❝ Exhibit ❞

exhibit 1

Khyle Zander Hendrix

Every stroke of his hand.

Every color he splashed.

Every tick of the clock.

Every time he meets my eyes.

He was always beautiful.

Zero Archer.

"Done." He says and smiles at me.

His voice waking me up from my thoughts in my own little world.

I turned to him and finally relaxed my muscles from the pose that I did for his artwork.

"Are you alright?" He asks, probably because I was posing for almost an hour now without moving an inch.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

"Thank you for modelling again for my piece." He smiles.

"I'm still waiting for when can I see them." I pout.

"I told you I'll make an exhibit with it." He says, hiding the canvas he did just now.

"That's so unfair, I haven't seen any of it yet." I said.

He chuckled and came back towards me.

"You will soon." He shuffled my head softly.

I  just giggled as well.

Soon after, we heard heels clinking the floor coming towards us.

"Hey, baby."

I watched as she approached him with a kiss.

Zero clings his arms around her as a response and I was just there standing like I didn't exist for a second.

She's River Heathcliff, Zero's girlfriend.

She's elegant in every way, she's smart, talented, family oriented, have lots of money, just basically everything, she has it all.

I'm nothing compared to her.

"By the way, are you guys finished?" She asks.

"I hope didn't disturb you." She worries.

"No, we're finished just now." Zero smiles.

"That's great! How about coffee? Khyle?" She asks and looks at me.

I smiled back and politely refused the offer.

"Sorry, I have some work to do at home."

No, I don't.

"Oh really? What a shame." She pouts lightly.

"Let's go some other time then." She smiles at me and I just smiled back.

"So, uhm, I'm gonna get going." I said and politely excused myself.

"Thanks again, Khyle!" Zero waves goodbye at me as I walked out the door of his studio.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I heaved out a big sigh.

It's always been like this.

Just me keeping my feelings secret.

I just couldn't help myself falling for him, I mean who wouldn't?

He's a talented guy, he's tall and gorgeous, he's funny, he's bright, he's all that any person would want to date.

But how am I supposed to say my feelings when he already has someone else?

It's just complicated.

"Dang, you're so hopeless." My friend, Klian sighs.

"Do you want me to set you up on a blind date?" He asks.

I glared at him.

"I told you, I'll never go on that thing again." I said.

"What are you gonna do then? I can't just let you have feelings for someone who has someone already?" Klian sips on his coffee.

"Relax, you know me. I'm not someone that ruins relationships." I said.

"I know that, but what I'm worried about is you." Klian holds my hand resting on top of the table.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

I sighed.

"I'm quite fine with it actually."

No, I'm not.

"The feelings go away after time, it'll be fine."

It's been a year.

And it just gradually grows.

Whenever our eyes meet.

Whenever he smiles at me.

Whenever he brushes my hair to make me look pretty in his paintings.

Whenever his body is close to me.

I feel like I'm going to explode whenever I think of him.

Especially when I remember how we first met.