The sound of a camera snapping a photo lingers in Artemis's mind, then followed by the printing sound of a photo film. Artemis took out the photo from her Polaroid Camera, flapping it intensely in the air to let the picture becomes visible.
"That looks about right." Artemis said to herself when she looked at the photo film.
Then, Artemis placed the photo in between two pages of a journal book and tossed it and her camera in her backpack. She takes out her phone and dials a certain phone number.
"Hello, is this the taxi company? Yeah, I need you to send a taxi to Puchong Street. Yes, just a regular taxi please. 5 minutes? Okay. Thank you, bye." Artemis ended the phone call.
Artemis went to the main Puchong street and waited, waited, and waited...
How long is 5 minutes anyways? Artemis thought. And she heard a beeping sound.
Artemis saw a taxi stopped in front of her. The driver's window rolled down and a man plopped his head out.
"Are you the one who requested a taxi at Puchong Street?" The man asked.
"Yes." Artemis replied.
"Then what are you waiting for? Get in." The man said.
Stunned by the taxi driver's impatient reaction, Artemis quickly runs to the passenger's door and opened it, she quickly got in the passenger's seat and closed the door. The taxi started to move. Pure, awkward silence starts to form in the car.
"Where are you going?" The man asked out of the blue.
"Bluelight Studios." Artemis replied.
"Could you enter the address in the GPS?" The man asked again.
"Wait, what?" Artemis asked.
"Enter the address in the GPS. You know, your destination. Did you expect me to enter it? I'm driving here!" The man snapped.
"Yes, yes. I'll enter it. It is indeed very dangerous!" Artemis replied sarcastically.
Artemis entered the address in the GPS quietly, sulking as she lost the quarrel that she didn't try to argue.
Self-service much?
As she finished entering the address, she browsed the compartment above the GPS. It was filled with famous people's signatures and pictures with the taxi driver.
What luck does this ill-tempered man have?
"We're here." The man snapped.
"How much is it?" Artemis asked.
"10 ringgit, miss." The man replied.
Artemis rummaged her bag, and her Polaroid Camera dropped out. The taxi driver saw the camera and picked it up, examining it.
"What kind of crap is this?" The man said and later saw the special signature that says 'Artemis Blue'.
"Wait, aren't you the famous photographer Artemis Blue? I knew you looked familiar and you were going to your company." The man asked, his words became more gentle.
"Yes, I am. And please give me back my camera." Artemis handed out 10 ringgit to the taxi driver and pulled out her other hand to receive the camera.
"Oh, sure." The man gave the camera back.
"I'll be going now." Artemis kept her camera and her purse in her bag and safely zipped it, opening the car door.
"Wait, can I have an autograph? I really love your artwork." The man asked.
Artemis got out of the car when the taxi driver asked her the autograph.
"I'm sorry. But I do not simply give autographs to people that treat strangers badly and becomes nice when the stranger is a famous person. Everybody is equal and you should treat them that way." Artemis smirked and slammed the taxi door shut.
Artemis felt good about serving justice for herself as she confidentially walked up to the big and fancy flight of stairs up to the studio. But the taxi driver did not gave up.
"You'll regret this if you don't give me your signature! I'll stalk you forever!" The taxi driver said after rolling down the window.
"Fuck off. If you don't I'll call the cops and probably sue you." Artemis said after turning her head over her shoulder, giving him the middle finger.
The taxi driver got scared by the aura Artemis gave. It's as if she is the reincarnation of the Artemis Goddess. The taxi driver then quickly rolled up the window and scurried off with his taxi.
Artemis went into the building. As she walked into an elevator that brings her up to the 12th floor, she realized other colleagues staring at her. Not specifically staring at her, more like her hair was having all the attention. Well, her hair is one of the parts that is really hard to not get attention. Besides her glowy-like porcelain skin, her deep brown eyes, her natural lips, her oddly tall figure that is about 168cm (usually taller than most women in Malaysia), her long and natural dark chestnut-color-like hair has the color of baby blue dyed at the ends of her hair.
She thought that having baby blue eyed at the ends of her hair would make her feel special. Because there aren't many people in Malaysia who would dye their hair into other colors besides black, brown or blonde. Making herself special makes her feel more bold and confident.
