A few days past by peacefully in Hayden’s mansion. Hayden went out to work as he normally does. However, my days are much busier than they used to be. After mustering up the courage to be bold enough, I sent the email to the clients with Hayden’s recommended price quote. My hand was shaking while it hovered over the keyboard.
I closed my eyes and held my breath before opening them wide with renewed determination before slamming down my fingers onto the enter button to press ’send’.
After the emails left my outbox, I prayed that the clients didn’t think that my price quote was out-of-this-world crazy. Hopefully, at least one of the clients would go forward with their commission request. Little Hayden sat at my heel as he stared up at me. It was as if he could sense my nervousness and wanted to comfort me.
Without hesitation, I bent down and scooped him up and placed him on my lap. His eyes stared at the computer screen curiously before turning to look up at my face.
"Let’s hope that we get some work...." I spoke to him softly as I petted the soft fur on his forehead.
To my absolute surprise, some clients started replying to my email within a few minutes. What was more surprising was that at the end of the day all clients decided to go ahead with their commission even at the super-high rate that Hayden had quoted. After they paid their deposit, I would have ten commissions all lined up for me to work on. That would probably take me almost two months to complete.
"Your mummy just got employed, little boy!" I cried out happily as I carried Little Hayden up into my arm.
I danced around the art studio with Little Hayden in my arm happily. Grandmother, are you watching this? I’m finally going to make some decent money from my artworks. I think it won’t be long now until I can call myself a professional artist. Grandma, can you see this? Are you proud?
Evening arrived much sooner now that I had so much to do. I had started working on my first portrait commission. Honestly, it was more stressful to work on now that I was being paid a high price for it. Before during practice or when I was painting or sketching leisurely, I wasn’t pressured much by anything but my own desire to improve. However, things were very different now.
The client’s expectation weighed down on me. What if they didn’t like my work? Would they feel disappointed after having paid so much for it?
I turned around to see Hayden walking into the living room. His hair was wet and plastered to his head. His clothes were also drenched through.
"What happened? Why are you so wet?" I asked as I rushed to his side.
"I got caught in the rain a little. It’s nothing. Have you had dinner?" Hayden asked casually as he ran his fingers through his wet hair.
Droplets of water started dripping from his hair and his clothes onto the floor. Little Hayden came up to him and started sniffing his legs.
"No, I was waiting for you. You must be cold. You should take a shower first," I suggested quickly.
"Can I do it here?" Hayden asked.
"Umm...sure. I’ll tell Auntie to grab you some clothes," I said before heading out of the room.
"Thanks," Hayden said before smiling at me.
I nodded at him before he disappeared in the direction of the bathroom.
--To be continued...