Obey

Chapter 1

"Nice to meet you, but please call me Ara" She says copying my gesture and removing her facemask. I know we both got tested before this since the company required it for this photoshoot. "How old are you?" she asks with a sweet smile.

"I am 19 years old" I say taking a good look at Ara and now that I am closer to her I can really see how young she is. Her shoulder long hair frames her baby face perfectly and even though she is taller than me its hard to imagine she is older.

"You are a baby" she says with the same smile but something in her eyes change and it reminds me of the way my mom looks at me. "I am older than you but let's not use formalities since we will be working together" I bow my head in agreement. "Before we start I want to get to know you a little bit more. I hope thats ok with you" she continues but I feel hesitation in her words and this is the first time she does not sound as confident.

"Of course, I am an open book" I say taking my mask off and greeting her with a warm smile hoping it will alleviate her thoughts. I know she does not mean me any disrespect.

I hear her let a breath out in relief and I know my words did what I intended. "Great let's sit down over there" she says pointing at a park bench close by. "So I noticed you have a small accent" She says putting her fingers together to describe how small. "Where are you from?" she asks.

"From here" I say pointing to the ground to reinforce my words. "But when I was about 2 years old my parents decide to move to France for my father's job."

"Oh what is his Job?" Ara asks and she seems to be genuinely interested.

"He is an architect" I say and for a small second I forget why that sentence no longer applies. "I mean he use to be architect" I say not sure if I want to go into details about my personal life but when I look up at Ara her eyes make me trust her and before I can even think about what I am going to say next. I just let everything out. "He and my mom got married at my age and shortly after their wedding I was born. My dad was going to school for his degree and my mom was in an art institute. Her passion has always been painting." I say looking at my hands with memories flooding in of being 5 years old practicing different ballet positions to act as my mom's model for her many paintings. "But unfortunately once my dad graduated he was proposed a high paying job in France and due to them being new parents and living pay check to pay check they made the decision to move to France and my mom could not finish school"

"That's hard, she had to give up her dream" Ara says and she sounds more understanding than I expected. She must have some type of experience with something like that.

"Yeah, it was. My mom tells us she never regretted it but I still feel like she could have been a famous artist if she followed her career" the words hurt because I truly mean it and its hard not to believe that I ruined her dreams by being born even if she will never admit it.

"I am sure your mom feels like having you was the best decision in her life and giving up her dreams to be with your dad is worth much more than you think" Ara's words again are nothing like I expected. She seems to speak from personal experience and for some reason I feel like she knows more about how my mom feels than I do.

"I like to think so. Thats why I have so many goals in my life that I want to accomplish so I can make them proud" I say and opening up even more to this girl that I only met a few minutes ago. "Sorry I feel like I am going on and on about myself"