“Excuse me. Are you open?” I asked softly as I poked my head in the door. “Oh yes, how can I help you?” a middle-aged woman replied politely. “Umm…this place just recently opened, right? I saw the sign outside that you’re looking for art teachers…” I said hesitantly. “That’s right. We’re a new art school for kids that just opened in this area. We have other branches, but this is our newest branch,” the kind-looking lady replied. “Are you still looking for art teachers?” I asked, not daring to get my hopes up. “Of course. Are you interested?” she asked. “Yes, I am. You see, I’m an art student in my final year and I’m looking for a parttime job,” I replied. “Do you have any teaching experience or experience working with kids?” she inquired. “Umm…not really. I’ve taught some of my juniors before but that’s about it,” I replied honestly. “I see. Well, that’s not really a problem. If you can drop by to drop your resume here with your portfolio, then I can process your application
**Three months later**After three months of working hard on various fronts and trying to get my new life under control, the day of the exhibition finally arrived. Throughout the past three months I’ve been keeping myself busy by juggling my parttime teaching job, my university project, prepping for the art exhibition and spending time visiting my grandmother in the hospital. I woke up extra early today to ensure that I had enough time to do any last-minute preparation for the exhibition. After all the hard work that I put in, I was sure that I did my best and now all I had to do was pray for the best. I got up from bed, showered and put on a nice burgundy dress that I had saved up to purchase so that I could wear it to the exhibition. It wasn’t rare for artists to get some commission or land jobs at their own exhibition, so I had to dress up for that. I put on my dress and applied some light make up before checking my reflection in the mirror. Guess this will do for the day. Glanci
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 al
Ethan didn’t say anything, but he turned around to face me directly. I could feel his eyes on my face, and I quickly glanced down at the floor, scared to meet his eyes. “You don’t have to act so formal around me. It freaks me out,” Ethan whispered close to my ear. Suddenly, he was so close. My body froze as his warm breath tickled my ear. Without knowing how to respond, I just nodded my head slightly. “You’re free now, right? What about a coffee?” Ethan asked casually. I opened my mouth to decline his invitation; however, the slightly tight grip of his hand around my wrist told me that I better reconsider my response. “Ethan…” I said his name as I started to pull my arm away. His grip immediately tightened, and I started to feel eyes on us. “Come along, Malissa. You don’t want to make a scene here, do you?” Ethan whispered softly. His tone as calm as ever. “We can just talk here…” I said. “It’s just coffee…unless you’re expecting something more…” Ethan teased as he smiled mis
Wait. Did he just say reunite? Does that mean…“Torex and Silva were in a partnership before?” I asked in wonder. “You’re a fast one. That’s right…” Ethan said before grinning at me. “Really? How long ago was that?” I asked in wonder. From what I could tell now, the two groups were not on good terms at all. I didn’t have to understand mafia politics to figure out why that is. However, if they were in a partnership before then something must have happened…“When Hayden and I were kids our groups were quite close. Hayden and I go way back. He probably doesn’t want to remember it but, we grew up together. We were childhood friends, I guess you could say…” Ethan said as if reminiscing on some distant memories before he chuckled to himself. I blinked my eyes rapidly a couple of time to clear the image of a small blond boy playing around with a dark-haired boy. The idea of these two guys being childhood friends was just difficult for me to believe and comprehend. Although now that I loo
“I see…” I said softly. “We didn’t meet much when we were young and even less so when we grew up. I definitely wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having my life partner decided for me and I bet she felt the same way. We both tried our best not to get involved with each other’s lives and not to get in each other’s way. That was like our silent agreement. Everything was fine, until Hayden turned up…” Ethan said before his tone darkened. “Hayden?” I said questioningly. “Yeah. Do you want to see Hayden again?” Ethan asked. “I…” I began saying but then I hesitated. I did want to see him again, but I wasn’t sure if I should tell Ethan that. “Do you, or don’t you?” Ethan asked. The way his evil green eyes were looking at me told me that he already knew my answer and he probably had everything figured out already. Ethan would never approach me unless there was something that he wanted. That was just the person that he was. He’s handsome, charming, kind…and extremely manipulative. “Why do
When I arrived back at my exhibition, the same staff from before was there as if she was waiting for me. Once she spotted me, she came up to me excitedly and I wondered what she wanted. “You’re such a hot artist or maybe you’re such a hot girl,” she said teasingly. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Just now, another hot guy was here staring at that painting again. Maybe that painting attracts hot guys,” she said with a laugh. “What did he look like? Was he tall with light blond hair and blue eyes?” I asked rapidly as I put my hand up above my head to indicate Hayden’s height. “Yup, I think so…” she replied as she rubbed her chin in thought. “Where is he now?” I asked immediately. “Too bad you missed him. He left already; he should be out of the building by now…” she said. I didn’t listen to her until the end once again. I knew that it was a long shot, but I decided to run after him. If he was headed to the exit of the building, then he must have gone this way…At the end, after lo
My work at the art school was going well and the children in my class were fun to work with. Despite that, the joy of teaching the kid had waned during the past week as my mind shifted back and forth between the reality in front of me and my memories of Hayden. “Malissa, do you have a minute?” the lady called out to me from behind the reception desk at the art school. I had just finished teaching for the day and was packing things up. “Sure,” I said before putting some art supplies back into the cupboard. “Your classes have been getting a lot of positive feedback both from the students and their parents. So, I was wondering if you would be open to take on additional classes,” she said with a gentle smile. “Umm…I guess I can…” I replied. I was quite free now and I haven’t found a full-time job so working extra here wouldn’t hurt. I’ll be making more money that way too, so this was the perfect opportunity. “That’s great. I’ll prepare some documents for you tomorrow and you can le