped to the floor in hiding.

"They seem to be getting close, lately. That's what I heard."

Wait, even Jared, the school monk had heard about them? She wondered. How obvious had they been?

"I could totally tell. So the rumors had spread already, huh?" Mason asked, with a laugh. "Demir has nothing to lose. I guess he must be so proud of himself."

"I didn't think Tahti would be like that. She must be pretty open-minded about that kinda stuff." Jared said and she could detect the disappointment in his voice.

"Open-minded?" Mason laughed and she wanted o register a Jan into his face. "That's a nice way to put it. You really can't judge a book by its' cover." He said and she clenched her fist.

"Let's get back to work." Jared suggested and she heard footsteps disappearing.

Her hand which was on her mouth, went to rake fingers through her hair, dislodging them from her hair band. Demir's target was her?Do that mean he had been using her the whole while? Did he not for once feel the same way she did?

"What are you doing?"

Her head whipped to see Prof. Lee walking into the studio and she hurriedly straightened to clear her throat.

"I was looking for something."

The professor turned to look at her piece with a frown, settled on her face. "Is this for the exhibition?"

"Yes. I'm thinking of handing this one in."

The professor returned her eyes to her piece and Tahti wondered if she'd seen an error.

"Is something bothering you? It's in bad shape."

The professor had just delivered her a right hook, she noted. Bad shape? Even her piece was now wearing her burdens. How terrible could the situation at hand get?

"But if you keep working on it..." Prof was saying as she slanted her eyes to her. "It could become a decent piece."

"Alright, Professor Lee. I'll work harder." She replied and the professor turned to leave.

She abruptly turned back r her and Tahti wondered if the professor had forgotten to add something.

"People gossip about others and criticize them so easily. It's especially worse in America, that's why you should be careful when you're young."

Tahti raised her head to look at her, wondering where the professor was driving to with her talk.

"You might think reckless behavior can be forgotten because you're young, but from what I've experienced, that's not the case...There are consequences and you'll get hit with the aftermath at a crucial moment later on."

That was a left hook, Tahti noted with a swallow. Had the professor heard about her involvement with Demir too?

"No one will take responsibility for your own life. So keep your head straight. You're graduating soon, you know... Everyone finds a job before they graduate, these days."

And that was the uppercut, which sent a boxer flying towards the end of the ring.

"Yes ma'am." She replied and wriggled her hands.

"I know how you feel, so I'm giving you an advice so keep that in mind."

"Yes, professor."

"Focus on your work and cut all distractions." Prof turned to head out of the studio, after delivering what Tahti considered, was a piece of her mind.

"I will."

Sighing, she walked over to busy herself by clearing the trashy residue of her artwork. The week was just starting and she was already seeing signs that something terrible would happen soon. First, it had been that strange call from that Stella girl on the night of her birthday and Demir had left her to attend to her, then her ex boyfriend had personally visited her school, a thing he'd never done in the past.

Michelle had once warned her about it though, and there was Mason and the school monk who were talking about her too and only heavens knew how many other students at school had involved the topic in their discussions and now, there was Prof. Lee warning her herself.

She walked to he trash site after she was done with clearing up, to get rid of the trash. It felt like the whole universe was suddenly telling her to end things with Demir.

Could he have casted a spell on her? One that had clouded her sense of reasoning? Just like a Svengali? Such things didn't exist, she told herself.

"Tahti." Someone called behind her and her head turned to see Demir behind her. Her heart jumped into her stomach and startled, she lost her balance and was about to fall when Demir caught her arms.

"Are you okay?" He asked, once he'd straightened her. "You could have fallen on the trash."

She slipped out her hands from his hold, not looking too pleased o see him. "Yeah, I'm fine...It's a good timing anyway. Uh, could we meet a moment later, just the two of us?" She asked.

"Well..."His voice faded into a smile. "I like that you're asking first, but I'll be a bit tired since I have lots of work today."

"What?"

Tired? Her eyes darted round as to what connection talking had with tiredness, until she recalled he was probably talking about sex.

"I'm not talking about that... Let's talk."

"Okay. Will it be okay to meet late at night? I'll come over to your place."

"Yeah. It's fine."

"I'll give you a call when I'm done." He told her before she turned to return back to the studio, stimulating different ways to break the news to him.

Sol was waiting at the foot of the stairs outside the school studio when Jennie walked out and she noticed the expression on her face faded into a frown on seeing her.

Jennie walked down the stairs and was about to walk pass her when Sol obstructed her.

