When the fear of isolation pulls Ashton and Ria together, nothing can prepare them for the collision. An anomaly shatters the repetitive fabric of their lives, sending them on a journey of discovering themselves and one another.
Beneath Ashton's gen...
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SOMETHING IS WRONG.
The air is heavy — almost suffocating. It's cold and prickly, giving him goosebumps and chills down his spine.
Something about Ria isn't the same.
Her eyes don't linger on him like they used to. Her smiles barely reach her eyes — if she smiles at all. He hasn't heard her adorable, childish giggle in three days. In fact, every time he's tried to tease her, she brushes him off.
They sit in her studio with nothing but the scratch of her brush stroking a canvas to fill the silence. Usually, she paints with stars in her eyes, but today, today the sky is vacant. Dead.
Ashton holds one of her cameras up and peers through the lens. He aims it towards one of the windows and if he zooms in far enough, he can see the outline of the moon peering at him, attempting to hide beneath the Earth's early sky.
How does she always make it look so mesmerizing?
Months ago, he wouldn't have given the sky a second glance, but the way Ria captures it is so ethereal. It entrances him.
"What are you doing?" Her voice is soft. Distant.
Ashton looks back. Her painting is done. It's bleak, lacking its usual life. He squints to see it's of the ocean. A grey ocean with a storm brewing over it. Dark clouds and violent rain slams against the tides.
He scowls.
According to Chris, Ria has a fear of the ocean.
"Are you okay?" His words come out breathless and confused. He tries to meet her eyes but she refuses.
"I'm fine. I'm ready to go home now."
"Ria-"
"What's for dinner tonight?" She rubs her hands on her pants, spreading dark paint stains among the other vibrant colors.
Ashton drops her camera around his neck and strides over to her. "Ria, are you okay?"
Her brows pull down and she looks up at him. "I told you, yes. Why are you-"
"Emotionally?"
"What?"
"How are you feeling emotionally?"
She narrows her eyes and turns her head to something non-existent on the far wall. "What do you mean? I'm fine."
"Just...how is your condition?" He cringes. Why did I say it like that?
Ria's eyes sharpen while embarrassment flickers beneath their hazel exterior. "My condition? What do you mean by that?"
"I just noticed you haven't been yourself lately. I wanted to make sure-"
