When Love Happens

Chapter 5

I already knew how persistent Hannah was so I didn't bother arguing with her cause I knew that would only prove fruitless. I bowed my head slightly, feeling embarrassed by the fact that I was being dragged away like a child.

"There he is," she pointed out and when I raised my head to look at him, I was taken aback. I was honestly expecting to meet with an older man since Hannah kept going on and on about how powerful he was and how his influence would change the course of my career. Listening to how she had described him made me think he was some elderly businessman but when I saw him, he looked absolutely nothing like I thought he would.

We're finally in front of him and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I didn't think I would be but staring at this man and realising that he was nothing like I expected him to be, made me quite nervous and uncomfortable.

"Well Jeffrey dear, meet my student and the artist behind this beautiful painting, Amanda Hathaway," Hannah introduced with a small smile playing on her lips. I couldn't help but admit to myself that he was a lot more attractive than I thought and I would be lying if I said that wasn't the real reason behind my sudden nervousness. I wasn't expecting to see such a good-looking hunk and I'm most definitely in shock and slightly intimidated.

He simply stared back at me for a while without saying anything and that only made me even more nervous. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mr Stone," I said to him, trying not to make it too obvious that I was nervous.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Hathaway," he responded and even his voice was insanely attractive. "I've heard a few things about you from Hannah here and she mentioned that this beautiful art is yours," he added, pointing towards the direction of the painting in front of us.

"Well, she is correct and she also mentioned that you're not a huge fan of paintings," I replied and he smiled a little before turning to face Hannah, who simply stood quietly and watched us converse.

"How could you tell an artist that I didn't like her work? You already made me look bad," he said to her in a mock annoyed tone and Hannah rolled her eyes at him.

"Rest assured that she takes no offence to the fact that you don't have good taste, Jeffrey dear and she'll even take the liberty to explain a few of her works to you," she said to him and I knew now that there was no getting out of this. "So you two have a good conversation while I go back to greeting other guests. I'll see you later Amanda and as for you Jeffrey, make sure you let me know before you leave," she added before turning to leave and I was left alone with this man that I couldn't help but find uncomfortable.

I honestly didn't want to explain anything cause I still didn't see a reason why I had to but since I didn't want to offend him and upset Hannah, I made up my mind to just get this over with and go back to enjoying my evening without having to suck up to anybody.

"Would you like something to drink, Miss Hathaway?" he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yes please, thank you," I responded and he quickly signalled a waiter in our direction. The waiter rushes toward us and Jeffrey picks two glasses of champagne and hands me a glass.

"I don't know if it's fine by you but, I'd prefer if we weren't formal with each other but if you perhaps have an issue with that, then it's fine by me," he said.

"It's okay, Mr Stone. I don't mind," I assured him, taking a small sip from my glass and gulping it down slowly.

"Good then. I'll call you by your first name and I'd have to ask that you do the same, Amanda. If that's settled, how about we go straight to the explanation? I'm curious to know what could be the meaning behind this painting," he said and a part of me registered that as a lie because I could tell that he didn't care much for paintings, judging by how he looked at them with obvious disinterest.

"I can already tell that you don't know very much about paintings and it's also quite obvious that you're not very interested in talking about them," I accused, waiting to see how he would react to what I said. I wanted to know if he had any respect at all cause if he did, even if he wasn't very interested in hearing me talk about my paintings, he would still have the courtesy to deny my accusations and listen to me talk about it but if he didn't, he would find a way to excuse himself and that would get him on my very bad book cause I couldn't stand men that had no respect.

"I'll be honest, I don't care much for artworks cause I've never really understood them but, I'm willing to listen to you and understand why you enjoy being an artist and the meanings behind your work," he responded and I could tell that he wasn't lying.

"That is good to know Jeffrey. Before I explain to you though, I'd have to ask, what exactly does this painting in front of you look like? I mean, how did you interpret it the second you laid eyes on it?" I asked, curious to hear what he had to say.

"Would you hate me if I said it looked like rubbish?" he responded and I wasn't expecting such a direct and honest response.

###Chapter 6 A Work of Art

Amanda

"Did you just say this looks like rubbish?" I asked, wanting to confirm whether or not I had heard wrong.

