Epilogue

Sam's POV

// Six years later //

Walking down the busy street, I dodged yet another body, trying not to lose my patience. It was a cloudy day, a grey storm covering up the small breach of sky that could be seen between the tall buildings, their colour matching my mood as I kept on walking. The constant honking of the cars' horns around didn't help at all, but I tried to tune them out, futilely trying to focus on the window displays on my side and not letting go of the hand clasped in mine.

New York would always be an overwhelming city for me, and even after travelling all around the world, I would never get used to the constant buzzing and noise that big cities entailed. Everybody seemed to be in a rush, not having time to stop and actually enjoy the little things in life, which was something I had grown to appreciate over time.

Looking both ways before even daring to step onto the road, we crossed the street, and I secretly hoped this one would be less crowded, as I was already tired of bumping into more people. I started to wonder how I would endure living in the city even though it would be just for a couple of weeks, when the incessant tugging on my hand made me come to a stop.

-          You are walking too fast – Sophia complained as I turned to look at her. I tiredly sighed, but smiled all the same, making sure I kept on walking at a slower pace.

-          I'm sorry, I just can't wait to get somewhere with less people – I admitted, lacing my fingers with hers as I did feel a little bit guilty about having dragged her without even noticing it.

-          But you don't get to see what's in the shops around – she replied, oblivious to the fact that I wasn't planning on buying anything.

I had promised we would take a walk around the SoHo as soon as we had landed at JFK, because she had been insistent on visiting the neighbourhood and I had thought that, in spite of it being cloudy, we could enjoy the day walking around the area. I had also believed that implied finding some interesting street art to take nice pictures of, visiting some cool distinctive spots or sitting at a nice café to people watch through the window, taking in the beautiful architecture. But it had already been forty minutes since we had got off the subway, and we had only found ourselves hopping from store to store.

-          It's getting kind of boring, babe, why don't we do something else? I'm sure there are a ton of things to do around here – I told her, trying to get the fact that I didn't want to shop anymore across.

-          Alright, I guess I can compromise a bit – she rolled her eyes but chuckled all the same, kissing my cheek quickly before she followed me as I kept on walking – Hey, hold on, that looks like something you would enjoy – she said after we had taken just a couple of steps, tugging from my hand again.

-          I've already told you, Soph, I don't feel like shopping anymore – I made an effort to keep my tone collected, while internally, I was groaning. I tried to keep on walking, but she wouldn't stop pulling from my hand, and it was starting to get annoying – I'm seriou-

-          I'm serious too, look – she insisted, pointing across the street to a particular store.

There weren't any clothes nor artifacts on its window display, making me frown as she kept on pulling from my hand and talking my ears out, but they had become suddenly deaf to any kind of sounds surrounding me. I kept on studying the building's front, immediately realising it wasn't an actual store, while I let Sophia drag me across the street towards said place. My eyes didn't seem able to look away, and for some unknown reason, I suddenly felt nervous as we neared the art gallery she had spotted.

The big sign on top of the window only read "We shall be free", and internally shook my head, knowing it had to be too much of a coincidence, and that those words were pretty common apart from being the last words of the lyrics I knew so well. But when I looked at what was displayed on the other side of the glass, it became harder to convince myself of it, as everywhere I looked screamed I was right.

The painting in front of me wasn't a realistic one, yet I could recreate every single thing the different brushes had reproduced in the artist's unique view, without even having to open my eyes to stare at it. A million unique colours portrayed the sunset perfectly, all coming together to merge into different hues of purple, pink and orange that took over the dying sky in the most beautiful way. I could tell without having to think about it for a second that the abstract lines at the bottom were bringing the suburban area below back to life, with tiny specks of gold and silver that imitated the scenery at the exact same moment people started to turn on the lights, as darkness would soon take over the day.

You could see the rocks from the hill where the artist's mind stood at while painting this, knowing exactly which one moulded most comfortably to my back after having spent uncountable hours there. I could even hear the birds and grasshoppers chirping, with the soft sound of leaves brushing against each other, the serenity of the memories brought to my head being enough to lighten my previous sour mood.

It was the hill, my secret spot near home back in Michigan, and there was no way of convincing me otherwise.

Each brush stroke made you feel the wind softly blowing against your skin in the evening depicted, their movement making me think of a couple Impressionist artists as they repeated all over the canvas. But I knew that this artist excelled in a ton of different styles, the other paintings on the walls inside that you could barely see from the outside being proof of it.

I had tuned Sophia out a while ago, but my ears seemed to hold onto her words when she read the signature at the bottom of the painting, spelling out the initials.

-          "G.M.J." – she said thoughtfully, looking all over the painting again before focusing back on those three letters – Never heard of them.

I failed to respond, as it seemed like my mouth refused to articulate any words. She squeezed my hand while she turned to stare at me, looking proud of her self for finding something that had actually caught my interest. She wasn't wrong, as it had literally left me speechless.

-          See? I knew you would like it – she beamed, leaning up to kiss my cheek. I was still dumbfounded, trying to process everything going on, and to convince myself that it wasn't possible, that this all had to be some sort of weird coincidence or dream – Let's go inside, there seems to be more stuff there.

