CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 27

Between Amber's new job at the ad agency, her upcoming exams, her friends and her relationship with Alex, Amber barely had a moment to spare worrying about her family. Fortunately, things seemed to have quieted in the last few weeks. She would almost go weeks at a time without seeing her father, which made it easy for Amber not to have to hide the weekly updates she was getting from Ann about her nephew. 

The first few weeks of working at the agency, Amber enjoyed herself. She took pride in the small projects she contributed to and appreciated being allowed to sit in meetings with the clients. She would forget her age as she introduced herself to new people at the office and embraced feeling confident in calling herself the artist of the piece they worked on. At first, she pushed away the gnawing in her stomach that left her feeling unsatisfied but the harder she worked, the harder it was to ignore. As much as she was enjoying herself, she missed her oil paintings and her still life portraits. She could barely remember the last time she had opened her mother's art box and the realization of this, as she sat in Matthew's spotless office, chewing on the end of her marker, almost knocked the wind out of her. 

"You look pale," he muttered, glancing at her from his computer. "Would you like me to get you some water?" 

Amber pulled her mindless gaze away from the zen garden on his desk that she had fixated on and met his clear verdant eyes. "I'm okay. Thanks, though." 

Feigning a smile, she went back to her sketchbook, feeling dejected by the sight of the blank white page staring back at her. 

"You've been working here almost a month now, right?" Matthew said, turning away from his computer and giving her his full attention. 

Amber nodded as she put the cap on her marker. 

"And we've worked together on almost all of your projects."

She didn't know where the conversation was going but she was grateful not to have to continue focusing on the current project they were working on. She nodded again. 

"And we've spent countless hours together working in this office." 

Amber's expression turned to a frown as she tried to figure out why he was taking this angle. She assumed at first that he was going to ask her on a date but she had already told him about Alex. 

"That's right." She restrained herself from saying anymore, not wanting to influence his thought process. 

"Well then you should know that I'm fairly well trained at reading your face. And you," he told her, rising out of his chair and to the water dispenser to fill up a cup of water, "Are certainly not okay." 

Amber gaped at him as he approached her and placed the cup filled with water in front of her on his desk. She decided to take a sip and gather her thoughts whilst he perched on the edge of his desk, inches away from her. 

"I mean, I would consider us friends, even. I've told you about my life, moving from the States and how I ended up working for this company and you've told me about school and your boyfriend, of course. So if you wanted, you could even tell me what's bothering you. Maybe I could help." 

Placing the empty cup on his desk, Amber tried to figure out a way to delicately break the news that she no longer enjoyed working at the company a mere three weeks after having started it. 

"You're an artist," she stated, mimicking his tone. 

A small smile rose to his lips and Amber couldn't help but notice how perfectly symmetrical his face was. 

"You're an artist and yet you spend eight hours or more at your desk behind a computer. Sure, you oversee projects and you make sure your artists are complying with the guidelines given by the clients, but you spend very little time with the actual art. How do you do it?"