Through the Lens

Chapter 5

"Whatttttttt!!!!" Lydia screams drawing the attention of everyone to her side. She is at a coffee shop on the street of Abel's studio waiting for her coffee when she picks up a magazine at the counter to read. On the front page of the magazine is the most shocking news of her life.

"Abel Philips, a famous photographer happens to be the son of the business mogul, Shadrach Phillips. " She picks up her phone to put in Abel's name in the search engine amd when she does, different headlines pops up about the same news, Lydia storms out of the coffee shop without waiting to collect the coffee she paid for.

After their almost-kiss situation at the studio the previous day, a glimmer of hope had resurged in Lydia, hoping that they could put the past behind them and move forward.

In less than 5 minutes she arrives at the studio and walks in. Nobody was at the reception desk and she walks straight to Abel's office. She knocks on the door once and without waiting for response, she barges into the office. Abel who was already on a call with someone signals to her for a minute since he had an idea while she was there. When Abel was in highschool he had always had issues with friends. He once found his so called friends badmouthing him.

"He thinks he's all that because his father is rich" they had said. Abel decided to keep his father's riches to himself when he got to college and that was exactly the same thing he did.

Lydia paces to and fro the office and this makes Abel end his conversation with the person on the other end of the call.

"What's up?" Abel asks trying to keep things cool.

" What's up? I'll tell you what's up!!!! Your constant lies and deceit? That's what's up!!! I mean how could you keep that information from me?!!! How could you lie to me? How could yo...you" Lydia started off shouting with tears rolling down her eyes. She is tired of the lies, of the deceits, of the leading on, of falling for him despite their history, of everything.

Abel who doesn't know what to say to her through the outbursts, walks towards her as he noticed she had started hyperventilating.

"Lydia, take a look at me!" Abel calls to her moving her to sit on the black sofa in his office by her arms.

"Take a deep breath in slowly" Abel tells her and she follows the instruction.

"Out.." he says still holding on to her. He helped her through the breathing technique until her breathing is back to normal.

"Why?" Lydia asks with a tear rolling down her right eye.

"Why do you do all this?" Lydia asks not expecting any response from him.

"I'm sorry Lydia" Abel replies after taking a deep breath .Abel isn't just sorry for not telling her about his identity, he was sorry for everything that happened between them. He didn't know where to start apologizing, so he took a deep breath holding back his tears.

When Lydia didn't get an explanation, she moves out of his arms and walks out of the office to the restroom.

"You're stronger than this Lydia" She says to her image staring back at her. She wipes her face and retouch her makeup and walks out of fhe restroom to the changing room. The moment Lydia walks out of tlhis office, Abel rests his head in his palms and grunts out in frustration.

He walks out of his office and enters the studio where Natasha and Reuben were waiting for them.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asks after moving closer to him. Her and Reuben had heard the shout coming from his office. Reuben looks briefly to his side and smirks without anyone looking.

"I'm fine" Abel replies with a tight smile. Natasha knows Abel isn't fine but locks up knowing Abel isn't the type to express himself. She glances towards Reuben who is on his phone and takes a deep breath.

Lydia takes that moment to walk into the studio, her face back to normal. If they hadn't heard the noise from Abel's office, they'd think she's fine.

"Shall we?" She directs the question towards Abel without staring at him. A knife can cut through the tension in the room. Reuben moves closer to Lydia and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asks her with his look directed towards Abel. Since Abel received the mail from Josh the previous dsy, he had thought of many ways to use the mail to his advantage. When he woke up this morning and he saw the headlines of the news about Abel, he couldn't help but thank the universe for having his back. He decides to show her the pictures since one thing was already let out of the bag.

"Let me have a word with you in the changing room." Reuben whispers to Lydia who looks at him and nod.

"Okay, I don't want this to look weird, but someone sent this pictures to me this morning." He says as he unlocks his phone and opens his gallery.

"Wha...What?" Lydia asks no one in particular as she scrolls through the pictures of Abel and different ladies halfnaked. The pictures look extremely recent and Lydia can't help but feel deceived. She has been saving herself boy drama all these years,only to end up into one with the very first person that started it.

"Lydia?" Reuben calls out to her trying to hold her but she simply walks out of the door and enters the changing room.

"Ready? We'll start with...?" Abel asks cutting himself shut as he looks at Lydia who looks pale.

"Are you okay?" He rushes towards her after dropping his camera. He holds her shoulder with his two hands and stares at her. He has seen this look on her before and it sure isn't a good one.

"Mia, please talk to me, please?" Abel asks her searching for her eyes as she keeps moving them away not meeting his.

"Please, let me go" Lydia says in a way that makes his hands drop to his sides. This part of Lydia is the one that scares him the most. The Lydia that'd rather lock up than communicate. The one that builds up a wall so high and thick no one can break into. The one that left no room for explanation years ago.

Just as Abel launched to follow Lydia, Reuben who had walked in with her earlier stops him.

"Please move" Abel says trying to move past him.

" No, you coward" Reuben says to him spitefully which made Abel stop in his struggles.

"What? A coward? Who?" Abel had been called other things in his entire life but not a coward. He wonders what brings about this name. In response, Reuben rolls his eyes, brings out his phone and shows him the pictures. Having seen that, Abel opens his mouth in shock and takes an unconscious step back.

"Did you show her those?" Abel asks falling on the sofa with his hands in his hair.

"Of course I did." Reuben replies and walks out of the studio.

Just as he left, Abel receives a call from an unknown number.

"I know who did it" a muffled voice says

" I'm sorry what?"Abel asks completely drained and confused

"I know the person that sent those pictures" the muffled voice replied on the other end.