The elevator finally reached that the 12th floor, the doors of the elevator opens as the speaker gives a notice of the door opening at the 12th floor. Artemis walked out of the elevator and went to the CEO's office.
Artemis knocked the door, followed by a woman's voice saying 'Come in'. Artemis twisted the doorknob and opened the door, the sunlight from the window shines at Artemis. Beside the window lies a desk and a chair with a woman sitting on it.
"You're finally here." The woman said, looking up to see Artemis.
"I'm back. What is the urgency of calling me so quickly, Aunt Maria? I was still taking pictures with my camera." Artemis asked.
Maria Lee, known as Maria Lewis after her marriage with her beloved husband is the sole CEO and Founder of Bluelight Studios. Bluelight Studios was created at the date of Artemis's birth and was called Bluelight because during Artemis's birth, it was at night and a blue moon appeared. Stunned by Artemis's amazing photography talent years later led by Aunt Maria to feature Artemis's artwork in one of the weekly magazines made Artemis famous. And that is one of the reasons why Aunt Maria loves Artemis not only as a family, also as a boss and best friend.
"Do you have your artwork made and ready for me to look?" Aunt Maria asked, taking out her laptop and turning it on.
"Yes, I do. But I thought the date of presentation is 3 weeks later?" Artemis answered.
"I just want to take a quick look. Hand me the your pendrive, dear." Aunt Maria said while wearing her glasses, handing out her hand for the pendrive.
Artemis was confused about Aunt Maria's sudden request. Without hesitation, Artemis walked up to her desk and pulled out her pendrive out of one of her zipped pockets, putting it on Aunt Maria's palm. Aunt Maria grasps onto the pendrive and uncapped it, plugging it into the laptop and looked into the folder that says 'Winter Presentation 2017'. Aunt Maria browsed over dozens of her pictures, her eyes squinting.
"Come and have a look at this." Aunt Maria said without taking her eyes off the screen.
Artemis could sense that something is going wrong. But what is the problem? She walks around the desk, leaning her right arm on the top of Aunt Maria's chair and placing her left arm at the edge of the table to stabilize herself, lowering her back to take a proper look on the screen.
"What is the problem, Aunt Maria?" Artemis asked straightforwardly.
"Can't you see that there is some emotionless feeling lurking around in these pictures? It is slowly becoming more obvious and I want to stop this before our viewers to realize this." Aunt Maria said, moving the cursor around the picture to make things more specific and changing pictures with a touch of the keyboard.
"What do I do to change this behavior?" Artemis asked for advice.
"Obviously, we have to find the source of this. It must be something that affects with your life." Aunt Maria replied.
"Then what is it?" Artemis stood up straight, shaping her right hand to a fist and placing it at her lips, having her left arm to support the right arm indicating as an action of thinking.
"Have you ever dated anybody?" Aunt Maria suddenly asked out of the blue, her voice pitched slightly higher than her usual voice, turning around to look at Artemis with a gleeful look on her face.
"No, why?" Artemis answered seriously, she didn't pay attention to Aunt Maria's sudden behavior.
"You need to try dating someone." Aunt Maria smiled, standing up and placing her hands on Artemis's shoulders, saying, "And I know how to do it."
"Wait, what!?" Artemis snapped out of her thought, she knew that her Aunt has been asking her to get a boyfriend for the past few months but never pushed her this far, so she thought Aunt Maria wasn't serious about it.
"Let's have a trip to America and pay a little visit to our newly opened branch at Washington, D.C." Aunt Maria said happily after letting go of Artemis from her shoulders.
"How long shall we go there?" Artemis asked.
"Hm, about two years? We can work at that branch. But there are conditions." Aunt Maria replied.
"What are those conditions?" Artemis asked again.
"You have to go there and solve this emotionless problem. You are free to take leaves whenever you want in these 2 years. But if you failed to solve this problem after these 2 years, consider yourself fired. Will you accept this challenge?" Aunt Maria asked seriously.
"Yes, I will." Artemis replied without hesitation. She knows that she have to improve and become better at her job, and Aunt Maria is the perfect person to guide her way to success.
