Her tears also brought tears to my own eyes. I felt so proud that I could make her feel proud of me. It was the right decision to bring her here after all. I showed her the other paintings in my collection before the nurse reminded us that she should already head back. The hospital had booked an ambulance to drive her back along with the nurse. I went to send her off.
There were tears swimming in my eyes as I waved my hand to send her off.
Dabbing slightly at my tears, I returned to the exhibition. It was around opening time now and we needed to be there to man the show. The exhibition was open to the public, so in addition to the students from art universities, we were also expecting many art enthusiasts and critiques to turn up.
This was the first day of the exhibition and if I remembered correctly a couple of art groups from a few universities will be visiting today as part of their coursework.
"So many people are here. I should have worn flat shoes. These heels are killing me already..." Jenny complained with a pained look on her face.
"I have a bandage. Want one?" I offered.
"You do? You’re such a lifesaver...seriously..." Jenny said, and I quickly handed her a bandage that I had in my bag.
We split and took turns to take the visiting class around to our various exhibition. Jenny’s theme was rainbow and basically everything colorful and bright. It was very like her. The theme was a smart choice because she used it to showcase her various techniques from 2D to 3D works in sculptures. I had to admit that she was very talented.
While I was wrapping up one of my little tours of guiding a group of art students around, one of the staff quickly approached me. I could see that she was slightly flustered and seemed to be in a rush.
"Malissa, there’s someone asking to see you," the staff informed.
"Who is it?" I asked curiously as my heart skipped a beat.
"He didn’t give his name. He said that you’ll know. He’s a pretty hot guy...I must say. Is he your boyfriend?" the staff said excitedly.
My initial excitement and gleeful happiness of getting to see Hayden quickly evaporated and in its place was a sense of slight fear. The smile that I had melted from my lips as my mouth hung open in shock. Once again, it was like my past had caught up to me. I haven’t seen or heard from Ethan since that incident at the gala on the cruise. So, why is he here now? What does he want from me?
"How have you been doing?" Ethan asked before smiling sweetly down at me.
My lips felt dry, and my face and hands suddenly felt very numb. I didn’t know what to say to him. For some reason, I felt very scared of Ethan. Although he had never been cruel to me except for when he suddenly broke things off with me. Before that he was the perfect boyfriend and I loved him so much. He never hurt me, physically or emotionally for all the time that we were together.
So why was I so scared of him right now?
"Why are you here?" I asked in a whisper.
"I heard you were displaying your work here. It’s your first proper exhibition so of course, I wanted to see it," he replied casually.
If that was really the case, then everything should be fine. I watched as Ethan looked around at my works that were on display, and I couldn’t help thinking if that was honestly his only reason for being here.
"Thank you for coming," I managed to say.
"This painting of your grandmother looks very good. How is she doing now? I heard that she’s sick..." Ethan said, his eyes on the painting.
I wondered where he heard that from but decided not to ask. It wasn’t important anyways.
"She’s sick and has been hospitalized for a while now. Thanks for asking but you don’t need to worry," I replied.
--To be continued...