When Claire left the room Cole walked in to check what she had been painting for more than one hour.
He sneaked inside secretly so that nor Claire nor Brendon would get suspicious about his intentions and just then he got inside.
As soon as his gaze fell on the portrait of such a beautiful landscape his heart shrink in emotion and joy.
She remembered it, or better her heart did! She painted the lake they always sat by when they stared at the sun, talking about life and the past as if they were best friends.
In that beautiful place, they talked about everything from silly things such as jokes to the deepest confessions. They would sit in the middle of the glass, on a tower, and bring with them some berries. Then they would lay there for as much time as they wanted, talking or enjoying the silence that lapsed over them. He walked closer to the portrait, he stretched his hand to caress it and smiled lightly as he held back the tears.
"Claire, you remembered our secret place." He whispered as his voice creaked. "I cannot believe it. Whenever I feel like giving up, you give me the strength to believe in us."
He walked away from that room and reached the locked room where he kept all the important objects linked to their relationship.
He opened the closet revealing a new box, this one was filled with portraits. So many different landscapes were pictured but the most common one was the same lake Claire painted. After more than two years, the landscape was still printed in her mind as if she spent years there.
Cole decided to take the next step, hence the waiter for his brother to leave, and just then he took some portraits of the cottage they had in the countryside where they had spent the summer together and met.
He didn't pick the exact one from the lake because he thought it would be too early for such a big confession and he wanted her to genuinely remember not to be forced to do so and risk dragging her down to be even more miserable.
He walked to her room, and peeked through the door leaning in from afar, when he noticed his brother was there with her, he rolled his eyes.
He waited for a while until he finally noticed Brendon had fallen asleep while Claire headed to another room.
He followed her on the sly, and knocked on the spreadly opened door just to catch her attention,
"Awake?" He asked her.
Claire nodded, "yes, I have a weird sleep schedule." She shrugged as she held her cup of tea with both her hands.
Her hair fell to the side, onto the shoulders and she moved them back to its place with a quick movement of her head.
"What are you doing awake?" She asked Cole who smiled and revealed the hand he had behind his back to show her the photo.
"I was looking at old pieces and found this photo ..."
Claire stared at it for some seconds then she smiled, "it's a beautiful place. I would like to paint that scenery if my skills improve."
Cole was a bit disappointed hearing that she didn't remember that place as he wanted to, yet he didn't get demoralized. He walked a bit closer and slouched to fill a cup with tea.
"Such a great idea, did you paint something already?"
"I did, do you want to see it?"
Cole immediately answered he did not leave Claire the time to take back her question before it was too late. She headed him to the painting room and showed him the painting that he has already seen. Yet he pretended to have seen it for the first time and opened his mouth with an amazing facial expression.
"This is beautiful scenery, Claire." He said in a whisper.
"I want to learn how to paint one day, promise me you will teach me how to do so."
"I can teach you now, I mean if you want to…"
"Yes. I'd love to."
Claire took a canvas and gave Cole a brush, then she shyly grabbed his hand to help him to trace and pain.
Her touch on his hand felt magnetic and beautiful, awakening so many memories in Cole that he unconsciously smiled.
Moreover, before she even realized it, her heart began racing in her chest and her stomach dropped.