I threw a sideways glance upon hearing Christopher’s words. I appreciated his effort to keep a distance from Monica whenever they were in each other’s presence. Even when they were standing next to each other, he would keep repeating that he saw her as a sister. He did all these just so I would feel more reassured.
What he did not realize was that everything had changed from the moment I learned that I wasn’t terminally ill. I had vowed to never leave his side after I saw hopes in the prolonged darkest times.
If my experiences in life had taught me anything, it was this—live in the moment and cherish the present.
After being given the opportunity to live again, I had decided to cast away my sense of insecurity. Unfortunately, I was disqualified from the National Youth Art Exhibition and Contest due to my absence from the third quarter contest. Otherwise, I was convinced that in my current state of a peaceful mind, I would be able to create a better art piece.
I walked out of the event hall and made a phone call to Sabrina. We agreed to meet up at night before I hung up the phone and got into the car. Christopher stuffed the concert ticket into my hands and said, “Dear, I’ll leave this to you, and I’ll support every decision that you make.”
“Maybe you should go,” I said hesitantly.
“Hmm?” Christopher feigned anger. “Are you trying to push your husband into the arms of another woman?”
“I’m not. Since your mother was already displeased with us, we shouldn’t make the matter worse for her. Besides, you’ve already made it clear that you only see Monica as a sister, so I’m not going to be jealous about her. Just go and I’m sure your mother will appreciate it,” I trod carefully while observing Christopher’s facial expression.
As the man started to get worked up for real, I quickly added, “Why don’t I come with you? It’ll be like you treating me to a concert. Does that sound all right?”
Only then Christopher’s face lit up. He pinched my cheek playfully and said, “I won’t say no to you if you want to watch the concert. Just make sure you don’t fall asleep during the session.”
“I won’t. My dream was to become a painter. Music is part of arts too, so don’t think that I don’t enjoy music,” I retorted. However, I must admit that I don’t fully appreciate music concerts per se. Mmm… I might really fall asleep at the concert.
Christopher suddenly turned to me and asked in all seriousness, “You mentioned that Crystal had stolen your artwork in the past. How did that happen?”
Christopher’s unexpected question took me by surprise. Since he knew I could paint, I was under the impression that he knew everything about me. But now, that notion was being challenged. “You really don’t know?” I asked.
“I really don’t,” the man answered while furrowing his brows.
I poked my finger on his forehead, trying to flatten the frown. “Sometimes I feel like you already know everything that has happened to me, and that you can do anything. And now it seems like there’s a limit to the things that you know about me,” I teased.
“After all, I’m only human. I can’t really have everything covered,” the man said while pulling me into his arms, and patted my buttock softly before he resumed a serious tone, “Stop fooling around. Tell me what happened.”
I pursed my lips before I slowly explained, “Frankly, it was a rather complicated incident. A few years ago, I painted a piece of artwork, Autumnal Panorama. But for reasons unknown to me then, it fell into the hands of Crystal. I was kept in the dark all this while by many of my family members including my respected grandma and my dad. It wasn’t until recently that I was told what happened.”
“It was indeed an excellent piece of artwork. Eve, you should have more confidence in yourself,” Christopher said while rubbing my nose.
“You’re talking as though you have seen the painting yourself. Crystal ended up taking the artwork to Eastsummer. I believe it’s still in one of their drawing rooms.” I shrugged. I used to be consumed by gloom and grief when I thought about my art piece that had been stolen. But now, I was confident that my best work was yet to come.
“You don’t know that. I might have seen it with my own eyes,” the man said with a mysterious wink. But he kept his lips tight when I asked him to elaborate.
“You’re tricking me again. There are less than ten people who had seen the painting.”
“What if I’m one of the ten people?” Christopher then pulled out his phone and showed me a picture on his screen. My jaw dropped when I saw what was on it. “How did you get hold of my template and draft illustration?”
