Atlantis [Tom Holland]

REAL LIFE

Months have passed and Tom and Val barely talked. Not because of what happened that night. Things became pretty okay after that night. There was no awkwardness or whatsoever. Tom was busy because he has to promote Infinity War. He was flying all over the world and getting interviews here and there. However, he would always try to send her little text greetings everyday to which she would always reply as well.

It's been what she looks forward to everyday. If it's a lucky day, Tom would call her and they would talk all night. He's telling her what happened to him so far and Val would do the same until one of them falls asleep. It was mostly Tom. He gets exhausted.

Val, on the other hand, seems to be pretty inspired lately. Her artworks are getting noticed by a lot of people and whenever she has the time, she'd draw or paint. She likes the way how things are right now. It's temporary, sure. But honestly, what is even permanent?

Right now, she paints the sea shore. Pretty common scenic painting, yes, but it's what she feels at the moment. With each brush stroke, she remembers the sound of the waves kissing the shoreline. She remembers how the two of them sat there by the shore, in pain and in love.

Love. Pain.

It's always connected.

Four words but emits different emotions. Both powerful. Both changing. We've always treated it like it's two different things. It is. But it is not either. We somehow confuse it, us humans. Why? Because it's so connected. Sometimes it is so hard to see the difference between the two.

Why do we hold on to people who hurt us? We feel pain, yes, but we also feel love. Love overpowers that pain. Why do we feel pain? Because we are in love. Tell me, would one feel pain if one is not in love in the first place? And would one claim to be in love, if pain does not appear at all, even once?

Things are not black and white in the real world. Every picture has its own texture, value, color and shape. Much like a painting. It's easier to just look at it and see one thing, but the artist always knows how it got there. How it formed. What was used. But the thing is, in life, there is no artist to tell us what. So, it's just a mess. It's just... life.

She stepped back and admired her work. It was a picture of the seashore from a point of view of someone standing near it. In the painting, you could see her feet, slowly approaching the waters. The colors of the feet completely in a different style with the pastel colors of the sea. The feet was painted with odd but confident brush strokes, it was like a different painting was slapped unto it.

Val smiled, content with her work. She began to clean up and was almost done when a knock came from the door. She was in her school so it could be anyone. She cleaned herself up and then headed to the door to open it.

"Hey, Val. I looked everywhere." A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes holding a bouquet and a cup of coffee was revealed after she opened the door. She sees her in a few of her classes. "Riva, what brings you here?" I ask and let her in. She hands me the beautiful bouquet of blue flowers and sets down the coffee. "Someone sent this just for you." She answered. Val then remembered Riva does errands around the university for some cash. "From who?" Riva shrugged. "Someone outside. Big, tall guy. Black hair. Brown eyes. Thick eyebrows. Handsome. Forgot his name." Val immediately thought of Alec.

Alec.

She's been worrying about him. She would see him once in a few weeks then he'd be gone. Alex says he's just busy and was just figuring some things out.

Val thanked Riva and let her out the activity room. She wrapped things up and left the university, heading to her flat. When she got there, she found a small envelope hidden in the wraps of the bouquet. She opened it and took the scented paper out.