"I already love the attitude you have in yourself, my dear! That's why I knew I had to choose you years ago!" Aunt Maria smiled.
"When will we leave?" Artemis asked.
"Tomorrow at 5AM." Aunt Maria replied.
"Wait, so you're this confident that I will go with you to the point you booked the flight before I even accepted it?" Artemis asked happily.
"Of course, you're always up for challenges. Even if you have the slightest chance to succeed." Aunt Maria said happily.
Artemis and Aunt Maria laughed happily.
"Hurry up back home. I'm sure you will have a ton of things to pack and a ton of things to say to your parents before you leave." Aunt Maria said.
"Okay then. Goodbye and have a good night Aunt Maria!" Artemis said.
"Bye dear, have a good night's rest of beauty sleep. Tomorrow is a very long way to America!" Aunt Maria replied and Artemis left the room.
"Your aunt said what!?" Artemis's mom and dad said out of surprise, crossing their arms and sitting on double seated sofa in the living room while Artemis sat on the single seated sofa across their's.
"So, can I go? My job is on the line anyways!" Artemis said.
"Well, your job is indeed on the line. Fine! You can go! But you have to contact us every single day so that we know you're alive!" Artemis's dad said.
"But John!" Artemis's mom said to her husband in shock that he agreed to this.
"We all know your sister is absurd and we can't stop her anyways, and we've been keeping Artemis like a bird in a cage for 21 years. It is time we set it free once in a while." Artemis's dad said while Artemis is shocked to hear her own dad comparing herself to a bird in a cage.
"Oh, alright then. But make you do what your dad says!" Artemis's mom said.
"I will." Artemis said.
"Good, you may be excused." Artemis's dad said.
Artemis stood up, walking to her room in relief. Her parents were always very protective of Artemis, after what happened to her brother. They amped up the protective system. Artemis took a quick break by lying down on her bed, having deep thoughts and began to pack her stuff that could last for 2 years. A big luggage filled with all her clothes and accessories to the point she barely managed to zip closed, a medium sized luggage to put her makeup, her work equipment and etc. She took a bagpack and filled it up with her daily needs like her laptop and stuff.
Let's hope tomorrow is a good day, Artemis thought while she was done with packing and is setting herself to sleep.
"Artemis, dear. You're finally here!" Aunt Maria waved at her at the airport, handling twice as much of what Artemis packed.
Artemis and her parents went up to Aunt Maria. And Artemis knew it was the time to say goodbye to her parents.
"Goodbye mom, dad." Artemis said after turning around, giving them a big hug and a few shed of tears.
"It's alright. You needed some independence anyways." Artemis's mom said.
"Just make sure to do what you promised me." Artemis's dad said.
"I'll miss you." Artemis said, still hugging her parents tightly.
"We'll miss you too." Artemis's mom said, both her and her husband hugs Artemis tightly too.
"I'm sorry to break the moment, but the time is ticking!" Aunt Maria said suddenly.
Artemis and her parents stopped hugging each other. Both parties gave their wishes and kisses and her dad gave Artemis's luggage to her.
"Take care and let's always stay in touch!" Artemis said, and her parents nodding while resisting the urge to cry.
Artemis gave her parents a few seconds for a last look at her parents. How their face are wrinkled for all these years, their hair turning grey from the tip of their roots to the ends of their hair. And all of those years of effort to take care of Artemis.
"Goodbye." Artemis said as she rolled her luggages and walked to her aunt's direction. She could hear her mother sobbing, breaking in tears. But Artemis's couldn't resist this anymore. She needs to leave, so that the pain of leaving your beloved parents would be shorter than for staying longer.
"Let's go." Aunt Maria said, leading the way.
As Artemis and Aunt Maria boarded the plane, leaving their luggages to put in the plane cargo, they went in and tried to find their seat.
"A1-0 and A1-1." Artemis spotted their seats as they entered the plane. They both sat down at their seats which was in the first row, surprisingly her aunt booked the business class seats which were more expensive than economy seats.
"I can't believe you paid extra money for these seats when you already paid more than enough!" Artemis told Aunt Maria.
