Rachel's PoV

March 3, 2034

It's almost 4 months since the incident with Ian.

*sigh

And here I thought he's probably got some extravagant surprise for my 19th birthday, but he didn't even greet me. He must really be committed into what he decided to do.

On the other hand, now I got time to think about Olivia... Huh? Wait, is this what Ian intended? Did he think that I wouldn't think about Olivia when I'm with him?

Ian, you idiot, why do you always do reckless things. But I'm thankful, I've been getting better at handling this than from when it started.

But walking and living alone still has to take a lot of work to getting used to.

Well, I'm able to get some personal cash with selling my artworks, so I wouldn't rely too much on my allowance. I wonder how granny and the others are doing? Surely, they have some sort of suspicion against Ian's decision, seriously, I didn't know he could lie like that.

I sat down near my computer to start freelancing again. I'm saving up to buy new art materials to improve the quality of my works.

Maybe, I should start illustrating comics or something?

And as I was browsing, I saw "Illustration for my short story, $400.00." I was like, woah! That much?! But I don't think I'm able to meet this guy's expectations so I'll start small.

An idea came to mind, how about the Literature Club? I'm sure they wouldn't want some of their works not illustrated, or maybe just provide cover arts for their poems. I should contact Annie ( the Art Club President ), and Monika as well, she's my classmate after all.

March 6, 2034

There's a program going on in the school and I figured it'll be the best time to negotiate since it's fairly quiet.

I knocked on the Literature Club's room and to no surprise, only Monika and Annie were there.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Monika with a bright smile.

"You see, I was freelancing and I encountered something that asks for illustration of a literature work, and it pays up to $400, which I can't possibly expect I can take on, the expectations are too high," I said while giving a sigh, "So I figured I'd start small with the Literature Club."

"I see, that should be a good idea but I don't think we can really pay decently," said Monika scratching her head with a chuckle.

"I understand, I just want to suggest it, I can find other offerings online anyways," I said with a cheerful smile.

"Oh, I think we could do like a program where the Literature Club and Art Club collaborates to make comics or something of the sort," said Annie with her legs crossed.

"Oh, that would be wonderful! As expected of President, coming up with such an idea," I said, jumping out of excitement.

"That certainly is possible, but there's this one promising member who has been on hiatus lately, says she needs personal space and will most likely come back next school year," said Monika with a slight disappointment in her expression.

"Oh, is that so? Can't we just have her participate next year? Since this is a first, it's better to have her next year to fill out the gaps and problems we might have. But that's not to say we're not gonna do our best," I said staring at Monika and she nodded.

"Alright then, it's all set, we'll have a comics exhibition before this school year ends. It's an honor to work with the ever-so prestigious Art Club," said Monika with a formal vow.

"Likewise, we're looking forward to work with you guys," said Annie vowing as well.

After our discussion was over, we head out to participate in the actual program our school is holding .

But I'm curious who Monika is talking about, well, in this setting, it must be Olivia, right? With the author being uncreative and repeating this same unknown but familiar person, wait what am I talking about?

Olivia was never really into writing back then, it's certainly a possibility that she might've developed the skill for it. But I'll focus on my work for now, I can't be possibly worrying about other stuff than myself.

As I was coloring my latest freelance art, I received a text from an unknown number.

"I would like to request a re-illustration of a one-shot I created. Can you meet me in front of Ceres Mall?"

Why does he or she want to meet me personally? Well, it can't hurt to go, but I still have to be wary, so I prepared a pocket knife just in case. I was taught martial arts but knives are better.

March 11,2034

I went to go to Ceres Mall and there stood a sophisticated lady with glasses and a mask, and a familiar hair.

.. .. ..

Mrs. Courtley?

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

I quickly ran and hugged her, it's been almost 9 years ever since I left that town but I will never forget Mrs. Courtley.

"You've really grown into a lady, Rachel," she said patting my head while embracing me, "When I had heard that there was a promising freelance artist here, I had almost 0 doubts it was you."

"But, how? There's so many possible artists in here, I'm not the only freelancer," I said, confused.

"Maybe it's just destiny," she said with a smile and chuckled.

We walked around Ceres Mall and decided to eat at a restaurant to discuss what she wanted me to illustrate.

"How have you been? Olivia passed a scholarship in Serenus University, so I figured you two might've encountered each other considering how inseparable you were back in elementary," she said as she takes a sip of her beverage.

What?

"Don't tell me you didn't know?" she asked fairly surprised.

"No, we weren't able to meet each other ever since 9 years ago..." I said with blatant dismay in my face.

"Oh, I see, don't worry, you'll encounter each other soon enough," said Mrs. Courtley with a comforting smile, "Anyways, here's the one-shot my daughter made, you can finish it anytime, I'll take care of the payment as well. Take your time and good luck."

With that, my little reunion with Mrs. Courtley comes to an end and I immediately read the story to see what characters are needed.

But what she mentioned won't leave my mind, Olivia is in Serenus University, how come we haven't seen each other yet? Just how far away are we when we're this close?

Well, the next time we see each other, it'll probably when I decide to choose Ian over her. Will I choose Ian over her?

April 5, 2034

It’s the day of the program managed by the Art Club and Literature Club, we managed to finish 3 comics and provide 10 cover arts for some Literature Club members’ poems.

