Finally they reached the second floor and they were alone , they stood a little distance away from each other , those airpods still in her ear , then the elevator door opened , they both looked hesitant wondering who should come out first , the turbulent emotions they had both felt all at once never dissipated, Denver sighed as he finally left the elevator while Rhea awkwardly followed behind , the soft melody still playing , he had done this even when they were ignoring each other for a while now , he just made things more akward for her. Then all of a sudden he stopped at his tracks and turned to her almost immediately, Rhea stumbled a little when he had suddenly faced her cause she was startled and as if to make the situation more akward she let out an involuntary hiccup but abruptly placed her hand over her mouth, she looked down out of embarrassment.
Denver licked the inside of his mouth as if stifling a smile , he looked away then stepped back a little , why did he suddenly turn around like that , he startled her and he felt bad, he wanted to say something instead he just startled her, he used his finger to softly tap on his ear , Rhea who was confused for a few seconds before she realized that he was talking about his airpods , in a bit of a hurry over her late realization she unplugged it from her ear, she looked almost embarrassed and she could hear Denver scoff softly.
There was silence for a while and Rhea was contemplating if she should go home now but under his gaze it felt so akward to just leave, Denver tilted his head , his mind going back to the women at the elevator, he clenched his jaw, if they knew she was there would they still have spoken about her like that , like she was invisible and didn't deserve to be heard,how she trembled and how she looked so resigned to their comments, like her voice couldn't change anything was so frustrating to watch,he didn't want to say anything before, he just wanted to leave it under the bus, she won't want him to ask her anything, won't want him to say anything cause that is what she expects from him but.....he wanted to be inconsiderate. "Don't put your head down, don't let anyone ....feel like you are inferior to them , if you put your head down ...they will keep trampling on you",he said, it felt like a gentle scolding, like a big brother telling her little sister how to fend for herself against bullies, Rhea clenched her hands, something someone was already used to , how could one undo it?, " aahh....you said we should treat each other like we don't exist ...", he said non challantly as he took a slow step close to her , but Rhea won't just look at him , Denver bent his head to her level as if trying to peek in but she just bent her head lower , " hah...", Denver sighed clearly frustrated, " you keep tempting me ....", he muttered under his breath, Rhea eyes widened with shock causing her to look up at him, " what did he just say, " what?", she said clearly shocked , " hmm...you tempt me, ...I'm pretty easy to read and I wear my heart on my sleeve so.... anything could flicker a tiny bit of hope in my heart", how was he so bold and shameless, how was he expecting her to react with what he just said, then she remembered the elevator , did he probably see her looking at him but that was unavoidable, they were of close proximity, obviously she couldn't look anywhere else except from him.
Denver found her amusing, her bewildered expression and he couldn't help as a slight smile escaped from his lips , Rhea eyes widened in surprise, " you....you seem to get the wrong idea ...", she brought out her hands up and slammed it together then she looked up at him, " we were so close like this, obviously i wouldn't have anywhere else to look except from you", she hurriedly tried o explain, Denver tucked his hands into his pocket with a smug smile on his face , " if you say so...", it was like he was taunting her , he turned around as if to leave but instead he took another step closer to her and used his finger and gently poked her cheek, his face read that of amusement, Rhea was obviously confused, why was he poking her cheek and why was her heart wavering , " there was a time you smiled....there was a shallow dimple here", it was so adorable when she looked confused , he removed his finger from her cheek as Rhea went all shades of red , she quickly looked away, they tingling warmth enveloping her, what was with this reaction, when she had clearly said they should avoid each other, why did it seem like she was the one who seemed to be digging her own pit.
" it was adorable...., be smiling more often", saying that he just opened his door and he was gone, he just threw words like that at her and left, her heart was rhythmically thumping against her chest , she shouldn't feel this way but.....why couldn't it stop and why did she like it?.
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Denver was kneading dough when his mind drifted off to Rhea, how she had blushed when he had said it, he scoffed , she was so cute, when she sets her boundaries and keeps crossing them , he just wanted to get closer to her , he stopped kneading as he let out a breath, he was clearly frustrated, when she had looked at him in that elevator, his heart felt like it was going to burst , he tousled his hair with his flour coated hand causing the floury content to form a whitish clog at the tip of his hair, she was really driving him crazy.
At that moment his phone rang....., Denver eyes quickly darted to the phone on his table , when he and Rhea had briefly been on good terms they had exchanged contacts and he just hoped that one day she will call him and today was not any different, he found himself rushing to the table , maybe just one time she would call him , he never had the courage to , cause he feared that if he picked that call he would freeze up but.....to his disappointment , it wasn't her but a strange number, he wasn't surprised though, a tiny bit of him had hoped, she had probably deleted his number by now , he looked at the foreign number on his phone , none that he didn't recognise, and for some valid reason....,he was annoyed just looking at that number, " tsk..... a spam call", he placed his phone back on the table and returned back to kneading his dough, he glared at the dough then he pounded his fist into it, his phone rang again , he scoffed as he ignored it once again.
After a while it finally stopped ringing then a ding rang out in fhe quiet room. Denver had just popped the dough into the oven and after a moment of hesitation he took hold of his phone, he didn't know why he was suddenly hoping for something that he knew will never happen , he sighed as he opened the message and then he saw it,the message read, " hi Denver, this is Kathryn, I saw your mum the other day and I was glad I did , since we both came back from abroad we haven't spoken to each other , let's meet up tonight .....but if you are busy we can do it another time .....", and then at the end of the message she put a sad emoji, it was nit like she was trying to give him a choice , he sighed as he pinched between his eyebrows , he threw his head backwards as he dropped his phone on he chair , should he go ....?, he looked over at his door as if trying to look through it, what was he hoping for, " hah....", he should go , if he stayed here longer ..., he won't be able to stop thinking about her.
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" Jurrivh.....", he had not forgotten, the first time we met at the bust stop , it was the same song by the same creator, " first love ", a song that had a way of calming me down was the same song he had been listening to, I tapped the tip of my pen on my book, Denver....., he was the warmth that I wasn't allowed to feel but as selfish as it could be , I wanted to lean more unto that wealth, a world where bith of us couldn't co exist but yet we couldng help but be drawn to each other.
I write the title " the riding lyre", then I inked in a little sub title underneath, "a lost warmth", a warmth in shouldn't have and could never have .
The reality of our fates were inevitable just like the moon and the sun, a tragic love story of two beings who loved each other , once upon a time , the sun was leaving for the night to come , in his fleeting departure the sun caught a tiny glimpse of the moon, her luminous hair which radiated with her silvery robe and pale skin, in one word she was ethereal, in the days that passed by , the sun stayed longer just to see the moon and with this the moon took a liking to the sun,but.....they both knew they couldn't coexist in the same place and time , it was their destiny, no matter how much they tried to get closer to each other they could never, and just like that, they just loved from afar, an eternity of a distant aching for love was all they could hold on to.
It was a myth of course but you could easily tell how similar their situation was, in her own case , if she decided to go on and be selfish, she will just make Denver miserable , they will both be miserable , she sighed as she started writing , though her hands trembled slightly and her words seemed to appear a little crooked, she still head on, " in the routes of elm street...", a desperate starter to something new.