79
Tahti was sitting on one of the chairs, in the gallery watching the guests, as they walked in and towards various art pieces in the gallery, and she kept turning to look at the entrance from time to time, and down at her phone, as she waited for somebody to show up.
"Tahti." Someone called and she nearly jumped in her seat, turning to see who had startled her.
"April." She called, with a sigh. "You're here?"
"As you can see. The guys and I arrived a couple of minutes ago." She replied, breaking off in a frown. "What about you? Why are you here instead of standing next to your piece?"
"Oh, the heels I wore, were killing me so I decided to sit for a brief while." She replied and April looked down to see the heels she was wearing.
Indeed, they would kill whichever feet wore them.
She was just about to say something, when one of the curators walked towards them, and April wondered if something had gone wrong with her piece.
"Tahti Lee, Professor Lee requires your attention." She said and April turned to her.
"Professor Lee? Does she still wants to scold you, even on a day like this?" She asked.
"I'll go see her to find out." She smiled, rising to follow the curator, who led her to the backstage of the gallery, where the professor was standing and could see her piece, without being seen.
"You sent for me, professor?" She bowed slightly, when she approached the professor, who was staring at her piece.
"It must be tough, right? Finishing your piece in such a short time and to realise, in the end, that it was all worth it."
She nodded slowly. "I enjoyed working on it, a lot."
"I finally felt your emotions in your piece, for the first time, Tahti and trust me, it's a good thing." She replied, finally tearing her eyes to look at her, with a smile on her lips. "I believe you can go to Paris now."
She blinked, her surprise written all over her face, on hearing that. "Professor..."
"There is no need to think or hesitate about it any further, Tahti. You should do whatever you want to do from now on and that includes, loving whoever you want to love, having whatever you want to have... You've finally lighted up, just like the meaning of your name... so, don't hold back."
A sad, yet grateful smile across her lips. The so-called semester which she had thought was going to be a disaster had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. "Thank you, professor."
Prof. Lee raised a hand to her shoulder, to hold her for a brief moment, before she turned to walk out of the gallery, letting her words linger in Tahti's mind, as she started to walk towards her course mates.
Love whoever you want to love, have whatever you want to have. She thought and reached to touch the bracelet Demir had gifted her, the other day. worn the bracelet that afternoon, as a sort of lucky charm, hoping he would show up, but he hadn't so far, which was quite a shame.
She had pushed away the person she wanted to love. "What's wrong? Did the professor scold you?" April asked, on seeing her downcast expression, when she returned.
"No." She replied, with a sigh and April arched a brow.
"No? Why do you look down, then?" She asekd.
"Hey " Jasmine chose that moment to interrupt her and April turned to throw a murderous glare at her, wondering why she would interrupt them in such a moment.
"Why isn't Demir here, today?"
The disheartened look on Tahti's face disappeared for a minute when she raised her head and turned to look around, one more time in search of him.
Disappointed, she lowered her head again.
"Demir?" Herley asked. "Did he say he was going to come?"
"Tahti."
The crew's head whipped back to look at Josh, who walked towards them, alongside a curator, a plastered smile on his lips, while holding a bucket of lisianthus and the girls in the crew gasped, surprised to see him.
"Josh?" She called, looking dumbstruck to see he had arrived that early.
"Here." He smiled, handing the bouquet to her and the girls tried to contain their excitement, as they watched her receive it and raise it to her nostrils, for a sniff.
She threw a thankful smile to him, meeting his gaze, which he only held for a moment as he was soon distracted by her course mates.
"You're a superstar now." Jasmine smiled, her eyes wearing stars as she looked at him and Chris reached forward to pull her towards him, giving Josh, a knowing smile.
"How much do you earn in your videos?"
"Can I be in one of them?" April asked, pushing herself forward and Tathi shook her head, with a sad smile. A minute ago, April had been asking, the reason why she was down and the other minute, she was gushing up to her celebrity crush.
The corner of her eyes caught something at the entrance and she was just turning to see what it was, when her eyes caught Demir, turning to head out of the gallery. Not bothering to care if she was hallucinating or not, she hurriedly pushed the bouquet back to Josh, and pushed her way, out of her friends, in search of him. However, there was not a single trace of him, by the time she walked out of the gallery. Her head whipped left and right, hoping he had just turned by the corner of the building, but she was only greeted with disappointment. How had he disappeared so quickly, she wondered or had she been hallucinating?
"Tahti."
She spun to see Josh, wearing a disappointed look on his face as he walked out to meet her.
Crap, she swore silently, knowing that there would be no way she would lie about her feelings for Demeir, any longer. It was probably best this way, she thought. She couldn't just couldn't give him hope, any longer.
"You... like Demir, right?" He asked, staring down at the bouquet, he was holding. He had known all along, she finally realised, but because she had given him hope, he had thought, there would be a chance for him.
The silence between them was electric as she finally admitted.
"I think so."
The hand which had been holding the bouquet, suddenly lowered, as if to show how crushed, the hope she'd been giving him all the while, was at the moment. "Josh..." She called softly and he raised his head to look at her his eyes staying unreadable at the moment.
"I know it's ridiculous for me to say this now,... but I was really happy,spending time with you..." She broke off, to swallow hard. "Thanks for the happy moments you gave me and..." She lowered her head, feeling ashamed.
"...I'm sorry."
Josh dragged in a ragged breath and she thought he would storm out of the premises, but to her surprise, he slowly took a step closer to her, which sort of compelled her to look up at him.
"I'm glad I was able to fall in love with you, Tahti... and I'm grateful too, for the moments we spent together." He replied calmly, before adding. "...so, don't be sorry. You deserve happiness and if you can get it with me..." He broke off and Tahti could see he was desperately, trying to hide how pained and heartbroken he was.
"...then, go for the one who makes you happy."
Tears of something burned her eyes and she lowered her lashes, feeling sorry, she had to reject him that way. "I'll take my leave, now." He smiled sadly, before he turned to leave the gallery.
