On the day of the art exhibition, Remington and Spencer called me several times since I was absent. As hard as I tried, I could not come up with a believable excuse. Eventually, I decided to go with the most overused one; I told them I was sick and had to go to the hospital.
No doubt that it was a cliche, but it worked anyway. Besides, that was the only reason that could explain why I did not attend the event. After putting Christopher’s jacket on for him, I worked carefully on his necktie. Tying a tie was no easy feat, so I put in a lot of hours trying to get the knots right.
“Why don’t you go to the office with me? After all, as a superior, you can’t hide from the company forever. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works,” suggested Christopher with a soft smile while he held my hands.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I literally know nothing of how the company operates. I mean, what the heck can I even do at a meeting? Take notes? Trust me. Even I can’t read my own scribbles.” I waved my hand and shot down the idea.
“Fine. Then wait for me at home,” responded Christopher calmly.
“Sure. Having the time to work on my drawings is a blessing.” A smile was plastered over my face as I said those words.
After seeing Christopher off, I went straight back to bed to make up for the sleep I lost the night before.
When I woke up and checked the time, I figured the exhibition was near its end. I was flipping through the channels on the TV when the news popped up.
“After disappearing from the art industry for more than a year because of a series of scandals, new school artist, Crystal Yates, appeared before the public once again at Remington Fowler’s first art exhibition. Not only has the artist’s work, Floral Bloom, won over the majority of the public, but it has also managed to swoon the critics. But is that enough to redeem the artist from her past sins? Only time will tell. What is apparent, though, is that fans of the artist have started to come together again. What happens next…”
I rewound the news to the part where they did a close-up on my work. It was displayed at the most prominent spot at the exhibition, and standing next to it was Crystal smiling at the press.
I straightened my back when I noticed Isabelle at the exhibition. Furrowing my brows at the TV, I wondered why she attended the event with Crystal.
I had planned to take my mother there so that she could see what I had achieved. I wanted her to see my world and be proud of her daughter. That was why I got upset when I saw Crystal take what should have been mine. Standing next to my mother was a fraud showcasing the piece of art that I had worked on for two months.
Agitated, I turned off the TV and started pacing around the house. As much as I wanted to, I could not figure out why my mother went there.
I thought Remington would be the first one to inform me of that. After all, being the upright person that he was, Remington could never stand an injustice like that. If it were not for the fact that the art exhibition was his very first, he would have blown the truth wide open.
Unexpectedly, Spencer was the first one to come to me. He knocked impatiently on my door while I was taking care of the flowers on the balcony. The man burst in as soon as I unlocked the door and questioned, “Why?”
“What are you doing here?” I blinked a few times to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me. Then, I looked past Spencer to see if Remington was following behind.
“Don’t change the subject. Now tell me why.” With his eyes widened, Spencer panted as if he had just experienced something entirely unacceptable to him.
“I’m surprised that you’re the first one to come to me after what happened. After all, isn’t that what you wanted? Any fool could tell what Crystal was to you.”
