The gallery is already bustling with life when Astra and Jrey entered the building. People in their formal clothes are everywhere and some of them are holding a glass of champagne, some sophisticated and some are pretending to be one as they silently laugh with their friends. The two friends went at the bar first to get their own drinks before finally deciding to look for the reason why they're in the exhibit.
"Hey there, ladies." Speaking of being sophisticatedly pretentious, a man with a raven hair approached them. He's in a semi formal suit and he's holding a glass of champagne sporting a big grin as he crouched and kissed Astra's cheek. "You're kinda late. Good thing Deen don't really mind tardiness though you made me wait for long and she's not really talkative." Tungsten complained that made the girls chuckle.
"That's not true. Deen's kinda talkative but not when there's a lot of people around besides, isn't she supposed to be talking about her paintings and answering questions?" Jrey said and ignored the sickeningly sweet couple in front of her when she finally spotted where Deen is.
There are people around her and she's speaking, clearly explaining why she painted it that way or why she chose to paint it that way and why some of the brush strokes seems to be painted aggressively and softly. Jrey can faintly hear someone asks Deen why the sudden change of technique in painting and her usual type of works when she went near the crowd. The man clearly a fan of Deen's work if he knows about Deen's style.
"The meteor shower last month gave me the idea to paint something new and to try other theme and techniques."
The question and answer continues for a while before the crowd finally disperses giving Deen the time to finally breathe. "That took longer than the previous exhibits." Jrey said and gave her wine to Deen which she drank in one gulp, a clear sign that she was nervous the whole time she's presenting.
"I expected the questions when I suddenly changed my usual style, just not that much." Deen gave Tungsten a glare when he and Astra approached her. She ignored Astra's hug and gave Tungsten a pinch in the stomach which made him over-react, clutching his stomach and fake crying and telling Deen that they're no longer friends.
"You left me in the middle of the presentation you good for nothing element. I swear men can't be trusted nowadays, they will promise to stay but ends up leaving."
"Whoa there, hold your horses, horsie. I saw Jrey and Astra so I went to get them. Say thank you come on, don't be shy." Deen gave Tungsten another pinch in the stomach that made the other two laugh. Tungsten let out a loud squek that made the people around them give him a dirty look. They chatted a bit about Deen's painting before they all went to grab a new drinks at the bar.
Deen wants to leave right after drinking a two glass of wine but the exhibit is not yet done so she let her friends check out the other paintings while she goes back to her post.
A man stands in front of her paintings. She stared at him for moment, noting the black attire and the black cap the man is wearing. He's not exactly dressed weirdly but his clothes are considered overdressed for someone that is attending an exhibit. A memory flashed in her mind when she remembers meeting someone with the same fashion in a gallery a few weeks ago so she slowly approached the man and hoping that she have the right person because she can't handle embarrassment that well.
"Zirrius?" She whispered. She's exactly not sure why she's whispering but it's better that way especially if she has the wrong person, it would save her from embarrassment, really. The man didn't look back so she let out a relieved sigh, being grateful for not having an awkward talk to a stranger but guess it's her unlucky day because the man faced her when she's about to leave and comeback again later once the man leaves.
"Deen?" Zirrius called back when he noticed her. He pulled his mask down and gave her a smile. "Never thought that I'd see you again and in another exhibit."
"Well, I didn't tell you this when we first met but I'm actually an artist and my work is one of the displays in here." Deen shyly smiled and she remembers that Zirrius was looking at her paintings before she arrived. She doesn't know what to feel about the fact that he saw her works and she don't understand why she's suddenly getting embarrassed and wanted to hide everything away from Zirrius' sight.
"Really? Wow, can you show me?" Zirrius asks excitedly. Deen is suddenly speechless but before she can formulate a word, Zirrius is giggling. "I'm just kidding. I saw your name in the name plate." Zirrius said as he turned his back to look at Deen's paintings again. "I thought of you when I saw your name but I'm not quite sure if it's really you since we never exchanged our full names."
Deen swallowed the lump in her throat before facing the painting as well. "You already saw it but I'm gonna say it anyway. I'm Deen Hibari, it's nice to meet you." Zirrius looks at her and raised an eyebrow while his eyes have that fond look in them.
"I gotta say Ms. Hibari, your paintings are astonishing." He said while grinning. "You're only saying that because you know me and probably don't want to break my heart." Deen grunted. Zirrius let out an exaggerated gasp while clutching his chest. "You wound me. I'm being honest, you know."
"So what do you think about my painting? Any professional advice?" Deen asks while remembering the first time they met where the two of them pretended like veterans and gave critiques at every painting the gallery put on view.
Zirrius touched his chin and hummed softly as he approached every painting to study them closely. His face turned serious and Deen started to feel nervous at how he check every painting slowly. After a while, Zirrius went in front of her and gave her a proud smile. "Your paintings are amazing. I feel like I'm in my apartment's building watching the meteor shower again like I did before. And you painted the galaxies realistically. One question though, who's your model in that painting?" Deen looks at the last painting that she painted.
It's a painting of a boy's face down to his shoulders. The boy has his eyes closed and some of his hair is covering his eyes while the rest is painted as if it's being blown by a soft breeze, his expression relaxed. The color is a combination of black and navy blue with little white and bright speck of colors to represent the stars. The painting's quite the attraction because it's the only one that has a human model for it. It was painted differently from the others, the others look like the ordinary galaxy and meteors but this one is painted as if the boy is the galaxy which is actually the idea Deen wants the viewers to see when she started to paint it.
"Just someone." Deen said shortly not wanting to open up more about the model. Zirrius noticed the change of mood so he asks another question about her paintings but before Deen can answer, Zirrius' phone started vibrating loudly and he made a face that Deen can't describe.
"I'm sorry but I have to go now. Someone's getting grumpy already." He said looking at Deen apologetically. "No worries. It's already getting late and I think the exhibit's about to end anyway." Deen shrugged as she noticed that there are only few people compared to the crowd a while ago. With a last apology, Zirrius left the gallery and it's only then that her friends appeared.
"So who was that guy?" Astra asks. "We were supposed to be with you earlier but we noticed that you have company so we left you two to talk but you took ages to talk."
"A friend." Deen simply answered and went to see her professors to finally say her goodbyes. She's already tired for the day and she just wants to go home and rest after standing for so long in her heels.
"Some friend you are, we accompanied you from the start until the end and here you are leaving us?" Tungsten dramatically said when they catched up with Deen outside the gallery. Deen rolled her eyes at him and started to walk again after stopping to wait for her friends.
"I don't know what kind of drink have you been drinking a while ago but you're just being dramatic at everything tonight." She said with a grunt.
"We better go and have some burgers first before going home." Jrey offered which the others quickly agreed.
Their night ended after their midnight meal promising to meet again tomorrow for a picnic since it will be a weekend. Astra is already sleepy when they're done planning so she and Jrey called for a cab while Tungsten drove Deen home since they're going in the same direction.
With a last glance at the moon in her window, Deen went to bed with a lighter feeling and a dreamless sleep, not noticing how the moon suddenly shined brighter.