The gallery opens to a foyer blocked by a white wall. The first piece that welcomes the visitors was a glass case, inside it was a row of blue flames that was fueled by gas. It was burning softly and steadily, the bottom part was opened because that's where the gas pipe was hidden inside the white display table.A woman greeted them by the reception desk on the left, she handed everyone a pamphlet that contains the list of items that were exhibited that night. The interior was a typical art gallery with wide spaces, paintings hanging on the walls, and glass displays in the centers of each part of the rooms divided by thin walls.Many of the pieces there were artworks from various artists, The Blue Flame was Roman's and when they walk further inside they find other of his works. Some are paintings, others are pieces of objects that were explained by the Head of Sales to the potential buyers.She raised the scarf around her neck when a breeze of air conditioner blew past her shoulders.
It didn't take him long to realize that Adele Leighton was not her real name. He searched for it on Google, and every social media platforms imaginable. He even searched for it in the Lancaster city directory. Adele Leighton was not the woman he was with on that ship.It broke his heart to even smaller pieces. How could she have lied to him like that? Leave him without a trail to find her again?He was a traveling artist. He worked freelance here and there and took him on an interesting journey for years. But Ludus had changed him profoundly. He went to Japan afterwards, that's where he learned the Kintsugi technique. The idea of The Heart of course came from his personal experience that left a permanent scar.Roman likes to think that the piece he made depicts his struggle to repair his broken heart. Mending the ceramic with gold took him two years to perfect, mending his own heart was a different story.While creating his masterpiece, he took on other adventures that led him back to
"Let me see it ... let me see it," Gloria Hanson extended her hands to Olivia.Everyone wanted to see her ring again, even though they'd seen it at her birthday party. It was astonishing jewelry, Declan had gone to lengths to custom-made it months prior to their anniversary."My God ... look at that," Gloria turned Olivia's hand to the left and right, the stones flickered against the light at the cafe.It was the unofficial wives club. They gathered every once a week or two weeks at the same cafe not far from Olivia's studio. Ever since she opened her business on Pioneer Crest, it was harder for her to get away from the brunch meeting with the wives. Talking about other people was not her favorite thing to do, and they never seem to run out of gossip."What did you do to him to get this giant of a stone," Helena Nordstrom was there too. "Look at the intricate detail, how much do you reckon?" she asked Regina.Regina rolled her eyes, "That is easily 8-carat blue diamond, depending on t
She'd been dreading the tour ever since she agreed to do it. A private tour means more time alone with him. She wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Is he going to bring it up? But she needed to know if he had told anyone about them, now that they are working and living in close proximity. Now that they have mutual friends. They're not strangers anymore. It was silent in the gallery. The only sound she could hear was the humming from the air conditioner and her footsteps walking into the spacious building. It was a little after 7 PM, the gallery was closed to the public and all the employees had gone home. A soft floral scent soothed her sense of smell. The dim lights made the place feel homier. Then she remembered that Roman actually lives there, and she was entering his home. She took a deep breath and hugged herself from the chill. She should've asked him to do the tour in the daytime when there are people around. The whole setting felt too private, she was getting cold feet. As s
She took off her ring and put it on the counter beside the sink. She washed the plate she just used to have her meal. Alma had cooked a very nice chicken dinner for two with salad on the side. She left Declan's half on the dining table.The music was on, it's always on when she's home by herself. It felt different listening to her favorite music alone. When Declan is around, he usually talks over it, he wasn't into music the way she is. She kept her champagne glass full, trying to wash down what was said in that gallery.She put up her legs on the sofa armrest, her mind wandering to that big bright blue eyes, the dark lines around them, and the black dot in their centers. His eyes were hypnotizing, and they were always looking at her in a way that made her feel ... adored."I miss you so much," his words replayed in her head.She closed her eyes. Those simple words had thrust deep into her because she felt it too. She gulped down her champagne and poured some more. She drew herself a
Olivia ...When he found out her real name, where she lives, who her husband was, and where her new studio was, it went snowballing from there. He wanted to know more about her life and what she tried so hard to hide from him.It wasn't hard to find information about the couple since Declan was quite well-known in the business industry. There were articles about him, his family, and the diamond company they own. There were articles about how he married the beauty queen from one of the pageants his company funded. There were pictures of 22-year-old Olivia as a beauty queen, 25-year-old Olivia on her wedding day, and then not much else after that. As if she had retreated to the background and the only news he could find was about Declan's achievements and his company's major deals.He wasn't satisfied with that. So he hired a private investigator to dig further. That's when he found out about Sienna. The woman Declan was having an affair with. Then he dug in deeper about her too. She wa
It's been two weeks since she ran out of that door in a hurry. "You can't run away from your own feelings." She remembers him saying. It's true. It was stupid. She was afraid of her own feelings and fled as if he was the one who scared her away.Roman had been nothing but friendly to her. Although he insist that he wasn't her friend. They were business partners now, and things have been doing fine. He'd been trying to get her to spend more personal time with him, but she declined every time.But that night she felt ready. She was tired from working all day and hungry. The thought of having to go home and eat by herself felt stale. Declan won't be home until late as he had been for weeks. The raincheck to have dinner at Sebastian's was gone and forgotten.She walked into Ludus. The place was different at night, more private, and personal, and felt like home. She loved it for that, and the smell of the floral diffuser was delightful.She got to The Heart and looked at the room from the
Kelly Thomas had just gotten divorced from her husband of 21 years, Greyson Thomas. She found out he had been living a double life with a mistress for the past 4 years, and to top it off, it wasn't his first mistress. She decided to leave the house she had been living with Greyson and bought a new one as part of her divorce settlement, and she had been working with Olivia to do the interior of her new home.She wanted to go big with the house's decoration, and since Greyson was obliged to pay for everything, she wanted to have artwork around the house. That's where Roman comes in."It's not even enough to pay back what I've lost for 21 years," Kelly snarled. "That bastard had the audacity to bring his tramp to our house and used all my stuff ... they even slept on our bed, can you believe that?" she scoffed. "That's how I found out, you know? I had no idea ... I guess if he wasn't that stupid to bring that bitch to our house, I wouldn't have found out 'til later."Olivia swallowed har