Cathryn was so immersed with my painting, making each goddess as realistic as possible—like the kind of females you would meet in real life that exuded beauty and power--that their presence alone would bleed out from the canvas.
She used primary colors to achieve that effect—with shades of red, blue, and yellowish gold with perfect harmony, visual perfection, and precision.
She was the type of artist who paid attention to detail, bringing out the natural flow to create a harmonious pattern with the other colors and melding with her paintbrush's violent strokes, which also showed the harsh and vengeful side when the goddesses were scorned.
Cathryn wanted to engage the emotions of the viewers.
That was why she used this type of technique, showing the stark contrast between a females' pride as a powerful goddess and also indicating vulnerability as a nurturing mother to humankind at the same time.
Oil paintings were amazing to look at because of their smooth texture and the colors' deep and solid appearance.
Cathryn was done for the most part because she had already started the project at home, so it was up to her to refine the painting's details more.
Cathryn was lost in her thoughts, busy working on the 'Rhiannon and the Knight' painting, who she had made to look similar to her and Alexander.
As she focused on the Knight's face with great obsession, she noticed she had made a minuscule mistake on Alexander's jawline.
Frowning with annoyance, she extended one fingernail to scratch at the excess line on the Knight's face on the painting.
The more Cathryn paid attention to Alexander's face, the more she had realized that she must have committed the bastard's face in her memory, creating such vivid paintings of him without looking at any of his pictures.
It was an image stuck from her imagination.
Grimacing, she paused midway from fixing the Knight's jawline and intensified the golden color of Alexander's hair, instead.
She was too fixated on the face, and that wasn't good.
Oh god, what the fuck was she doing—making the Knight looked like Alexander?
It was supposed to be an inside joke for Alexander's brother, but why did her face flush with embarrassment every time she thought about the consequences?
Cathryn wanted to stop and throw this painting even if it was almost done because it made her feel awkward as fuck.
Cathryn shook her head and covered her face with hands.
She needed to get it together and finish this, pass it to Professor Andre and forget about the whole thing.
There was no need to dig a hole in her grave at the corner of this classroom and die.
Cathryn cleared her throat and continued with her painting.
After five minutes of doing the finishing touches, she looked around her to check out who was done, and nobody had finished yet.
Good, she was the first to complete the ' Goddess' Project.
Maybe, Alexander's older brother would give her additional points for that.
Taking out the framed canvas from the easel, she was about to go to Professor Andreas's table when somebody tapped her on the shoulder.
Turning her head towards the culprit as she carried the painting in both of her hands, she saw Alexander giving her a mischievous grin.
Cathryn swallowed as she struggled to find words, but they already lost their way in the chaos of her brain, leaving her dumb.
Tilting his head curiously, he stared at the Goddess Rhiannon's artwork in her hand.
"Nice painting, you got there, Cathryn," Alexander said in a deep husky voice.
Cathryn noticed the second thing was Alexander's dark, messy hair of a hundred shades of brown and gold styled perfectly into the kind of rockstar he was.
He still wore a little bit of eyeliner and a hint of foundation that wasn't completely wiped out by make-up remover tissues.
She held her breath, staring into his brown eyes with the rich amber shade of aged whisky, utterly tongue-tied.
Cathryn didn't know what else to say after Alexander gently took the painting from her hand and examined every detail.
She blinked at Alexander as she remained frozen in place, waiting for him to finish admiring his gorgeous face on her painting.
Alexander definitely took his time that he didn't speak for a while, scrutinizing the goddess Rhiannon who was similar to her.
"Pretty," Alexander murmured as he attempted to touch the paint as if to caress Cathryn's face.
Shit.
She should use her voice and speak to him since it had been a while since the last time they had a pleasant conversation.
"Alexander, no." Cathryn almost shrieked as she swatted his hand away, treating that as an opening for her to take her painting back from his grasp.
The bastard didn't let go, and she didn't push.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she murmured, "I could let you stare at my painting all day, but touching the paint while it was still wet is not allowed."
Cathryn didn't pull it back, afraid that the canvas frame would break if she fought.
The wooden frame wouldn't be that strong to withstand pushing and pulling the artwork because she didn't want Alexander to see it.
It was a project, so she couldn't afford to destroy them just for the sake of hiding it from Alexander.
Plus, Cathryn already did the painting herself, and she didn't have anyone else to blame for this prank.
She should just let Alexander make fun of her for creating the painting, pass it to Professor Andreas, expect an A+ for painting lessons and earn money from it during the auction at the end of the month of their Art Department's gallery.
That's it.
There was no need to feel ashamed anymore.
She should get it over and done with.
Easy.
Not.
Cathryn just stood there, gawking at Alexander instead of responding properly like a normal human being.
Cathryn cleared her throat before speaking, "What are you doing here?"
She assumed that he had arrived after their concert and visited Professor Andreas' painting lessons.
Wait, so did he visit her or his brother?
The assumption was bad for her health.
She didn't want to expect too much when they didn't have any relationship whatsoever.
"I came here to visit you." He said smoothly, so welcome that it broke through the haze of her insecurity and wishful thinking. "We were shooting for a variety show today, and the production crew needed to see something interesting on this episode."