Can't I Touch Your Heart?

Chapter 8 My Happy Place

Rhea slowly paddled her bicycle up the slope of the bridge and came down as the evening breeze struck her face, "Why are you so heavy?!" She yelled and Ember began laughing while sitting on the pillion, "Half of my body weight is my heart," He said.
"Cringe,"

He laughed and she looked at the blue sky, "Ember,"
"Hmm?"
"How's painting?"
"I'm still horrible at it," He laughed, "I'm not an artist,"

"Keep trying,"
"Yeah,"
"By the way, I joined the painting club,"
"Really?" His eyes lit up, "That's wonderful!" She couldn't look at him but his voice told her that he was smiling. And that made her smile. But sadness soon took over, 

"I don't know what to do though,"
"What do you mean?"
"My dad would be angry if he knows that I've started painting in eleventh grade. He'll be like you should study, not waste time on art. He'd call me crazy again,"
"To create art is to always be crazier," Ember said.

"Not for people like me. I mean...I'm not that good at painting that I can continue it for the rest of my life,"
"Rhea, chill! You don't have to start worrying about life already. Do you like painting right now? At this moment?"

"I guess,"
He smiled, "Then enjoy it while you do. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want,"
She smiled, "So do you!"
He smiled at her but didn't say anything.

"Rhea, stop here," He stopped in front of those ruins again, "I'll get going now," Rhea looked at him leave. Was his house nearby? He always got down near those abandoned building. 
Was Ember really poor?
But his clothes spoke otherwise. 

What if those clothes were just for show off?

She got curious. So, she got down her bicycle and followed him quietly. He walked through the algae covered roads, through the broken walls and the rusty metal works. That building was a grand project the government started about ten years back, but never finished due to some public dispute and hence those ruins just lay like that ever since.

He was a slow walker. Really slow. 
He seemed to be dreaming as he walked, looking up at the sky. She followed him quietly. He soon wore his headphones and continued walking. It was a long way from that street she had left behind. She looked back. She was far away from the main road. She looked ahead. Ember was still walking towards the fields crossing the ruins. She walked behind him through the fields, finally ending on a highway. 

It was dark already. The stars were shining in the sky and the city lights shone far away. Ember was beginning to disappear in the dark so she moved closer to him. He couldn't hear her anyways, he had his headphones plugged in. The highway was completely empty and quiet. Wasn't this man scared of anything?

The fields were empty and so was that highway. Someone could kill him there and bury his body in the field. No one would ever find out. Suddenly, Rhea saw two bright lights far away, at the edge of the highway. It seemed like a car, approaching him at an extremely high speed. He stood at the middle of the highway, looking into his phone and the car approached him at full speed.

"EMBER!" Rhea shouted as she ran towards him. But he was too engulfed into his phone. The car almost hit him but Rhea pushed him away and stood before the car. It stopped immediately. Ember fell on the other side of the road. The driver came out of the car and looked at Ember, "Are you okay, sir?" He asked Ember. He was a white man too. His hair was grey and he seemed really old.

"HEY! YOU COULD'VE KILLED HIM!" Rhea shouted.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Rhea!" Ember got up and brushed his clothes, "Hey-"
"STOP BEING SO ADDICTED TO YOUR GODDAMN PHONE! YOU COULD'VE DIED!"

Ember looked at that old man and he looked at Ember.
"What?" Rhea looked at them.
"Chuck won't kill me," Ember said.
"Yes, he would-Wait-You know him?"