Balance of the Skies (bxb)

CHAPTER 33

"Mr Richards? This is Koray Lun, Sir. Hope I'm not calling at an inconvenient time."

"Not at all, Koray, not at all. How are you?"

"Not bad thank you, you?"

"I'm fine, busy as always. So, tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"I have good news, Sir. I am signing the contract."

"That is excellent news, Koray. We are honoured you have accepted our offer. Your father is thrilled, I am sure."

"Actually, I have not told him yet, Sir. I have not told anyone. You are the very first person to hear the news."

"Well then, I thank you for giving me this honour, Koray. I will have our lawyers send all documents to your lawyers and we'll take it from there. We'll expect to start the first exhibitions around January, right after the festive season. How does that sound?"

"Excellent, Sir. I already have some finished pieces in my studio in the States, and I am working on four new pieces both at school and at home. I will surely finish these too and have them shipped over with the rest of my work before Christmas."

"Wonderful, Koray. We will meet soon then." And with that, the call ended. Koray turned back to the sculpture he was working on.

~~~~~

It had been three days, three long days of nothing but heart ache, rain, heart ache and more rain. Lorien was grateful for Melia's and Wilford's support. He was aware of the fact that, being by his side, he was putting them in an awkward position with their respective partners. They both assured him that Auryn and Ty were very understanding and encouraged their support for him. Wilford suggested going out 'just down to the coffee shop', but Lorien had politely refused. He had not moved out of his room and would not have remembered to eat had it not been for both his friends.

He was sitting on his bed, scrolling through social media when he realised that Koray had blocked him from all his accounts. He felt tears about to start falling again when there was a knock on the door. He took a deep breath and got up to see who it was. He was surprised to see Wilford there.

"Why did you knock?"

"Someone's here with me," and with those words, Auryn stepped out from behind him. She wasted no time and rushed to hug Lorien who was so touched that tears started spilling out before he could stop them.

"Please Lorien don't cry, I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to properly thank you for last time, when you saved me," she said

"No need to thank me. I did what anyone else would have done in the same situation." There was an awkward silence, then Wilford spoke.

"Listen, Lorien, you are my best friend but erm, until things cool down, you know, erm, I'm moving in with Rylan." He looked at Auryn, who had her eyes glued to the floor. "I will still come to visit and we can still hang out, and hopefully things will have cleared up by the time we return in September. So really, it might only be for a few days, till we all leave for the holidays." There was another silence.

"I understand and it's no problem at all. You get along well with Rylan, no? So, you can stay there even when you get back. I understand," Lorien said, his voice barely above a whisper. "So, how is he?"

"Well, he has not had a roommate for quite a while, but he said -"

"Koray - I meant how is Koray."

"Oh," again he noticed Wilford give Auryn a strange look and again Auryn's eyes were glued to the floor. "Well..."

"Koray has signed the three-year contract and is moving to the States before Christmas. He'll be staying with our older brother Trystan," Auryn blurted out.