"Forgive me if you took offence to my use of words Amanda, but you asked me for my opinion and I just decided to be one hundred percent honest with you," he replied and I was honestly pretty shocked by him.

I've heard my work being criticised before which was a completely normal thing but, I've never actually heard someone refer to my painting as rubbish and it was kind of shocking to me to hear it for the first time and to realise that he was being very serious with his opinion.

"If you believe that my painting is rubbish, can you at the very least give me an explanation as to why you think so?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know why he thought of it as rubbish. I wanted to confirm if he was simply the problem because he has no taste or if he did see something very wrong with the painting and that was why he would call it rubbish so boldly.

"I need you to remember that Hannah herself already mentioned to you that I wasn't a fan of paintings and the real reason I don't like paintings is because I don't understand them most of the time and I don't enjoy trying to read me into something especially when the meaning isn't as obvious as I want it to be. If I refer to this painting as rubbish, it's not because it's rubbish, it's because I can't exactly understand it and it just looks like someone splashed different colours of paint on an empty canvas," he replied and I waited patiently to listen to all he had to say.

"I can't relate to what you feel or what you think about this painting and maybe until I listen to an explanation from you, maybe then I'll be able to understand what this painting refers to and what it means to you but until then, it just looks like a hot mess to me," he added and I chuckled a little.

After listening to everything that he had to say, I could only conclude that he probably did not have good taste in a lot of things and differentiating art from rubbish was probably one of the many things he couldn't do right.

"Since Hannah already warned me about how you were going to be, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to hear any of this. Now, since you asked for the explanation of the painting you just referred to as rubbish, I'll happily give it to you," I told him and he stared back at me with curious eyes.

I didn't want to get ahead of myself earlier and that is why I did not say anything or react at all but, Jeffrey has been staring at me in some kind of way since we met and it's not as if he's staring at me in some perverted way that is making me uncomfortable, it's more like he has been staring at me almost like he was completely curious about me and it felt a little weird because he and I barely knew each other and he had absolutely no reason whatsoever to be curious about me.

"Believe me, Amanda, I'm all ears. I want to listen to how you intend to convince me when even Hannah herself hasn't been able to change my mind in all these years," he said and I chuckled softly.

"Let me guess, she tried selling the painting to you by simply telling you her interpretation behind it and why she thinks it's beautiful?" I asked and he nodded affirmatively.

"Isn't that what you artists normally do?" he asked.

I scoffed. "If Hannah thought I was going to do the same thing that she did, she would have probably never introduced me to you in the first place because she would already know that nothing I said was going to impress you in any way. I don't intend to sell my paintings to you by explaining my interpretation behind them because at the end of the day, if I just explain things to you based on what I feel, then you'll probably never understand the meaning behind my work,"

"I prefer it when people come up with their interpretation instead of just following along with my interpretation because that would help you to understand the work better and it's also going to help you see the beauty in it. You can't possibly find it captivating if you can't relate it to your thoughts and emotions so instead of selling my painting to you like something I believe it is, I'd rather sell it to you as the rubbish that you think it is. The only thing I need to do is make you see this rubbish as something that could make sense however you want it to," I explained.

He didn't say anything at first and simply stared at me with a small smile playing on his lips. I was a little nervous because I was usually a very confident person but for some reason, my confidence was feeling deflated and I wasn't completely certain about myself.

"So, how do you intend to make me see meaning in your work?" he asked.

"I'm going to need you to have an open mind Mr Stone cause I can't have you already condemning the thought without even giving it a try. The first I need you to do is just stare at the painting and I know it seems like nothing like a dirty canvas to you but, look at the multiple colours that have been blended and let me know the first thing that comes to mind besides the already known thought that it looks like rubbish," I told him and he simply stared at the painting without saying anything.

"As for me, the painting I'm staring at is a simple representation of how change comes to be and it simply shows how a sudden change can be either a good thing or a bad thing. You can see that the painting started with a white colour which represents neutrality and slowly, it turns into the bright yellow that I interpret as a time in life where all seems to be going perfectly well and then it changes from a lighter shade of red to a darker shade and that represents a time in your life where you're passionate,"