"What's that supposed to mean, Maddie?" he asked, sounds a bit tense.
"Hmm...who knows?" I shrugged. "You have interviews, right. Go ahead. I will be here. You don't need to worry about me."
"We promised to talk, Maddie," he said.
"Yeah. Right back at you, Winter."
He scoffed, rubbing the temple of his head. He looked at the photograph, licking his lips with a frown.
And I did the same. I just stared at the photograph. It's a photo of children smiling, probably laughing, happily, running. Are they playing tag? It's so beautiful. A sign NOT FOR SALE was attached to the bottom right frame.
The description is so simple. 'I want to join in too, but they didn't let me in.'
I smiled. It's so beautiful, for some reason I want to laugh. I want to cry while staring at this. Why? Because I never had this kind of childhood. Running or playing tag with friends, laughing. My childhood was horrible.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
Our voices overlapped which make us looked at each other with frowns.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
Ayden looked at me and I looked at him before he let out a soft chuckle.
"You go first, baby," he said, rubbing his nape with a chuckle. His eyes back to the huge frame in front of us. I smiles feebly and cleared my throat before said what's inside my head.
"I'm sorry for being childish, I just don't like it when she touches you. I know I shouldn't be like this but I knew you lied when you said you didn't screw her. You averted my eyes. And you didn't even...whatever it is, it's pissing me off. But who am I to complain? It's your life before meeting me. I can't change the past, and neither you. We both can't change the past. I'm sorry for being a child." I said, turning myself toward him. "I didn't want to break our promise, about talking to each other. About our thoughts or about solving the problem nicely with the best solutions. And...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry."
"I'm not mad. I just regretted it." He said, slowly glanced at me and his hand slipped into my fingers. "I'm sorry I lied. I am just afraid that if I tell you the truth, it will hurt you. But again, I broke the promise, huh. We promised to talk about everything even our ugly truth. But trust me, I'm not the type of man who can see two or three women at the same time. I only love you, and only you. You are the love of my life."
I smile. Couldn't help it my sheepishly smiling. Tch, you didn't introduce me like that to her just now though.
"I'm jealous," I said.
"You're kinda scary when you're jealous. A bit...sarcastic. But you are allowed to get jealous, as long as you didn't come at me and stabbed me on my heart."
"I always like that," I said, slapping his arm softly. "I probably would stab you though. Who knows. "
He chuckles, slipping his hand on my and started to swing my hand lightly.
"I do say that I rather you hurt me instead of yourself, so I would even take a bullet or a knife if it's for you," he said, smiling.
"It's all fun to talk until I really stabbed you, babe. Trust me, you will run away. Hiding behind Diana." I said, seriously.
"Why Diana? I will hide behind Jade. He looked fit."
"Oh, Jade will help me, he is a doting brother." I laughed. And he smiles wider, nodding.
"True, he is your hitman."
And silence falls upon us, I just keep mesmerising the photograph in front of me. It doesn't look like it around here though. His fingers started to lock against mine. I couldn't help but smile.
"It's boring, huh?" he asked, breaking the silence between us. Boring? I let out a chuckle.
"You're lucky, Mr Winter, you're girlfriend found it fun to be here. It's amazing. Everything looks great, and I love everything that you hang on the wall. It's just mesmerizing. Aren't you busy? I thought you're going to see Lord something." I looked around, looking at people entering the gallery. Lunch hours ended and people started to come and visit. He will be double busy, as Susan and Leah said. And he does say that he is busy.
"Yes, I am. I need to see Lord Evans, discussing something. By the way...if you get bored, you can wait for me in my office. I have my own office here, upstairs. You can ask Susan. I will be quite busy. You will probably be bored."
"I want to see the auction," I said. And he smiles.
"Auction starts at three-thirty, princess," he said, stroking my cheek softly with his thumb. "I'll be going. Take care." He said, rubbing my lips before he left me to do his work. I could see someone approaching him with one man holding a camera and one lady holding out her phone to interview him. He is the star of the day.
And I keep walking around, and most of the photographs for sale are the views and buildings. Aesthetic.
I glanced at the voice coming from somewhere, ah, it's Leah. That woman. She gave a speech. Who is she though? I mean what is her position? She looked stunning and successful. But her attitude toward me is just, you know...annoying. And I think our eyes met and she smugly smiled at me. Wow. What is her problem?
I rolled my eyes and started to walk again. And I saw miss Susan walking closer to me, with a huge smile.
"Hi! Have you eaten yet?" she asked, cheerfully. She reminds me of someone. I smile shyly and shook my head slowly.
"You must be bored, right? I wonder why he invited you to his workplace." she pouted, looking around and her eyes stopped at the person she's talking about.
"I don't mind it, I love coming here. Everything is great! The photos, the decoration and stuff." I said, genuinely meant it. She smiled wider.
"Let's go upstairs, I ordered some food, and we can eat together. Everyone is so busy and I'm hungry!" she clung to my arm and dragged me to the staircase, it's quite hidden. We both climbed to the staircase and walked a bit further, and finally stood in front of the office. Ayden's. Because his name is hanging on the door.
"I just ordered cheeseburgers. You don't mind?" she said, opening the office and taking off her blazer.
