9 Chapter Eight - A Pleasant Surprise...
Unlocking the door, both Ryan and Briella enter his apartment.
"Feel like you are at home, the drinks are in the fridge, so is the food. If you want to order anything, don't hesitate to ask. There is a ramen shop right across the street, I can get us both a bowl of noodles, or if you want anything else... I think I remember seeing that they sell sushi too...". Ryan says.
'Well, there goes me saying that we will not be eating sushi, or, as a matter of fact, eating anything...'.
"No... I-I'm fine, I don't feel any hunger" Briella replies.
"Oh, are you sure?" Ryan asks.
"Yeah, I am sure. Perhaps later??".
"Okay, sure," Ryan replies. "Anyways, have you got any homework?".
"Yes, a bit.".
"Oh, okay, that's perfect, I got some too," Ryan begins. "What do you say we get that out of the way before getting down to the real deal?".
"Sure, I don't have anything against that," Briella replies.
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Briella finished her final sentence. "Okay, I 'm finished.".
"And I am..." Ryan begins as he moves onto his last sentence. "I am finished too!".
"Alright..." Briella says as she packs her books back neatly into her bag. "What is it that you'd like me to draw for you, Ryan?".
"Hmmm... give me a second actually..." he starts before pushing himself, in his desk chair, to one of his cabinets and fetching out a couple of pages. He flicks through them before separating the unused ones from the used. He hands her over an unused page. "Alright, so I imagine...". Suddenly he goes quiet.
Briella eyes widen when she sees what Ryan fetches out, a huge booklet filled with pages and with notes upon notes as they stick out from all sides. 'Wow... he is taking his hobby seriously!'.
"Aha!" Ryan comments before looking back towards Briella.
Briella jolts ever so slightly at their sudden eye contact.
"Okay," he begins. "I would like you to try and draw out two people kissing, or holding hands, or even kissing and holding hands. Maybe even doing all of that in the rain... Anything that is romantic, if you get me? It would help me visualize the scene and the background and so forth...".
"Oh, okay..." Briella replies before reaching for her pencil case for a pencil. With the pencil, she also grabs an eraser. But before beginning anything, she looks up towards Ryan.
Briella notices the way he is so concentrated on the page as the pencil in his hand keeps on moving. It reminds her of all of those times that she saw Ryan sitting by the tree, doing the exact same...
Taking a deep breath, she lowers her head and begins drawing.
Not too long passes before she adds her final touches. "Done..." she sighs under her breath. "Ryan, I am finished with the drawing..." she adds standing up and walking towards Ryan.
Briella's voice causes Ryan to stop what he was doing, let his pencil down and take Briella's finished work into his hands. While Ryan is examining the drawing, Briella glances at what Ryan was doing. Her jaw drops to the floor when she sees a pageful of words. 'That's a lot of words!' she thinks to herself. 'But... they are all so nearly written!!'.
Ryan clears his throat which gains Briella's attention.
"This is actually very good! I really like it!" Ryan says, while still looking at the page.
'He... he just said he likes it! He likes my drawing!!'. Briella's eyes light up. "And I really like your writing, Ryan," she says.
"WHAAA?? In those few seconds, you managed to read this whole page??" Ryan asks, confused.
"No, I... ummm... I... I really like your writing, I think it looks very good.".
"Oh okay, what a relief..." Ryan replies.
"Huh??".
"That's because..." Ryan begins. "My first drafts are usually shit!" he adds before bursting into laughter.
"What!? don't say that, I doubt it is!" Briella replies.
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"Anyways, thank you for everything, you were really a huge helping hand!" Ryan speaks as he walks towards the door to see off Briella.
"Of course!" Briella replies.
"Ohh, and before you go!" Ryan begins as he runs back to his desk. He fetches a page before writing something down. Heading back towards Briella, he hands her over the folded note. Straightening it out, Briella reads through the content. It's a 'Thank you' from Ryan.
"Anyways, have a good night, Briella and see you tomorrow".
"You too, Ryan! Good night!". With that, Briella exits Ryan's flat before exiting his apartment complex and heads home. Throughout her barely-ten-minute walk, she comes across a few neighbours. "Good evening, Mr and Ms Kehoe, hope you are keeping up well!".
Even though its eight in the evening and the sun is behind all the hills, its light still manages to illuminate the sky and the clouds, making them a beautiful pink colour. The clouds that are higher up in the atmosphere show as a pretty, whispy orangy-red colour.
Briella looks down at her hands as she has the note that Ryan gave her opened up. She reads through his writing for like the tenth time.
'Dear Briella, thank you for everything. You were a big help.'. "But then... his signature looks like I have seen it already somewhere..." Briella speaks under her breath. 'R. C. Hale... R. C. Hale... R. C. Hale...' she repeats over and over again in her head. It was right before she entered her house that the realisation hit her.
"Wait a minute!!!". She rushes into the house and up the stairs. 'It can't be, can it???'.
She logs onto her laptop and goes onto the website on which she reads a new chapter of 'Poisonous Love' every week.
The author's name: R. C. Hale.
Ryan's signature: R. C. Hale.
She looks back and forth between her laptop and the small note she was given.
Up. The author's name: R. C. Hale.
Down. Ryan's signature: R. C. Hale.
Up. The author's name: R. C. Hale.
Down. Ryan's signature: R. C. Hale.
"WHAAAAAAA!?!?!? RYAN IS R. C. HALE!! THE R. C. HALE!!!!" Briella shrieks. 'I... I can't believe it!! My crush... my crush is also my favourite author...'.
