Chapter 6

"Ariel Gallery, the one just before the pizza shop."

Adrian described demonstrating with his hands to the cab driver.

"You mean the one at Third, Clarkson Street?"

"Exactly." He affirmed.

"Alright, it's 10 dollars." Adrian paid him and got into the car.

On arrival at the gallery, Adrian alighted from the car, taking a moment to appreciate the sheer size of the building from the outside. It was a massive, high-priced structure. The large entrance had people walking in and out in impressive numbers, with the majority of its customers being high school students.

While inside the building, Adrian stopped to stare and squint searchingly, then immediately noticed the straight-backed figure of his best friend, Joel Howey. He was a worker here. He was standing in a corner, talking spiritedly with another man who seemed to be a customer whom he was trying to convince to buy one of the dangling artistic portraits around.

"Just take a step back. Alright, cool. Alright,  look at it from this angle. Can you now see the majesty of the whole thing? And the good thing about it is you can put it anywhere."

“Hi homeboy,” Adrian hailed from behind him, and Joel turned sharply mildly surprised to see him.

"AD, my man. It’s been ages.” He said jocularly as they shook hands.

“Nonsense, was it your ghost I saw last week at the club?” Adrian asked and laughed.

“Don’t mind me, bro; please say hello to Mr. Collins here,” Joel said, pointing to the middle-aged man Adrian had met him with.

“How do you do, sir?” Adrian greeted.

“Very well, thank you.” He responded.

"Homeboy, this customer of mine was actually intending to buy this landscape painting, but apparently he is still nursing doubts,” Joel explained.

Adrian paused for a moment thoughtfully before he said, "You know, man, I think I've got something similar to this at home." Adrian said, turning to the man.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," he said, pulling out his smartphone.

"Take a look at this.” The man peeped at some of the photographs of similar-looking landscape portraits in his phone gallery.

"I think the beauty of this kind of art is that it is hardly about where you put it but how you look at it. Look at this one I showed you just now. It's the first thing I see in the mornings. You know that feeling of reading a really good story or poem, or better yet, after having really good sex."

"Inner peace," Adrian whispered and smiled.

"Like blue-remembered hills." The man asked with a knowing expression.

"Yeah, yes, exactly like Blue Remembered Hills." Adrian concurred with a nod.

"I think I get what you mean; I guess I'll just pay and try your routine."

"Then get ready to thank me," Adrian assured.

 

Joel gazed at both men, unable to hide his disbelief, until the moment the man went to the cashier to run the transaction and make his purchase. Before he went closer to Adrian to whisper,

“AD, this feels like a movie. Are you sure you’re human, bro? You are so good with this stuff.”

Adrian proceeded outside with the man. Both of them even went on to exchange business contacts outside the hall. When Adrian came back, he told him that their talks had even gone past just art and that the guy partly owned a hospitality firm and had even offered him a multimillion-dollar contract.

Some hours later, when Adrian and Joel left for his office at the bar, after they had taken seats, Joel observed him one more time, like some paranormal being.

“Adrian, back at the gallery, you know, it wasn’t an easy thing you did there, to be honest. I’ve been trying to convince that same Mr. Collins to buy some pieces, for God knows how long, and you just breeze in from nowhere and he buys and hands you such a deal on a platter. Just tell me it’s sorcery so I can give my mind some rest.”

Adrian laughed and said, “I wish it were.”

Then, more seriously, Joel drew closer to him and said it almost in a whisper.

"Boy, since you’re so good at this, I wonder what you’re doing here at the club. I think you’re bigger than this; you should take things more seriously.”

Adrian cleared his throat. "Joel, you of all people should understand me better and not ask this kind of question.”

Then Joey looked at him for a while, readjusted, and said, "Hmm, well, if you say so, it’s all good.” He shrugged. After a while, she started to speak again, but in a very low tone.

"Anyway, bro, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you."

“What’s that?”

“You see, to be really candid, man, why I followed you here is because I’m in grave need of cash. Seriously, the only business sustaining my family, that is my wife’s clothing store, is on the brink of failing. Life hasn’t been easy with your homeboy, to be honest.”

Adrian was silent for a while, then, almost as a reflex, he flipped the checkbook lying on the desk open and began to write on it. When he was done with that, he tore off the paper slip he had written on from the book and handed it over to Joey.

“Take it," he said.

"What's that?” Joey inquired.

"Take it and see for yourself.”

Joel collected it and found that Adrian had written him a check for $5 million.

  "Fuck! He couldn’t help but swear.

“Keep it down, bro,” Adrian whispered.

“Thank you so much, Adrian.” He said, falling to his knees.

"Honestly, man, I don't know what I would have done without you.” And in that instant, the urge to cry surged within. He tried to control it, but it was too late. His eyelids were streaming with tears. He transferred the check to his left hand and tried wiping his face with the right. Adrian got up to help him.

"Stop the tears, man. You’re family; what I do for you, I do for myself.” He said, tapping at his shoulder.

"I fucking love you, bro,” Joey said, getting up and wiping his face finally.

“Bless up, man.” He said again, in appreciation, joining both palms together.

Later that night, at the club, He proceeded to his office, and some minutes after his entry, Victoria, a seductive-looking worker serving in the club, walked into his office. Victoria was a 20-year-old girl he was fond of fucking whenever he needed a quickie at work. She once told him he was the only guy who could make her squirt even during quickies, and she sometimes imagined what he would do to her in a one-night stand. After a number of their encounters, she nicknamed him Buffalo.

She told him she came to look for some plastic chairs in the office while she was searching.

Adrian was staring deeply at her. She felt his eyes on her body and turned, only to see him gazing intently at her. Then she smiled invitingly and started to approach him slowly. When she got close, she said, “You look hungry, my buffalo," before going over to sit on his lap. He felt the curves of her body with his fingers and forcefully grabbed her breasts and buttocks. She let out a dry moan, then they started to kiss deeply. He freed her breasts from her brassieres, inserting his hand beneath her skirt to drag off her pants.

The deeper the kiss, the more it began to trigger memories of Scarlett. He thought about the position he saw her in that morning; he wanted to feel the creases of her fleshy body; he wanted to touch her; and he wanted to fuck her mercilessly.

At that moment, the door to his office was flung open, and to his shock, Scarlett had marched in. Victoria quickly leaped to her feet and hurriedly picked up her clothes to cover up her exposed body. While Adrian stared back wordlessly.

“Are we going for a threesome now?” Victoria asked with a smile, a glimmer of triumph in her eyes.

"Leave now,” Adrian shouted at Victoria, who was already on her way out.

Scarlett smiled mockingly, “Dad, I thought you only do mature women? Are you cheating on my mom with a young woman around my age?”