28: The Night the Lights Flickered

Biya's POV

If we were in a different world, Nyle and I would be the humans in the field full of vampires.

"Should we tell them?" I asked him and he smirked.

"Let's make this night entertaining." He replied before we faced the crowd again. They section we were in went silent waiting for our answer and I gripped my brother's arm tighter.

"She's my sister." He broke the news loud enough for the neighboring section to hear and all of them went crazy. I suppressed my laughter as we bade goodbye and they acted like toddlers who wanted their candies. Being in the spotlight has benefits, I thought. I found it very amusing. Once we were inside the building, I let him go and we both let out a huge breath of relief before we laughed.

"Oh my God! They went insane." I remarked with a laugh and my brother joined me.

"I know. That was awesome."

"You seem to be having a great time already." Someone spoke beside me and I turned around to see the familiar face of my boss.

"Blaze! I mean- Dottore Blaze-" He cut me off by the wave of his hand, his face saying 'no need for the formalities.'

"Just call me Blaze, Biya. Geez."

"Oh. Okay. What are you doing here? I thought you are in the hospital."

"I have a secret life. I can pull some strings and be here. I can leave if I'm needed." He winked and I rolled my eyes at him.

"So how about you? Why are you with the star of the night? Nice to meet you, by the way." He shook hands with Nyle. After that, he shot me a look before whispered "did you leave him?" then smiled mischievously.

"What did he mean by that?" Nyle asked out of curiosity. Blaze is doing this on purpose. I'm so going to find a case for him that will make his head hurt.

"It's nothing. Don't mind him." I dismissed the topic with a wave of my hand and I heard Blaze whisper to Nyle "Don't listen to her."

"Seriously though, why are you laughing when you just came outside? The entertainment is here, not there." He pointed outside where guests still kept on coming.

"Well, we just blew their minds out there." I said and he smiled in amusement.

"Really? How so?"

"He's my brother." His jaw dropped and Nyle chuckled.

"Shit! What?!"

"Yeah. My real brother." I added and she shook his head in disbelief.

"Wow. Tha- that's amazing! It's hard finding your real family let out a brother. Oh now I get it. That's why you dyed your hair blonde. To give them a hint which we obviously ignored. Stupid me. I could have guessed it with your physical features." Blaze said acting like a fool but then he sported a smirk on his face.

"I'm glad you met your brother, Biya. I'm happy for you." He said and we hugged.

"And you, young man, are amazing. I have seen half of your shots and they are all incredible. I saw a lot of emotions in one picture and now I see Emilio Carini in a different light."

"Thank you so much." They shook hands again and he excused himself to enjoy the rest of the show.

"They will be introducing me soon. I have to take my leave." Nyle informed me as we began to walk around.

"Where are your pictures?" I have not seen any picture yet. The building was pinted white with light coming from the ground and up in the ceiling. I have never been in here but I was fascinated with the maze- like architectural design.

"We have to enter there." He pointed at an entrance beside a huge white pillar located at the center. A huge TV screen was on the wall showing pictures of Nyle, his name and the title of his show; Shadows of the Spotlight. It gave me goosebumps that it was his title because it perfectly connected to what I felt with my relationship with Emil. I asked Nyle who provided the title and he said it was his idea himself. I have to mentally wake myself up from the shock I received and I felt as if I saw a ghost.

"Okay. Let's go." He offered his arm again and I linked arms with him before entering.

"Wow!" I stopped walking once I saw the pictures decorating the white walls of the building. They were all black and white showcasing different moods of Emil and some other people. I began looking around while Nyle has been called in for the program and for some important meeting. I was fine being alone and people hardly recognized me. I was safe with my new look and no one has bothered me... yet. I hear people talking about how good the pictures were and how he captured everything with great technique. I was speechless. He has a natural gift when it comes to photography. He did a great job. His pictures displayed the Emil people rarely see. My brother has captured Emil behind his fame and fortune. I was thinking that I was coming near the end of the show as I observed the growing number of people looking at the pictures framed and hanged on the walls. A photo captured my eye and I took a closer look. This was a subject of his that I have never seen in the recent ones. It was a woman and she's beautiful. Either she's brunette or has black hair. Her eyes were twinkling in the picture and she was looking right at the camera. What captured me the most was her sweet open smile! It was contagious. I looked around and saw the people who saw the picture were smiling like I was. It was enchanting.

"She could be a model, you know." I heard someone start a conversation beside me and her voice was familiar. I turned to my left and it was Em. There was a group of people a few feet away from us and Em closed the gap between us so we can talk privately, our shoulders brushing against each other.

"Hi Em! It's nice seeing you here." I greeted her and her face contorted into puzzlement but she completely erased it with a smile.

"Hello. Nice to meet you..." She trailed off trying to figure out who I was. Was I that unrecognizable?

"Oh God. You don't recognize me." I chuckled and she grinned guiltily.

"I'm sorry."

"It's Biya." I told her in a hush voice and she gasped before covering her mouth with both of her hands.

"Oh my Gosh! I didn't recognize you! You- wha- Wow. You look different." She looked at me from head to toe absolutely surprised.

"I only dyed my hair, Em." I pointed out as she touched my hair.

"And it changed you so much. Wow! You look more beautiful than ever. Radiant even."

"Thank you, Em. You look so beautiful too." Her hair was braided in a complicated way I wouldn't even dare try to learn. Her make- up was done perfectly as ever and her dress was bloody red. Out of Per's best friends, Em was the one who always dressed to impress. I learned that she's the woman that would not go out if she doesn't look satisfied with her look. I admired her for that. I was the type of person who didn't give a damn about how I look.

"Thanks. Matt prepped me." She grinned.

"Is he here tonight?"

"Unfortunately, no. He has to be in a photoshoot tonight then fly out of the country in the morning."

"Well, we have to accept that our jobs ruin bonding time sometimes." She chuckled.

"Tell me about it. We've been so busy we haven't talked for so long. I missed it. I missed you. I miss everyone." She had a sad smile on her face.

"Tell you what, if we have a free time, let's hang out."

"Oh that's great! We'll bring friends over and hopefully drag our best friends from their work." We broke into soft laughter imagining ourselves on that scenario.

"I will gladly do that." I told her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please gather in the main hall. Thank you very much." We heard the same announcer earlier speak.

"Your brother did great by the way. I'll see you there?"

"Yes. I'll see you there." I smiled and she turned around to speak with the group of people behind us. I have just taken a small step to start walking to the end of the maze- like hallway when I heard Emil's voice but it was in a soft tone. I didn't look back nor kept moving forward. I stayed in my position and listened.

"No. I won't. Stop it, Em." He grumbled and Em kept on rambling about something.

"I saw her earlier. I had to take a second look just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating." Em talked again.

"Yes. I know she changed. But- damn it." He cursed under his breath and I knew it was my cue to leave. However, what he said next made my heart drop.

"She's beautiful to me whether her hair is black or blonde. I don't want to look at her because I hate her, I don't want to look at her for the second time because if I do, I know there's no turning back. I'm trying to pull myself together, Em, and you're not helping. I still love her and it's illegal. She has someone else!" I heard the last sentence being growled out in a deeper tone which meant he was trying to control himself. I slightly turned around tilting my head to the side to catch a glimpse of them. I saw him storm off and Em felt guilty on pushing him. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily. She turned around and spotted me. One look from her and she knew I heard what he said.

"Oh shit." She muttered under her breath before she took off the same direction Emil went.

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