Warmth cascaded through my skin, I felt a sudden tingling sensation of being burned. I slowly opened my sight and a blinding painful light invaded my vision, almost got me if it weren't for my callous hands and shadows passing by.
"Madam Scarlett, I think it's time," Anne stood at my side. I sat and looked at the dress she was holding.
I narrowed my eyes and tried to remember what it was that I had been missing until flashes of images from a few days ago went to my mind.
The painting, the artist, the broad back, the smile, and the question.
Do I know Jasmine Rose?
Shaking my head, laughter burst out of nowhere. I couldn't face Anne, I didn't even want to know what kind of look she was giving me. Right at that moment, I felt like a sudden flame of ignition came lighting their way to mine, as if enough to look for the rays without any hesitations.
"It's such a good thing you're intuitive Anne. Now, where do we begin?"
It's still morning, but I felt like I'd been dwelling in an eternal event, which I couldn't grasp, or that I felt like I was in a loop.
After talking to Anne, I looked right in front of the mirror and fixed some of the strands of my hair on the other side, tucked them to my ear.
Still, there's dullness in her eyes. The young woman's appearance felt like her life had been sucked off her, and what was only remaining was a piece of shell that she sold to the devil.
Indeed, what an unsightly figure.
*Ring* *Ring*
I looked at my phone, and a sudden smirk went past the corners of my lips.
"Speaking of the devil," I say and I heard a sigh from the other line.
"Is that a proper way to greet me, Jasmine——"
"Don't ever speak of that name ever again..." I sense my body shaking while glaring at the young woman in the mirror.
I could see how tight she was holding the phone in her hand with gritted teeth.
A sigh finally erupted through the other line. I could envision him shaking his head with the hand on his forehead.
"Fine, I was just teasing you, Scarlett, so are you prepared?" He asked and the young woman's appearance from the mirror suddenly faded into the widest grin I could see for the rest of my life.
"I should be the first one to ask you that since you know, your beloved childhood friend would have her press conference for the movie today," for the longest time in a while, I heard his chuckle, it wasn't even dangerous, or dark but it felt like it was light and genuine.
A kind of chuckle that I would get envious of the reason for.
"Then do your best to accompany that man, as I would wipe Sophia's tears for the long night," I couldn't help but widen my eyes.
Yet, I knew what he meant, but still, I felt a sudden ache from my drum that was beating endlessly.
Shaking my head, I went to end the call while laughing hysterically.
"What do I truly want? He asked me that night if I wanted revenge, and I still wanted revenge but a part of me felt like it's already been tired of plotting for Lucas..."
"Anne, let's go..." I commanded. I saw her bowed with respect and we went to the place of no return.
"You should stay here and remember all of what I instructed, Anne. This time, don't let me down."
"Yes, Madam Scarlett..."
I walked away from the car and headed straight to the grand entrance of the exhibition place, the Masamoto Museum.
After walking to the designated place, I saw him. The young man I have admired in the past, as usual, would have disguised, and right now, he was wearing a wig.
He had this big brown neatly combed wig, some parts had flyaways but it remained proportionate to his appearance.
When I walked closer, I saw him wearing sunglasses and a bit of a mustache from the bottom of his chin. For some reason, I felt like I'd seen this disguise before, or that his appearance looked familiar.
"Excuse me, Sir——"
"Oh, Lady Scarlett!" He cheerfully said with a smile. I could see his pure white teeth with the widest grin I could mimic.
For a moment, my world turned slow, because I felt like he never changed, like the cheerful side of him remained.
Besides, I remembered now, he looked exactly like Kevin Misao. One of the characters in a movie that I've dearly loved.
It was the first movie that I've managed to watch for the first time since I was in an orphanage.
That appearance meant everything to me, and I guess he never forgot, or did he just put this disguise on to know how I would react?
I don't know.
