Portrait of Him | Wilbur Soot ✔️

Discovery II.

Val sprinted to him, worried that he might have hurt himself somehow.

When she arrived at the door, he stood facing away from her. He simply stood there, with his head down, as if he was looking at the floor. "What happened?"

He didn't answer immediately. So there was silence. Neither of them moved. When he spoke, his voice was shaking, almost as if he was holding back strong emotion.

"We should stay friends. This won't work." That sentence came out of the blue. Val stepped closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Why? What makes you think that."

One of his arms rose up. He weakly pointed at something. "I assumed you like him, but I was hoping so so much, that you didn't like him like that."
Following the direction of his hand, her gaze arrived at the portrait. The portrait of him. Wil.

"I was so happy to have heard of you again after years of not seeing you. When you stood in front of me when we met to go out, it was like you've never left. Like I had blinked and all that has changed was our age. There was nothing I wanted more than to be with you. You're very important to me. But I can't be more than a friend to you, when I KNOW that your heart already belongs to someone. I saw the way you look at him. I wanted it to be a delusion. But it's true, you like him."
While he talked, he didn't raise his head or turn around.

"I'm sorry." No other words felt appropriate.

Finally, he turned to her. His eyes fixated on hers. He was looking for something in them, but he couldn't find it. Suddendly, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. Almost instinctively, she hugged him back, burrying her face in his chest.
"Me too." He mumbled.

Minutes passed and they just stood there. They were swaying in frustration and sadness. Then they let go. Val looked at the portrait once more and a certain detail caught her eye.  "Josh, did you touch it?"

He looked at her in confusion.
"No, I didn't. Why do you ask that?"
Weird. "There's a finger print on it and it's definitely not mine." He held up both his hands, as if he was being robbed and tried to surrender himself to the intruder. "I swear it wasn't me. Was there anyone else here resently?"

Yes. Yes, there was. Only one person apart from them could have had the chance to see it.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. It's...it doesn't matter. We should go back."

They went back to the living room.
Josh definitely looked uncomfortable now. "You know, I think  I should go. You have some things to figure out now." He didn't seem mad when he said that. He was upset but supportive. "I just want you to be happy."

The sun was shining golden through the windows. If an outsider had seen them, they would have thought that they were straight out of a tragic romance movie on Netflix.
Her childhood friend and almost lover got up and with few more words left. Both of them needed space from each other before they could be friends again.

All at once, the flat was threateningly quiet.

Her heart was broken and still, he was fucking right.

She broke down on the couch and cried for a while. Not because she was so utterly in love with Josh, but because she had hurt him. It was unintentional, yet she felt, she had led him on. Her mind was a mess for the thousands time these past few weeks.

When she came here, she thought that finding a job would be different or paying bills or groceries. Noone had prepared her for this emotional roller coaster. 

"I'm an idiot. An absolute idiot."  The words repeated in her head.

...

Working the following week was rough. The days streched to infinity and helplessness never felt any less... well, helpless. 

Val tried to stick to some sort of routine. Waking up, getting ready, going to work, getting back, doing house chores, cook, two hours of scrolling through her phone or watching Netflix, going to bed, sleep, repeat.

Then one days stood out. As she was in the process of making food, she heard a car door being thrown shut on the streets. Sheer curiosity brought her to the window to take a quick glance. Ash was getting out of the car and on his way to the studio door. This was the chance that she had been waiting for the whole time. SHe ran outside with just her slippers.

"Ash! Please tell me you have a moment." He nodded, with his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Good. Is Wilbur gonna come her too?" He scrutinized her. "He's gonna be here but only later, why do you ask?" Her upcoming request put him in a state of ponderness. She tried to empasize the importance of it and her trustworthiness. 

"Alright, but let me tell you this: Do not take advantage of my and his trust."

"Thank you."