"Well, we are businesswomen anyways. So what's the issue about a pair of businesswomen sitting on a pair of business class seats at the first row?" Aunt Maria said.
"You do have a point." Artemis replied.
"Yeah, I do. Tell me about it, you and your parents having drama while I am there keeping track of time so that we do not miss the flight." Aunt Maria rolled her eyes.
"Well, it was sad. And I'm pretty sure you would do the same if you were me." Artemis said.
"You do have a point, there." Aunt Maria replied.
"Yeah, I do." Artemis said sarcastically. Both of them laughed.
"Sometimes I really think that you resemble towards me more than your mom." Aunt Maria giggled.
"I know right. I am a workaholic, beautiful and being in a photographic industry, just like you." Artemis said.
"Oh, I see what you did there!" Aunt Maria said after realizing Artemis's narcissists becoming into a compliment to herself, flicking out both hand's of her index finger and her thumb at Artemis.
"I also forgot I am smart too, like you." Artemis smiled at Aunt Maria, and so did she return it back.
Artemis and Aunt Maria continued to talk to each other until the speaker made some noise.
"Alrighty, alrighty. Please quickly put your luggages in the storage space above your seats and quickly get seated. I repeat, please quickly put your luggages in the storage space above your seats and quickly get seated. If you have troubles of finding your seat or having problems with putting your luggages into the storage space, please feel free to call a stewardess or a steward to help you. Please wear your seatbelts and fasten it. Live demonstrations of the emergency procedures will be starting soon." The speaker said.
After everybody are seated with their seatbelts fastened on tightly on their waists, the live demonstrations begins. Everyone silently watched the stewardesses and the stewards demonstrating the procedure physically. After the live demonstration ended, the stewardesses and stewards quickly got back to their seats and fastened their seatbelts, the plane starts to move. The plane slowly moved to the rapid speed, and at last, the plane is flying.
Artemis was looking out of the window as the plane starts to fly, she then turns back around to see what was Aunt Maria doing. What was she doing, exactly? Artemis saw Aunt Maria, wearing a neck pillow at her neck, deep asleep. Artemis silently giggled as she saw how weird Aunt Maria looks when she is asleep.
Is that why she got married to a stranger that I've never seen before? Artemis thought.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOo7dN9jK7
The plane landed after 29 hours of flying across the world. Artemis and Aunt Maria came out of the plane with bloodshot eyes and wobbly legs.
"I can't fucking believe that fucking baby can't shut the fuck up for the entire night!" Aunt Maria fussed.
"Yeah, and the worst part is that the mother was deep asleep. Is she unconcious? Or is she just deaf?" Artemis agreed.
"Probably both." Aunt Maria said, smacking her right hand on her forehead, rubbing her face with both of her hands afterwards.
"Careful, you're going to ruin your makeup." Artemis said.
"Oh, shit! Is it okay? Is my makeup okay?" Aunt Maria turned her face close to Artemis.
"Surprisingly, yes. It is fine." Artemis said, slightly shooked.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaHFCjKgmv
"Let's hurry and get our luggages! We can't let Adam wait!" Aunt Maria said, pulling Artemis to the Luggage Retrieving Section.
"Wait, who's Adam?" Artemis said as she didn't mind getting pulled across the entire place.
"Who else, Adam is my husband!" Aunt Maria said happily.
"You didn't even tell anyone who you got married to, how the fuck do we know what name does your husband even have?" Artemis said.
"Just help and take your own luggages." Aunt Maria said, arriving to the section.
Both of them took their luggages and counted correctly whether did they forget one or not.
"Seems about right. How about you?" Artemis asked.
"I got mine already!" Aunt Maria said.
"Okay, let's just pull these into the trolley and get out of here!" Artemis said.
They both placed all of their luggages into individual trolleys and pulled it to the entrance of the airport. Artemis realized a car with a man leaning against it, waiting for someone.
"Hubby!" Aunt Maria screamed, running to the man, throwing her arms around his neck and showering him with kisses before the man could even react.
"I hope she got the wrong person, it would've been 10 times funnier!" Artemis sighed, tugging two full-loaded trolleys towards Aunt Maria's direction.
