Now that Stella had made sure that the woman in the paintings was not her, a lot of questions began to pop up in her mind.
Who was the woman then? Why was she dressed in each and every one of the paintings like the 1900s? How did Den know this woman? And she was human, had Den known any humans before her?
Stella picked up a painting from one of the tables and sat down on the rug. It was a little weird to look at the painting, to see herself laughing heartily with such tender love in her eyes, the short hair flying all across her face.
Stella looked intently at the painting and found many things. The girl's skin was pure like a jade, it was beautiful. The skin was just like Stella's as she had seen in her very early photos. Stella had a tendency to play outside and never wanted to stay in the house from a very young age, so her skin was a lot tanned.
The woman, when Stella compared her to herself, had a kind of homely and wise look to her face.
Even after all she had gone through, Stella was still a lot reckless and doubted if such a wise look would ever come on her face. She was also sure that her tomboyish nature would never let her have such a homely look.
But the eyes were what caught Stella's attention the most.
They were full of such pure, heartfelt love that Stella could not even imagine of loving someone that much, let alone anyone else loving her. Stella touched her own face as she looked at the woman's eyes. How could two people, so similar looking, be capable of such different emotions? Stella suddenly let her head fall back and laughed. "Of course you wouldn't be capable of such love. Who will you love this much? Mother was not ever there. Father died soon after marrying that bitch. Who will you love? I'm sure I would just be left heart-broken if I ever fell in love with anyone this much." Stella muttered to herself.
She looked down at the painting again and a single tear dropped onto the frame. Stella lifted her hand to touch the woman's eyes, "But what would I not give to feel this kind of love inside me? Even if it is one-sided."
Stella's fingers were almost touching the woman's eyes when the picture suddenly disappeared from her hands.
She saw a pair of feet in front of her and looked up to see Den, with a murderous expression, looking down at her.
Stella was instantly aware of the tears that had escaped her eyes, she would never ever let her weakness be seen in front of any person. She instantly wiped them away on the back of her hand, not noticing that Den's expression had softened a little upon seeing her tears. When Stella looked up after drying her tears, Den's murderous expression and aura had returned.
He said through gritted teeth, as though it was taking every inch of his strength to not strangle Stella on the spot, "What are you doing here?"
Stella was taken aback at his tone. Den had never used such a tone at her, and she knew she had just done something which had made him very angry.