“It feels weird having to purchase my own painting.” I was still reeling from the experience. Attending the Young Achiever’s banquet was a huge surprise, but I was even more surprised by the fact that Christopher had submitted this painting on my behalf.
“It doesn’t matter. I may lack a lot of things, but the one thing that I don’t lack is money.” Christopher picked up my hand and placed it over his heart. “During the entire month that you were gone, I stayed in our house every day, doing nothing and just staring into space, thinking of you. They told me that you were dead, but I never once believed them. You’re such a silly girl that even God won’t take you in. You still have so much living and growing up to do.”
“What a bast*rd! Why would you bring that up again? You’re making me tear up!” I pouted and playfully punched Christopher.
Christopher planted a kiss on the corner of my eyelid and said softly, “I know better than anyone else just how much you love painting. I looked at this painting that you did for me and thought to myself that I must share this gift with everyone. I want everyone to witness the depth of our love. From the moment I saw your Autumnal Panorama, I knew immediately how passionate you were about art. So, I told myself that I must put you on that stage again and let the whole world witness your dazzling talent.”
I wiped away my tears and held Christopher’s hand in my own. Then, I asked him a question that had been troubling me for a long while, “How did you know that was my painting? Christopher, you really are such a mysterious person! I feel as if you can see right through me. Tell me, is there anything at all about me that you don’t know?”
“Yes, I didn’t know that you were going to marry Lyle. If I had known, I would have stopped you, but sadly, I was serving in the army at that time.” Christopher cupped my face, gazed into my eyes, and said earnestly, “When I found out that you were unhappy in your marriage, I felt terrible and blamed myself for it. If only I had returned earlier, you wouldn’t have suffered so much.”
I was surprised by Christopher’s words. He talks as if we had known each other since we were young, but I really can’t recall when and how I met him. Was it during that kidnapping incident? A lot of kids were involved at that time though… and I barely said a word to anyone. Anyway, as far as he was concerned, it was Crystal who had rescued all of them back then, not me.
It was amazing that, for all these years, I had faithfully guarded the secret of Crystal’s glory. She had received a lot of perks because of her alleged heroic role during the kidnapping episode. Not long after that incident, she held an art exhibition. As a new school artist, the prominent families would usually have ignored her.
However, in their gratefulness to her, a huge crowd had shown up at her exhibition. The media, too, had given her plenty of attention. After that, Crystal became some sort of celebrity in Avenport.
However, the truth was that I was the one who had saved everyone at that time, not Crystal. I had not told anyone about that, not even Christopher. I was the one who had lured the two kidnappers away, secretly called the police, and busted the doors open. Unluckily for me, one of the kidnappers had knocked me to the ground, and I lost consciousness.
When I came to, the person who was hailed as a hero was Crystal. I could only watch quietly as everyone rushed up to her and thanked her earnestly while she shamelessly told them that it was no problem at all. It should have been me receiving all that gratitude, not her.
At that moment, I understood that Crystal was already an angel in everybody’s eyes, so it was easy for them to believe that she had been the hero. If I had been the one standing in her place, they would not have believed me so easily. Even if I had told them the truth, they would have thought that I only wanted to steal some attention.
During that incident, I had begged the kidnappers to spare Christopher’s life, but he would not have known about this since he had lost consciousness after being stabbed by one of them.
“Have we really known each other for so many years? Why don’t I remember any of this?
