"it was a spectacular work of art,"
"a pop of colour. Mister kui has outdone himself. No one can master such a detailed theme like this."
"a modern day davinci!" dai zu tossed his phone to the corner in rage. "his work is mediocre! How can anyone recognise this work if not for me? I made him famous! I made him!! How dare he take claim to MY fame!!!"
Like a caged beast, he pranced around.
"its unacceptable…. Unacceptable!" as he shouted, he caught a glance at his own reflection. His land head shone in the evening lights, his face wane and his eyes sunken in. he looked like a fucking beast.
"AHHHHH!" he punched and shattered the mirror. "kui! I will not spare you! I will not spare you…"
"What can I do?" Biting his lips, he walked around anxiously. The clever caught his eyes.
His eyes shone red. "Ill kill him."
Unknown to all this, kui was still closing up on the first day of his gallery opening. The dreaded feeling had reduced in half as the crowd started to disappear.
In the end, he was the only one left in the empty gallery.
Kui fearfully peered up at the merman. "I know you can see me.. please don't hurt me. I created you by mistake and… I will repent. I will never use this brush again." he pulled out the brush from his sleeve. "it was not human rights to mess with heavenly stuff like this. So.. I'm sorry, but I will have to destroy you. In ten days, I will have to take back what I gave." He bowed to the painting with regret.
This piece was so soulful and enchanting, but he had to destroy it. None of these nine piece sets can live on. Or else one day the mystical creature might just crawl out of it.
Suddenly, that feeling came back. The creepy feeling of someone staring down at his neck.
Kui started to sweat, but he was still in his bowing position. "I'm so sorry… sorry…"
"kui…" a soft whisper came out, startling him even more.
In shock, he gazed at the merman. "i-I'm so sorry," he ran to the gallery door. He was not ready to face the entity.
Right as he was about to open the door, his phone rang loudly. With a trembling hand, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and attended the cal. "h-hello?"
"hello my baby, How are you?" a soft voice whispered in his ears.
Kui let out a loud sigh of relief. "grandma. I'm doing great. How are you?" he gazed out at the moonlit sky with a slight frown. "Its late. Why haven't you slept yet?"
"I kind of wanted to see you,"
"see me?" his brows raised in surprise as he gazed at a small slumped figure standing on the other side of the road. "grandma…."
She was wearing a soft pink sweater with a brown pants. Her wrinkled face was so cheerful gazing his way.
"kui~" she waved at him happily. "I just wanted to see fro myself how my dear grandson is coping with all that fame," she said with a slightly smiling tone.
Kui chuckled and opened the door. But halfway through, he paused. "wait a bit, grandma, I have to close up. Ill bring the keys okay. Just stay where you are."
He cheerfully ran into the maintenance room and grabbed the bunch of keys.
Not even the looming presence of that mystical creature could cull his joy at seeing his grandmother after so long. All these months, he had been hiding away from her. Hiding away his dark, depressed self, because his grandma only deserved to meet his best version.
Kui smirked widely as he walked through the display corridors.
As he was walking to the door, he noticed a black hooded figure looking at his painting intensely.
"sorry sir, the gallery is closed for the day. It will open at eight in the morning tomorrow." He walked close.
But something in him told him not to get too close.
He stopped a few steps away, peering at the figure shrouded in darkness. "sir? We are closing right now. Can you please leave?"
The black hoodie man turned to face him, finally exposing his face.
Kui froze. It was the face he was most familiar with. But at the same time, he felt that dai zu had changed a lot. His face looked at least ten years older than before. He had lost his cheerful kind senior persona and fully embraced his dark self.
"having fun, kui?" he stepped close.
The deep stench of blood spread out from him.
Kui backed away instantly. "what do you want? We have nothing to do with each other?"
"nothing? You spoiled my life!!!" dai zu shouted in rage and in the next second his expression changed. "and I will make yours a living hell,"
Kui's breath caught in his throat. "dai zu…."
Dai zu pulled out a bloody clever. "I never knew it was this easy to just hack someone." He wiped the blood off on a blood-soaked pink sweater. "and old ones, especially… tsk too easy to prey on,"
Kui's heart stopped right then. "no… no…" he rushed to the door, but dai zu grabbed him by his neck and tossed him to the ground.
"you're next!" the blood stained clever fell on him with murderous intent.