"Ready to introduce him to me?" Artemis sighed.
"Oh, sure! This is Adam Lewis, my husband!" Aunt Maria said after she stopped showering him with kisses.
The man has short blonde hair, furry eyebrows and brown eyes. He looked like he could be over 180cm tall. His face is very handsome, if he could rub off all of that red lipstick off.
"Oh, hey. You must be Artemis Blue, my new niece, right? Nice to meet you!" Uncle Adam smiled, offering Artemis a handshake.
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Uncle Adam. But could you minimize the kissing scenes in public? To be honest, I feel disgusted." Artemis said, accepting the handshake.
"Oh darling, you will understand this when you fall in love." Aunt Maria giggled.
"So, can we go now?" Artemis asked.
"We? No, it's you, darling." Aunt Maria smiled.
"What!?" Artemis felt rejected.
"We have our own home to live, here." Uncle Adam said, giving her a note, a credit card and an envelope filled with cash.
"What are these used for?" Artemis asked.
"The note has the apartment address that your going to live by yourself with a set of keys in between it, that credit card is attached to your Uncle's bank, but it is under your name so you can feel free to use it whenever you like, and that envelope has 10000 dollars. Oh, and I already told Adam to pay for your apartment fees for two whole years. So enjoy your independence!" Aunt Maria smiled.
Aunt Maria got into the car as Uncle Adam placed her luggages into the car boot and got into the car as well. Then, the both of them left.
"Well, I'm basically fucked. Why did I agree to do this in the first place anyways?" Artemis said to herself, awkwardly smiling.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sJodw7L2t
Artemis got to figure out how to survive in this foreign country by herself, which is oddly scary, even though she knows how to speak proper English fluently. The first thing she thought is to get a taxi. After 10 minutes of flapping her hand around the air like a maniac, she finally got a taxi. She got into the taxi as the taxi driver helped her to put all the luggages into the car boot and got into the car aswell.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHO5XZwNRwy
"Where are you going, miss?" The man asked.
"To this place according to the address in this note." Artemis gave the note to the driver. The driver then enters the address into the GPS and gives back the note to Artemis as he starts to drive.
"You seem to have a great American accent for an Asian." The driver said.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAf25sh1seW
"I often get that." Artemis said.
"Where are you from?" The driver asked.
"I'm from Malaysia." Artemis replied.
"Oh, really? It is a beautiful place, indeed." The driver said.
"You've been there?" Artemis asked.
"No, but I've seen it on TV." The driver answered.
"Oh, okay then." Artemis said.
"We're here, miss." The driver said after 10 minutes.
"How much is it?" Artemis asked.
"5 dollars." The driver said.
"Okay, here." Artemis said, giving 5 dollars to the driver.
"Would you like a receipt?" The driver asked.
"Sure." Artemis replied.
The driver took out a book of receipts and wrote on it, tearing one off as he passed it to Artemis.
"Thank you." Artemis said, getting out of the car as she unload her stuff from the car boot and went into her apartment, which is on the 19th floor.
Artemis took out the set of keys as she unlocked the door, she threw her stuff into the apartment and locked the door, hanging the keys on a key hanger.
"This place looks very beautiful, and spacious indeed!" Artemis said happily. Thinking that she should stock up stuff in her new home, she went out again in the streets.
Artemis holding a bunch of paper bags filled with stuff she bought in the supermarket, thinking that she couldn't believe that she only spent 20 dollars.
As Artemis crossed the road, she bumped into a man. Both of them shouted as they fell. The man was lying face upright on the road, with Artemis toppling on him as she was protecting the stuff she bought.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup61E5nHlj
Artemis was closing her eyes tightly when she was falling, but the aftermath of it wasn't as bad as she thought. She opened her eyes to see who was cushioning her fall, and she saw a man with brown hair, a dashing beard and a pair of beautiful hazel green eyes, looking eye-to-eye at Artemis's.
Artemis felt that her heard throbbed but in a good way, her stomach was filled with butterflies and her mind freaking out about the eye and skin contact.636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC57WI1y5lc
Is this love?636Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bqGQYi3YW
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