There are 8 booths in total, 3 of which contains 5 copies of each of the comics, and the remaining 5 booths is inhabited by 2 club members each who voices out the poems in the respective booth.

Now, how are we able to organize all this? Monika has connections with the principal, and Annie is one rich gal.

Too bad, the “promising” Literature Club member, who is most likely Olivia, wasn’t able to participate with us. I’m still 100% going to pick Ian though, I just missed bonding with her, I mean, who wouldn’t want to see their childhood friend again, right?

Then again, I’m not so sure about why I want to see her again…

Well, I guess it’s nothing to worry too much over, summer break is about to come after all.

April 12, 2034

Now that the school year is offer, I can now focus more on freelancing, I still don’t have enough money for my desired art materials. And I guess, I’ll start with this, I held the one-shot Mrs. Courtley’s daughter made and I still try to get my head around the character designs and how I’m going to handle the background, number of panels per page, other character designs, and the color palette.

Well, maybe the best way to start working on this is just not think at all and go with whatever I feel like. Alright, that’s what I’ll do then.

Thus, I started working on the comics from day to night with 5 breaks in between.

I managed to finish 10 pages.

April 13, 2034

I continued working on it again, and I’m almost finished.

Well, it’s a one-shot after all, no wonder I’m this quick.

April 14,2034

It’s 9:23 P.M. and I’m tired, I just finished drawing, I have to review it, redraw some parts, clean it, then color it.

April 15,2034

As I was redrawing it, something familiar gets closer and closer to my mind.

I can't quite grasp what is it tho.

Anyways, I managed to redraw and trace everything into its final form.

It's already 11:34 PM and I went to bed.

April 16, 2034

I took this day as a break to go out and clear my mind for a bit. I don't want to go overstressing myself over that, I'm sure if I do my best, it'll be fine.

I contacted Annie to go out with me and chat for a bit. Being the luxurious girl she is, of course she's available and even picked me up at my apartment with her personal driver.

"Wow, just wow," was all I can say when we faced each other.

The day went fairly well and I was able to clear my mind of stress, as well as Annie. We chatted about relationships, art stuff, girl things and a bit of our respective social status.

As I got home, I felt like watching a movie or two with some homemade midnight snack as me and Annie already had dinner at the resort.

Oh yeah, we stayed at a resort for my supposed rest day, and it's apparently normal for her.

After watching the movie, I decided to stay at the balcony feeling the cold breeze for a while to think of some things.

What is Olivia doing right now? I wonder how much she's changed over the past years. And is it true that she still likes me? After 9 years? How is that even possible?

Anyways, assuming that is true, how am I supposed to dump her? I'm not indebted to her or anything, it was her choice to still like me after all those years. And I chose to move on with Ian.

But why is Ian doing this? Is he doubting my feelings? Or perhaps it's the other way around?

He mentioned something about what can truly make me happy and I'm certainly sure it's his presence.

Oh God, please help me make a decision I'm not gonna regret.

If I pick Olivia, I will be throwing away all of Ian's efforts to make me head over heels for him. And if I were to pick Ian, it would mean ignoring all of Olivia's efforts over the past years and can cause her to suffer even more.

I scratch my hair scrambling and messing it up.

"Why am I too pretty?"

I mumbled while pouting for some reason.

But I still know I can only pick one, I can't make both people happy.

And it hurts.

I still have 7 months left to decide but it still hurts.

I love Ian more than Olivia.

Or so I say.

April 17, 2034

I started coloring and I decided to color the characters before the background just so I make sure they're the highlights.

As I was coloring, I still have this weird feeling of familiarity, it's still at the back of my brain tho.

April 18, 2034

You guys must be wondering what I'm thinking while coloring this comic.

The author must be having fun with this teasing of his as if it removes the fact that he sucks at writing.

Oh, what am I talking about? I've been mentioning some pretty weird stuff lately.

Anyways, I'm almost done coloring all the characters and it's slowly coming to life.

I'm proud with my work so far.

April 19, 2020

I only had 2 breaks this day, lunch and dinner. But I ate breakfast before starting.

I'm only gonna have to take care of little details in the background as the background itself will not really be a problem.

And so, I colored, and colored, and colored, and colored to my heart's content.

I kept coloring as if there was tomorrow. Well, I want to finish it by today after all.

It was already 10:52 PM and I'm almost finished but also very tired.

"Almost... There," I said yawning after, "Just... A... Little... More..."

I kept fighting my sleepiness and it's 12:06 AM now.

As I fill in the last panel, my head fell to my desk, slamming not too hard.

April 20, 2034

Oh, I fell asleep?

I woke up sitting at the chair in my working area and I looked at the comics I was working on.

It's finally done, now time to invoke my privilege to be the first person to read this.

As I read it, the feeling of familiarity became clearer and clearer as I see the illustrations more and more.

I am captivated by the story, fascinated at the backgrounds I felt the scene fits in.

As I am almost done reading through the entire thing, it all became clear.

"The two female main characters looks like me and Olivia."

Yes, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I can always blame my subconscious for weird stuff I do.

But why do I feel relief instead of confusion?

Could it be?

No, no, no.

It's Ian who I love and I mustn't forget that.

But I love Olivia too, not in the way it came out to be when we were back in elementary tho.

In any case, I'm done with the comics, I can contact Mrs. Courtley about it now.