Still not being in complete control of my limbs, I let her drag me inside, being immediately greeted by a short girl who stood behind the counter.

-          Welcome, my name is Mei Ling. Feel free to take a look around and let me know if you need some help or have any questions – she smiled our way, making sure we didn't need anything before she went back to the papers in front of her.

The place remained silent as we walked around, as there was no one else inside the gallery, the only sound coming from the girl's rustling papers and the increasing beating of my heart, which seemed far away from being tamed. Each painting we stared at made my thoughts go wilder, and it soon became unbearable to keep on looking around, the million different scenarios and speculations product of my imagination making it impossible to carry on. I needed to know I wasn't just making this all up.

-          Excuse me – I said, clearing my throat after realising my voice had come out raspy. Sophia teared her eyes away from the painting we were currently starting at and looked up at me, not knowing what I could possibly ask the girl working there – Do you know if the artist is around?

-          Oh, you've just missed her, she left to pick up some stuff around twenty minutes ago – Mei Ling replied, looking down at her wristwatch – But she should be here soon, if you stay for a couple more minutes, you'll probably get to see her.

-          Thank you – I politely smiled back, being me the one who dragged Sophia by the hand this time as I moved to stare at another painting.

The "she" coming out of the girl's mouth had been enough confirmation that I wasn't wrong, and that this had to be the gallery I had wondered many times in the past years if it had ever existed. But I had never imagined I could come across it in New York, on a random walk around the SoHo, without any heads up or indication that could prepare me for this moment.

I was startled out of my thoughts by the noise at the front of the gallery, when a guy walked in backwards, having probably pushed the glass door open with his back as his hands were carrying a pile of what looked like heavy boxes.

-          Hey, leave them here – the girl Mei Ling pointed to a corner and moved to help him. And when he turned around, a mixture of feelings ran through me, as my suspicions were finally confirmed, but my stomach dropped with anxiousness at the same time.

-          Sam? – he let out with an incredulous laugh, a smile spreading on his face as he put the last box down.

-          Hey, it's been a long time – I forced what I thought was a believable smile as he walked over to me, patting on my shoulder as we shared a brief hug.

Chase's tall frame still hovered over mine, and even if he had always trained for as long as I had known him, I could tell he was more built up than the last time I had seen him. But apart from that, he looked the same, his blonde hair falling over his forehead and his too kind of a smile flashing our way.

-          What are you doing here? I thought you guys would be somewhere crazy around the world by now.

-          Yeah, had to drag our asses back, some stuff needs to be done here from time to time – I chuckled back, noticing he had suddenly become aware of Sophia's presence my by side – Oh, I'm sorry, this is Sophia, my girlfriend. Babe, this is Chase, a long-time friend – I introduced them, and the both of them waved with polite smiles.

I was about to ask if he was living in the city, trying to subtly get to know what he was doing in New York, but I got interrupted as the door opened again, a groan I knew too well coming from it.

-          Yes, I'm great, thanks for the help – she whined as she carried a pile of big boxes in, which seemed heavier than her whole body, walking backwards just like Chase had done.

He hurried to her side to help her with a chuckle, but my body seemed frozen on its spot, not being able to move an inch once my eyes had landed on her.

Her brown hair was as long as I remembered, not like mine which I had chopped off a couple years before, and her summer dress showed that her long legs looked as smooth and tan as always. When Chase picked up the top boxes from the pile in her arms, I was able to see her profile, with her perky nose and plump, perfect lips tugging a smile on her face while she rolled her chocolate eyes at him.

She was chuckling at him when she turned around, probably realising there were some visitors at the gallery, and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear with her hand that wasn't holding the last box, something I knew she did out of nervousness. I found it alluring, that after six years she still felt anxious about people staring at her paintings, knowing she felt like she was opening her soul to them.

But when her eyes fell on me, she froze on her spot, just like I had done upon first seeing her, blinking a couple of times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Our eyes fixed on each other, a thousand memories flashing through my mind in just a couple of seconds before Sophia's hand squeezing mine brought me out of my trance, and I blinked myself in an attempt to regain some composure.

-          Hey – I nervously said, seeing her cheeks pale before she dropped the box in her hand to the floor, the clash of hundred brushes falling on the white tiles being followed by a pin drop silence.

"I sing in silent harmonyWe shall be free"

Guinevere

(Crosby, Stills & Nash)

The end.

__________________________

Now yes, Roommates is officially over😢

Writing this book has been an emotional rollercoaster and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I can't believe I posted the first chapter in 2019 (!!!), it really doesn't feel that long since I started this journey.

Thank you for your constant support, you kept me inspired and pushed me to better myself.

I'm glad to announce that Soulmates, the sequel to this book, is already available on my profile for those of you who want to know where this story goes to.

I'll be rewriting some chapters on this book too, correcting some grammar mistakes and changing up some details. I'll let you know once I'm done going over it if any of you wants to re-read the polished version.

Once again, thank you for sticking with me on this journey, and for all of your unconditional love and support.

Forever grateful,

Laura💚