Sighing, she made to go the other way but Sol was quick to block her before she could.

"Let's talk."

"You still have more to say?" Jennie asked, unable to believe her ears.

"To be honest, I don't get why you're so upset. You didn't need to ghost me like that."

She had given it some serious thought and decided she'd probably lost her mind after breaking up and that had been the reason why she'd gotten involved with him.

"What do you mean?" That would probably be Demir's response. She'd never seen him surprised or shocked before and she knew better than to expect that kind of reaction from him. It wasn't as if he loved her anyway.

She would tell him, she wanted to focus on her school and work as it was an important time for her, since she'd be graduating soon.

"Aren't you going overboard? We're not even going out?" Demir would say.

Then, she'd apologize for talking too much and finally hit the nail on the head.

She wanted to end it.

The thought of telling him that and a couple of other stimulations had her caught up in school until eight at night and she groaned as she dropped her head on her desk. None of the stimulations she'd ran on her head sounded like she wanted to severe ties with him, without sounding clingy.

It didn't even matter how she said, as she knew Demir wouldn't blink an eye. He'd always been so relaxed and calm, but she, on the other hand, had always been anxious.

She raised her head to cup her jaw with a hand, reflecting on her involvement with the recent boys who had swarm into her life.

Her ex boyfriend had cheated on her, she had gotten rejected by a guy who likes her and now, rumors had spread about her being sex partners with the guy she liked and all of these happened in just three months. It even sounded terrible as she thought about it herself.

She slammed her hand on the table as she rose, before walking out of the studio, in search for him.

She didn't have to say anything much. They just had to end things.

Demir was soldering an iron in Studio B when she arrived and her legs, which had boldly led her there began to water and found it difficult to drag her towards him.

You can do this Tahti, she cheered herself but still couldn't walk in. How was she supposed to end things with him if she was that way?

Luckily for her, he seemed o have noticed a presence at the entrance and he turned to see who it was after he had taken off his mask. There wasn't a hint of surprise on his face as he dropped his instruments and Tahti's heart began to beat faster as he neared.

"I said I'll see you at your place."

"Yeah, I didn't go home yet so I figured it would be best if we talk here."

"I see." She swallowed, becoming speechless almost immediately.

Tahti dropped he head, words failed her immediately. She'd been so sure she'd could face him and tell him she wanted to end things. Even the stimulations she'd ran inside of her head had been great, but the moment she'd looked into his eyes, her head had gone blank.

"You look pretty serious." He noticed and she raised her head to stare up at him. "What did you want to say?"

"Well..." How was she supposed to even start.

"My ex boyfriend came to school yesterday... He seemed to have heard rumors about us." She told him, dropping her head. "He said I should just date him instead."

"What did you say?" He asked and she raised her head, her breathing suspended. Was he finally showing interest in her?

"I told him not to say nonsense."

"Really?" He asked and her dismay was acute as her heart dropped. Was that it? She had obviously been wrong about the thought he probably felt something for her. Very wrong.

He sighed as he dipped his hands into his pocket. "Is that what you wanted to say?"

"Is there someone else you're seeing?" She asked, without thinking. Why in heaven's name had she even asked? Wasn't she about to end everything?

"No." He replied, nonchalantly.

Was he lying to her? Or was he saying the truth? As usual, she couldn't tell.

"Really?"

Demir was about to say something when a car crawled its' way towards the entrance of the studio B. The man must have noticed that the car's headlights were blinding, from the way Tahti narrowed her eyes on turning to face the car and he reduced the light before alighting the car.

The man didn't look familiar to her as he neared and she guessed he was probably a friend of Demir's.

"Excuse me, are you Demir Wilson, by any chance?"

"Yeah." Demir replied and Tahti decided he didn't know him either.

"So it's you." The man muttered, his lips curving to a wicked grin as he strode over to hit Demir. "You bastard."

Tahti gasped as Demir dropped to the floor and she turned back to the man, who looked prepared to give Demir, a beat down.

"Sir, what's wrong?" She asked, and when the man didn't respond, she walked over to block him from hitting Demir any further.

"What are you doing?" She asked and the man rolled his eyes as he turned to her.

"Move."

"Why are you even doing this?"

"Get out of the way." The man yelled, shoving her aside and Tahti lost her balance and dropped to the rocky part, by the sidewalk of the studio's entrance with a full thud and a groan.

"Tahti." Demir called, worry in his voice as he hurried over to her side. Raising her arm, his eyes fell on the blood seeping out of her palm and that seemed to have confirmed his fears and he turned to glare at the man.