"I...honestly, I don’t know what to say..." I admitted dumbly.
This was just so beyond my expectations that I was left utterly speechless. It had always been a dream of mine to have my own studio and art gallery. I mean, this was probably a common dream that many artists shared. When I looked around the empty building again, I began picturing this place as an art gallery. My art gallery.
"Well, if you don’t like this place, we can visit a couple more options," Hayden told me calmly.
"Thank you, Hayden. This is like a dream come true...I never really thought this far ahead..." I thanked him before I offered him one of my sweetest smiles.
"It’s nothing. I just thought that you might like it and it looked like something that would benefit your career," Hayden said curtly.
I smiled at his reaction. It was so like Hayden not to take credit for anything although he did so much for me. I didn’t see this coming at all. While I was living in a bubble and just floating around freely for the past days, Hayden had been working on this little secret mission of his.
"Let’s go see the next place. You might like it better. It’s bigger than this one too," Hayden suggested after we had taken a walk around inside the building.
"Sure. Thank you so much for doing this..." I thanked him softly as I reached for his hand.
"Well, you’re not going to be locked up in the mansion anymore and no one will probably care much about who you are now that I’m no longer the heir, so I figured you might as well get a move on with your job, right?" Hayden replied with a sardonic grin.
Despite his sarcastic tone, his words felt like music to my ears. Getting my life back, was already more than enough. Adding an art gallery on top of it just felt like a massive amount of icing on top of the cake along with a bunch of deep red cherries.
"You never know. I think it looks nice and grand in here," Hayden replied as we looked around.
The second place was nice in a homey way, but this place just seemed like a proper gallery where real business would be done. It was leaps forward, and I wasn’t sure if I would need something of this scale for my humble business. Just painting enough work to fill up this place would already be too much for me to handle alone.
"Shall we check out the second floor?" Hayden asked.
"Sure..." I replied.
He offered me his hand and I took it without a fuss. Hayden led me up the stairs to the second floor. To my surprise, the second floor also had a large open space that seemed ideal for hosting an exhibition along with some doors to one side.
"They’re smaller rooms here. They would be good for meeting rooms or offices," Hayden pointed out as he led me to one of the rooms.
He opened the door and pulled me inside. The room was empty save for a work desk and two chairs. This room was clearly used as an office before. The sound of the door locking made me turn around towards the door.
"Hayden?" I called his name softly and questioningly.
Hayden didn’t reply to me, but I knew that he had just locked the door. It had to be him because we were the only two people here. The way he looked at me told me that I wouldn’t be able to leave this place until I gave him what he wanted.
--To be continued...