Chapter 17

It was a bright and sunny morning with the sun just appearing in the sky. The streets were just coming alive, but it was still quiet.

Rylie had just arrived in front of her house after a night at Changmin's with the boys. Unlike her usual sleepovers, there were no expectations and they genuinely all just had fun and exerted all their energy. They all slept in different rooms and didn't see each other until the morning after.

Taking off her shoes, she slowly opened the front door and crept inside. Turning her head around every corner, she checked around her for any signs of her mother, but all was quiet. She had almost made it past the kitchen when her arm accidently knocked over a plastic bowl. She watched as it fell to the floor upside down and rolled around for what seemed like forever. Both her eyes were shut as she waited for the inevitable, but nothing came.

Opening one eye, she listened again but only heard the ticking of the clock in the distance. Finding it odd, she whispered her name. Still nothing. She started calling out her name at regular volume.

Peeking her head into her mother's room, she saw no one was there. She checked all the other rooms and even the backyard, but she was no where in sight.

She suddenly had the urge to go to the bathroom. She then realized that was the one place she didn't check. She dropped her purse and ran towards it but the door was locked.

"Mom are you in there?" she banged on bathroom door as a sense of panic crept up her spine.

Hearing no response, she rushed into the kitchen to get the spare key and ran back to unlock the door.

"Shit," she had fumbled and dropped the key. She tried again and got it to unlock.

She fumbled for the lights and when she looked down, she saw her body sprawled on the floor in front of the toilet, motionless with blood coming out of her mouth.

Rylie widened her eyes and bent down to check for a pulse. Nothing.

Panicking, she paced around her house screaming, not knowing what to do. When she finally caught her own breath, she grabbed her cell phone and called an ambulance. She then looked up Cameron's number but stopped herself.

She couldn't call Cameron. He didn't know anything about her situation and she didn't know what he'd think of her after learning she had been keeping it from him.

With shaky hands, she typed another name and waited. She was fine until she heard the other person's voice and broke down in tears.

"Joel, I'm scared…"

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As the large white cloth fell to the ground in one quick motion, the sun's rays hit it at the right angle, making it gleam.

Emilia's eyes widened as she lifted her hand to cover her mouth so she could stop herself from letting out a gasp. She continued to gawk as the rest of the room also were in awe.

What they saw was a life-sized statue of a beautiful angel. It was so life-like and each feather on the wings were so intricately done and detailed. The left leg was slightly pulled back with the right arm reaching out to the sky.

Although it held such beauty, this wasn't what surprised her. What surprised her was the face of the angel. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't imagining things and looked again. She didn't know how or why James would choose to put her face of all things on something so beautiful but the final result was amazing.

An hour went by and everything had been shown. The judges had done one last round through all the displays, then retreated into a room to discuss.

A man in his late 40's stepped up to the podium in the middle of the gallery with a sealed white envelope.

"This year's winner will receive a year's scholarship and $500, 000 for themselves and the school they represent. The winner, by unanimous decision, is James Kim!"

The crowd applauded in excitement as he made his way up to the mic. As they quieted down, he cleared his throat and started to speak.

"Thank you for choosing my piece as the winner this year. I'm not good at public speaking so I'm not quite sure what to say, but there is one person that has come into my life recently that has had a huge impact on me. She inspires me to think outside the box and strive for something better, to reach for things I thought were unattainable to me until a few months ago. And for that, I thank her."

James took a bow, but not before making eye contact with Emilia.

She froze mid clap and replayed what he said just now in her head while he was shaking hands with others.

'We met a few months ago, he's not talking about me, is he? I mean, I've been having fun teasing him lately but he makes this cute face when he gets all embarrassed. And the way he looks when…Oh my god! What am I thinking right now?! '

They had grown close quickly in the last few months and somewhere along the way, she started thinking about him when they weren't together. She thought it was just because she valued his friendship and wanted to get to know him better, but the way she saw him was nothing like how she saw Rylie.

When she started thinking about the dimple on the right side of his face, how long and slender his fingers were or just how handsome he was sometimes; she knew she was in too deep but the denial was strong!

The logical side of her knew this was too good to be true but maybe there was a chance he felt the same way too.

---------------------------------------------------

Emilia arrived home after a long day and collapsed on the living room couch. After things wrapped up, her and James had gone to have Korean BBQ and they stuffed their faces until they couldn't anymore.

Still holding her stomach, she made her way into the kitchen to find Yuki eating the dinner he just finished making. There were three plates laid out, one for each of them, with her dad coming home soon.

She shook her head and turned towards the staircase. Yuki was an amazing cook but the smell of food right now wanted to make her puke.

"You're not going to eat?" Yuki asked. Emilia shook her head frantically.

"I can't. I'm so full right now, you have no idea."

"I can cover it so you can have it for lunch tomorrow. What did you have?"

"We were celebrating a friend's win! They beat out all the other schools and managed to get first place! Plus, he offered to pay-"

"He?" interrupted Yuki as he stopped eating. Frowning, she nodded her head.

"Yeah, you've met him, James. He's nice and super talented! Can you believe he won? I mean, there were so many other people! Who knew-"

Upon hearing his name, Yuki pursed his lips but shook it off before she could notice.

"Good for him."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean, that's it?"

Yuki had already decided to move on from all this and go back to the way things were. But every time he heard James' name, he got irritated.

"What do you have against him? It's not like I haven't had guy friends or even boyfriends before."

"I know…I just…I'm…ugggggghhh!" he yelled as we moved his hands up and down his face in frustration.

"You know what, come with me somewhere tomorrow. I have to show you something."

"I don't know Yuki," she said as she took a step back.

"Look, sorry for yelling at you but these past few weeks have been tough. Come with me tomorrow, please?"

He smiled faintly while he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Glancing at his hand, then his face, she nodded.