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Ch-57

CALEB

(the next day)

Mom and Dad decided to meet on lunch.

Mom: Are you back here for long?

Caleb: It depends.

Mom: You are leaving again? Your girlfriend must be so sad.

Dad: You should have brought her today. I wanted to buy her a meal.

Caleb: Later.

I felt a phone buzz, so I quickly left my fork and spoon and turned to phone towards me.

Dad: My phone buzzed.

He got up to take the call.

Mom: Caleb.. is something wrong?

Caleb: No.

Mom: If something happened.. and you are lonely or in pain, you can tell me. You can rely on your parents whenever you want. I never got to tell you that. In case you didn't know.

Caleb: I'll tell you if there's anything.

(at the gallery)

I had a meeting with the gallery organizer today. I just gave an application online, 'finding gallery for exhibition'. These people reached out to me on their own.

Caleb: I have sent you the layout of which picture to be placed where.

Guy: Okay. How did you click so many photos in a year. It's like you barely slept.

Caleb: That's right. I barely did so that I could come back.

Guy: Oh.. you are here. Charlotte, this is Mr. Rivera, Mr. Rivera this is Charlotte. She will take your interview about this project.

We sat on a patio for interview.

Charlotte: You are known for your landscape photos. In your recent exhibition we saw a lot of portraits. Tell us what made you switch.

Caleb: I never looked at people with love. I'm cold by nature and I always thought love was a fleeting feeling. But after meeting someone, I changed my mind. Most of the photos at the exhibition are of people in love. I realized only recently that people and their love are charming.

Charlotte: What's your favorite photo you have taken so far?

Caleb: The self portrait photo. My principle of only taking photos I loved applied to myself too. So I have never taken a photo of myself before. Come to think of it, I had never truly loved myself. When I was ready, I took a photo of me.

The interview took a long time to finish. When I left, it was already dark. I got into my car and checked my phone. Kiera still hadn't called me. I called Ryan to check.

Caleb: Hey, can we meet tonight?

Ryan: You don't know?

Caleb: Don't know what?

Ryan: Maeve's mom passed away last night. The funeral is now. We three can go together, Theo will come with us. Kiera and Ava will be there.

KIERA

Me and Ava entered the funeral place. No one was there except Hugo and Maeve. Maeve looked miserable. Hugo didn't even look at us. He was more lost than Maeve. We kept the bouquet of flowers near her photo and prayed. After that, we walked towards Maeve who still tried to give a smile. 

Ava: We'll cover you. Just cry.

Kiera: We'll hold you. Don't keep it inside.

Maeve held us tightly and left her body weight on us. She kept crying and howling. Seeing her cry, both me and Ava broke down. Losing a parent was the hardest thing in the world. We didn't know how it felt and would never want to feel it. It was a pain which could never be gone. It would stay with her forever.