"Yeah, I don't mind," I said. She pushed me to sit on the sofa and closed the door. I feel shy. She plopped herself on the sofa, in front of me, passing the burger to me. She tears the paper bag and spills the french fries on top of it, proceeding to tear the sauce and squeeze the packet of the sauce on the paper bag.
"Ayden said you're probably hungry. So I ordered something lightly. Eat up." she said, switching the title to his first name basis.
"Is it fine for you to accompany me, Miss Susan?" I asked, in case she's busy. And she nodded.
"It's fine. Actually, I don't have much to do, since I do a lot already before the exhibition. Therefore I was hanging out at the concierge. I am usually super busy before the event starts and become useless when the event starts. And I'm just a secretary. My job is done already. I'm not part of the team. But in case Ayden is absent, then I have to take over."
"Like yesterday?"
"Yeah! Like yesterday. But since he was not feeling well, most of the interviewers postponed the interview today, so he's going to be super busy. And he will be meeting some of our sponsors too." she said, taking her first bite and munching. I never knew she's a chatty person.
I took a bite too and both of us were quiet because of chewing.
"Sponsors?" I was finally able to ask, and she nodded.
"Yeah, Lord Evans, he's sponsoring us to Italy, Rome, Greek, French, all over Europe to finish this project. And some other sponsors who used to sponsor us before. And maybe he will meet another sponsor too. Hmm, Mrs Grangie, used to sponsor us few cameras, and she is our regular buyer. She bought a lot of our photography. And Mrs Smith. She's crazy about flowers and feminine photographs, but she's not here, she's in LA. Holiday. We usually got sponsored by few celebrities."
My eyes widened. What in the world...who the hell is my boyfriend, I thought he was just like a normal photographer.
"Ayden is most likely closed with celebrities too. He used to be a model, modelling some sort of stuff. I heard that he worked as a model in Japan, before, as a part-timer. Since cameras and editing apps can be pricey. Taking a photograph course can be pricey and expensive so he worked as a model and a waiter? I'm not quite sure."
I nodded taking a bite of my burger and the story. I'm still shocked. A model? I mean, I could see that but I'm still shocked. At least I know some facts about Ayden.
"And why does he need to be interviewed though?"
"He is quite famous actually, as a photographer. He inspired a lot of young people to start taking photos and vlogging. And he had a huge number of followers on his social media, people liked his works, and he had connections with rich people. And he is handsome, young and successful. Total eye candy for entertainment. Some of the interviewers from gossip kinda Youtube Channel too. And some of them are vloggers, some of them are from magazines, some of them from newspapers. It just happened." she laughed.
I just smile, so to be concluded, he is justly famous. I am lost.
"Did he tell you that he would be holding another exhibition and the theme is love?" Ah, that? I nodded. She took a sip of her coke and swallowed hard. "He told me that when he showed me your photo, the one that he hung. I think he just does that to show off." she grinned. Teasingly and smugly. "I thought he would cancel the plan."
I frowned. "Why?"
"Because you two fought, he looked like he could kill someone. All of us hated it when he's in a bad mood. It's scary. Thank you for saving us by making up with him."
At this moment, I'm choked, coughing. She gave me a tissue and started laughing. I'm dying here, and she laughed? "Did he tell you that?" I asked.
"No, but we could tell," she said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.
I smiled, so he was in a bad mood. "I didn't know…" I muttered.
"Would you do it? Helping us for the upcoming event? It will be great! Do you know, how many people want to buy 'Morning' just now, and keep begging to buy it?"
I shocked my head and slowly shows my hands, most likely my scars. Even the one on my neck was uncovered. I'm sure she saw it and already know about it. She tilted her head and smiles.
"Is that what makes you insecure about? Miss Iyves, I have to tell you this. The concept is about 'love', doesn't mean we have to snap a photo of someone's falling in love or a cheesy type of photo. Love is general, and we could use the theme as a self-love event too. I'm sure, you can inspire more people through the event."
"Won't it be unpleasant?"
"Who said that? People who said that has no common sense or maybe they didn't have the awareness. On hard life can be on one person. Having one scar or even hundreds of scars because of your mental health or attempted, and are you still trying your best to live the best of your life? That's crazy. Having a scar because of an attempt and are you still breathing? It's a blessing, Miss Iyves. It just proves that you are strong! You are doing your best to keep living. There are so many people who give up their life without even trying and you? You tried! That is cool. And if people said that scars of yours are unpleasant, let them be! They didn't know your story, they just see you from the cover, not the whole chapter." she said with a very serious manner.
I smile a little. "You flustered me, Miss Susan," I said bashfully.
"It's true! Looking at you, make me feel like, 'wow, she's so cool! You sitting here, is already amazing. You didn't cover it up, already shown that you are brave enough to tell people that you are fighting! You are fighting yourself, and that's cool. Don't be insecure about it. It's cool.'"
She is good at fluttering. What is she? Sales assistant or something? I feel so convinced right now. If she asked me to buy something, I would.
"Thank you, but I'm not sure," I said.
She smiles and laughed. "Just think about it, our deadline was in four months. We still have times. Besides, you are awesome. I just saying the fact." she winked.
She is really good, I'm sure, she convinced a lot of people to buy stuff from her. She sounds like a professional sales assistant, I mean a businesswoman! She's good.