CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 30

After visiting Sylvia over the weekend, Amber found herself determined to finally make her own decision about who she supported in the rift between Alex and Matthew. 

It took her a total of thirty minutes to track down the competition from the year Matthew had won. His picture smiled back at her at the top of the webpage, as earnest as ever, with the same flash of white teeth that she had gotten used to. A piece of her felt guilty for even doubting him - after all, he had been nothing but kind to her - but it was something she needed to do to heal her relationship with Alex. If he had, in fact, stolen Alex's ideas, then she would need to distance herself from Matthew at the expense of her career. She would do it in a heartbeat for Alex but she had to be sure. 

Drawing a deep breath, she clicked on the link that would reveal the winning painting. She rapped her knuckles impatiently on her desk as the webpage loaded agonizingly slowly. 

It was nothing like she was expecting. There wasn't a hint of the clunky ungraceful art that made their way into the drafts of logos she and Matthew had made together. Instead, she was staring at sophisticated, delicate brush strokes and it was immediately evident that he had put a lot of though into every intricate detail. What wasn't immediately obvious was that it replicated some of Alex's subtle nuances that was weaved throughout all of his art. The shadows, the lighting, the perspective, were all things that Amber had seen variations of refracted in fragments through all of Alex's pieces. But she knew it was only something she detected because of how much time she had spent surrounded by Alex's art, be it in the classroom or in his little studio in his apartment. 

Her heart remained in a knot in her chest; she hadn't found the answers she was looking for. Sure, Matthew's winning submission reminded her of Alex's style but the resemblance certainly wasn't strong enough for her to accuse Matthew of having done anything wrong but on the other hand, she could feel Alex's pain, especially knowing that he had poured his soul into his submission whilst struggling with the weight of Sylvia's illness. 

She slammed her laptop shut in frustration, harder than she had intended to, flinching at the sound of it. She needed more information. She needed to see behind the art and only the painter could tell her what truly was happening behind it all. 

***

It was her day off, but Amber knew that Matthew would be in the office working on some of the drafts she had submitted to him the day before. She let him know that she would be stopping by but she decided not to mention why. She didn't entirely know what she was going to say yet. 

He seemed to be pleased to see her, when she entered his office with her hands clasped in anticipation. 

"Amber, I was a little surprised when you said you wanted to come in on your day off," he stated, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk for her to sit in. 

She gave him a shaky polite smile and took a seat. "I've actually come to talk to you about a person matter."

His brow furrowed in concern. "Is everything okay?" 

Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door. A teenager dressed in a uniform for a local sushi place stood at the door holding a bag of food. 

"I hope you don't mind, but I decided to order us some lunch," Matthew told her, rising from his desk chair to pay the delivery boy. 

Amber shook her head. "Of course not, you know I love sushi." 

Matthew grinned at her. "I do know." 

After splitting the contents of the bag and tucking into some of the best sushi she had ever tasted, Amber felt considerably more relaxed.