Chapter 7

He did not pick up the first time.

He did not pick up the second time either.

Cecil called again and again, and it was only at the ninth call that Cleo finally picked up.

She could hear his heavy, rhythmical breathing from the other end of the phone.

She suddenly recalled a similar incident when she was in high school and was also accused of plagiarism.

At the time, she felt ostracized and helpless, and that was when she decided to call him for help.

He had assured her immediately after picking up the call, “Don’t worry, I have your back.”

But now, she was the one who started the dialogue with a swift accusation, “Were you the one who gave Amelia my first draft?”

Cleo confessed without a second thought.

“I did.”

The response from Cecil was a long, heaving sigh.

“Why did you do it?”

After a brief silence, Cleo answered.

“That painting should have never existed in the first place, especially not with your name attached to it. What part of this don’t you understand?”

So that was it. He was afraid of someone noticing.

He was still worried about Cecil having scandalous ideas about him.

Cecil grinned ironically, then she shut her bloodshot eyes.

“Still, it wasn’t me who plagiarized the piece, it was all Amelia! If you give her my first draft, how am I going to clear my name and beat the accusations?

“My entire career as an artist is going under!”

“Amelia made a blunder. She didn’t mean it. Why can’t you take the backlash just this one time?

“Back when I first taught you how to paint, I only intended for it to be a healthy hobby and a way for you to kill time. There’s no need to be so serious about it.

“Either way, I am going to take care of you for life, so you don’t have to worry about finances.”

Then he hung up without another word.

Cecil continued clutching onto her phone and stared blankly at the mirror in front of her.

She observed her reflection, particularly noting her red and swollen eyes from crying for so long.

She looked so haggard that she could barely recognize herself.

Was that her in the mirror?

More than anything else, she felt like she could not recognize Cleo anymore.

Was this the same man who would go against the entire world for her sake?

There was no telling if that very man was still there.

The exhibition turned out to be a complete flop, but that only made her more determined to return all the money she owed Cleo.

A few friends introduced her to various part-time jobs for her to bring in some quick cash. The jobs ranged from working as a caddy at a golf course to part-timing as a waiter in high-end clubs.

Since she had to raise the money as soon as possible, she was not picky and would take up any job that was offered to her.

She would work from morning until night and was rarely seen at home.

A week before she was set to fly to Vinland, she managed to put together the remaining sum.

After she had changed into her waitress uniform, she opened the door to the private room and prepared herself for her final shift.

As luck would have it, she just had to run into someone she knew on her final shift.

There was a group gathered and playing some sort of game.

Cleo lost in the very first round.

The host of the game proceeded to read out the punishment from a card.

“You have to kiss someone of the opposite gender for three minutes!”

The group burst into excited cheers at the dare.

They all turned to Amelia, whose cheeks had turned stark red.

Meanwhile, Cleo confidently got up and filtered past the group. With every step he took, he drew closer to Cecil.

Everyone in the private room was stunned by what they were seeing, and there was a round of commotion.

Just as they were still trying to figure out what was happening, Cleo produced a phone from his pocket and handed it to Cecil.

“Record it with my phone.”

Cecil felt a subtle quake inside her heart. She had a feeling of what was to come.

What surprised her was that the realization no longer stung her the way it did in the past, perhaps because she had truly given up on him.

There was no way this could ever hurt her feelings anymore.

She took the phone calmly and swiped to the camera.

Then, she angled the camera and hit the record button.

The camera was very high quality and managed to capture every detail inside the private area despite the dim lighting. The footage was clear as day.

After Cleo returned to his seat, he pulled Amelia into his arms and kissed her.

The time was indicated on the display.

Three minutes. A hundred and eighty seconds. No more and no less than that.

That was not the end of it.

After they were done kissing, Cleo got on his knee and produced a diamond ring from his pocket.

He spoke in a voice filled with tenderness.

“Amelia, will you marry me?”

He had proposed to Amelia!

Cecil could not catch what Amelia said.

It did not take long before the rest of the group crowded around the couple and shielded them from the view of the camera.

Their rabid screams echoed across the private room and were so loud that Cecil felt her eardrums would burst.

With that, she stopped recording.

Her manager showed up just in time to instruct her to head to another private room to attend to a new group of customers.

She handed the phone to her colleague next and turned to leave the room.

She did not linger a second longer than she needed to.