"I was so surprised to see the paintings but because it was you who notified me, and gave me tickets, I could finally see my favorite artist!" Right after saying those words, he grabbed me by the hands.
A gentle warmth invaded my emotions as if my frozen heart felt something strange.
A warmth that I never wanted to feel again, a longing that I have already sealed, and a pain that I wanted to erase. But no matter what I try to do, and what I try to work on just to divert myself, whenever I have him in my mind, the efforts of those years felt surreal to just becoming ashes.
I looked at our hands, he never intertwined them but I could see how gentle his manner of holding mine was.
Until the breaking point of that night wandered through my mind and I suddenly halted my movements.
I let him turn to look at me. I could visibly see his eyebrows raising but I never spoke until I faked a smile. A thing that I usually do whenever I feel like I want to go away from those painful situations.
"I-I felt like I wanted to see something here," I reasoned out and I could see him smile so gently. He let me go but I could sense this longing in his eyes, the kind of sight that had never been there before, since that five years that have passed.
After a few seconds I could finally breathe, I went to his side and held his hand making him startle
"So that no one of us will be lost," I pointed to a group of people crowding within the building. I could see them smiling and laughing while the others remained silent.
For the reason I held dear, he nodded, but the smile had faded and a pair of serious eyes went to appear.
"Don't worry, it's just like we're holding hands for the sake of being friends," I said once more and I could see him sigh after nodding.
We spent the rest of our time looking at Christie's Exhibition. He always observed and said what he felt the painting was trying to say and I would laugh at some of his jokes.
We never even realized that time went fast because the moment of waiting where Christie's appearance, it was already night. We saw her talking, about how her art affected her growth as an artist, how she cherished everything she made because there's always meaning to them.
Every word she said had meaning and had mysteries in their ways, that's why when I looked beside me, the night never mattered to him, as long as she got to see his beloved artist and admire her from afar and right now, Lucas was doing the same thing.
As Christie wrapped up her final exhibition, a lot of her fans went to the other side to take pictures and greet their favorite artist the same as Lucas.
"Thank you, Ma'am Christie," Lucas said hugging her.
"Because of your art, I learned how to appreciate even the smallest things in life"
"I'm glad that you were able to, you are very lucky you have a wonderful girlfriend to support you," Christie's words startled him but he couldn't say anything for the sake of the blissful happiness he had in mind.
"Finally! Ma'am Christie's autograph!" As soon as we got off the museum, he lifted the paper high in the sky and I could eventually see our fake names written in them, but still, Lucas must have been shocked to see how I came up with the name Jasmine to be written by Christie.
"But I never thought that you would use the name Jasmine, Lady Scarlett," he ushered and halted for a moment.
Right at the front of the Masamoto Museum was the garden that he proposed to me, and it was the Masamoto Bay.
"I just find it cute the story of Aladdin, Lucas... besides, you can call me Scarlett like you wanted me to say your name..." I smiled.
Yet, I saw his eyes widen.
"You told me that you know a person named Jasmine Rose in the past, so can I ask you more?"
"Go ahead"
"When did you know about her?"
I laughed at his question.
"I knew her because of my nanny"
"Your nanny?"
"Didn't I tell you before? That I managed to claim a letter that wasn't mine but for my nanny? Because of that, I got interested to know more about Jasmine Rose until I only knew the incident..."
"Incident?"
"You didn't know about it?"
"I don't know, I don't even know why I knew the young woman. I got into an accident in the past, and Sophia being my costar told me to be quiet about it, but I never remembered everything from the night of December 2018..."
"Then how did you find out about that name?"
"As I was cleaning my room, I found a picture of me, and in the back, was a message written by a young woman named Jasmine Rose..."
"How did you know I knew her?"
"A paper came right in front of my door, and it says something about you"
"Do you have the paper?"
"Good thing you ask, here..."
Then a sudden shiver passed by...
Who in the world did this to you, Lucas? Was it truly a secret incident? But how? No, the proper way to ask is...why?