When Love Happens

Chapter 6

"The reason why it moves from a lighter shade to a darker shade isn't just to represent your passion that's getting more intense, it's also to represent the fact that you're most likely in danger during this time and the more passionate you become, the riskier things become. I can't possibly explain every interpretation to you but, as you see, there's a small addition of the colour grey which simply represents anxiety to me and at the same time, it represents a time where everything becomes a pattern and you decided to be serious and unbothered," I explained, giving him a brief explanation of my interpretation.

"Now that you've heard my interpretation, how about you come up with yours? What would these colours mean to you? How important do you think they are to you personally? Remember, colours may have what they supposedly represent but, it's a nothingness at the end of the day and it only becomes something when you decide to make them represent something. What this means is, you can feel free to view the meaning behind these colours as whatever makes sense to you," I said to him and he simply sighed with a small smile.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy listening to you explain your interpretation and yes, on this painting, they're a few colours that could mean something to me and I'd prefer to keep my interpretations to myself if you don't mind," he replied and I honestly didn't know how to feel.

Could he really have understood and gotten an interpretation from my short explanation or was he just trying to hurry things up?

"I don't mind if you decide not to share but how am I sure that you're not just trying to politely send me off since you still can't relate to understanding my work?" I asked and he chuckled.

"I have no reason to lie to you, Amanda. Of course, I can't claim that I've suddenly fallen in love with art but, just like you wanted, I've been able to interpret your work in my way and I just don't want to share it cause it's a little personal for me," he responded and seeing how I had no other way of convincing him to share his thoughts with me just to confirm that he was being honest, I decided to just play along regardless.

"I'll take your word for it, Mr Stone," I said.

"Thank you, Amanda," he replied, staring back at the painting before turning to look at me again. "By the way Amanda, how much is this painting going to cost? I'd love to purchase it as soon as possible," he suddenly asked and I wasn't expecting him to suddenly offer to buy my work.

"Unfortunately, it's not for sale Mr Stone," I responded and he frowned.

"Can I insist that you change your mind?" he asked and I'm immediately ticked off.

###Chapter 7 She's Interesting

Jeffery

As soon as I mentioned that I wanted to buy her painting, I noticed that the look on her face completely changed. I didn't mean to offend her in any way but, I really wanted this painting and I don't even know why I wanted it.

I haven't exactly been in my right mind since she appeared in front of me and when she was explaining her work to me, the only thing I could think of was how surprising it was that I met her here of all places. She was a face that I couldn't forget and I've been wanting to meet her again for a while now.

The first time I saw her was about six months ago when she suddenly walked up to me and requested my face cap and without even waiting for me to agree to lend it to her, she took it from me and took off just like that. I didn't bother asking the hotel management to find her since I didn't see any need to get it back but almost like we were destined to keep running into each other that day, I had run into her again or rather, we ran into each other when she bumped into me on her way out of the hotel.

When she bumped into me, she looked up very briefly and that was when I noticed the tears in her eyes. She had been crying that night and before I could get a chance to ask her what was going on, she took off again and we never ran into each other again until six months later, when I'm meeting her as one of the artists at the exhibition that I partly sponsored.

"Listen, Jeffrey, I'm grateful that you want to buy my work but all of my works that are currently on display are not for sale. I do have other works that will be sold but they'll be put on display much later and if you still want to buy a painting then, you're free to come to choose anyone that'll be to your liking," she responded but I wasn't exactly the kind of guy to pack down, especially not when I wanted something.

"I'm a very busy man Amanda and I do intend to leave very soon. I can't exactly wait here until your other works are displayed and it's not like I come back here just to get a painting. Besides, I have taken a liking to this one in particular and I want to purchase it from you. If you're worried that I might now offer a price that's worth your painting, well, you can be rest assured cause I'm willing to pay whatever price you feel is appropriate enough for you," I said to her and judging from the look on her face, she didn't seem to like the fact that I was persisting.

"I can personally send you a recommended painting that I think would be to your taste or instead, I'll send pictures of my other works and you can choose whichever one you want but, you can't get this painting because it's not for sale and I don't find it very polite that you're still being insistent even when I already made it clear to you," she replied.

I sighed. "I apologise if my consistency is getting on your nerves but the truth is, I genuinely like your work and when I say I like your work, I'm not referring to any other painting in this room besides the one that you just explained to me and that is the reason why I'm asking you to sell the painting to me because I've taken a liking to it and I'd love to have it with me. I'm aware that it's upsetting that I'm being this way but, I'm not exactly one to back down when I take a liking to something and right now, I don't intend to back down from asking for this," I told her clearly and she seemed so stunned by me to the point where she doesn't even say anything.

The look on her face made it obvious that she was judging me and she probably already hates me which isn't what I wanted but, I wasn't used to not having my way with whatever it is I wanted and the fact that she was also being insistent on not selling was only making me want it more.

"Just name a price Amanda and I promise to even double or triple it. I just want this painting and I'm not going to stop asking until you say yes," I told her and she chuckled. A short, dark chuckle that made it very obvious that she was not having it.

"You know Jeffrey, I've met my fair share of cocky and arrogant bastards who think that they can have whatever they want because they have money but this has to be the first time I'm meeting someone as disrespectful and irritating as you. How difficult can it be for you to understand that I have no interest in selling my work because it is not for sale? I was even polite enough to offer you other options because I thought that you were a reasonable person but seeing how you're refusing to respect yourself, I don't think I'm obligated to keep respecting you anymore,"

"The only thing I'm going to tell you is, none of the artworks displayed here today is for sale and if you're so desperate to buy an artwork that you can't even understand and relate to, then I'd have to ask you to have the patience or you if you can't be patient, go somewhere else to get your desired painting but don't you dare try to use money to change my mind because I don't care about how much you are willing to offer for it," she snapped back calmly and chuckled.

I already had a feeling that Amanda wouldn't exactly be someone that I could deal with easily but, I find her very interesting and the angrier she got, the more determined I was to have what I wanted. This wasn't even about getting the painting again cause I could honestly care less about that. It was more like, I wanted to rile Amanda up and the only reason I wanted to that was that I was already very intrigued by her, even before today and I could tell that she was certainly going to be a feisty one and if there's one thing I loved very much, it was a feisty woman.

"I'm not trying to throw money in your face Amanda, I'm only trying to go business here. You displayed your work, took the liberty to explain it to me...," I was saying but she cut me off.

"A liberty I now regret, Mr Stone. If you had any respect at all for my work and me, as an artist, you wouldn't be trying so hard to get me to sell my work to you even when I already explained that it's not for sale. A few minutes ago, you didn't even think anything of it and you boldly referred to it as rubbish and now, all of a sudden, you want to buy it? What exactly changed your mind so soon? How did my rubbish become something that you desperately want to have? And don't tell me it has anything to do with my explanation cause I hadn't even said anything yet," she hissed snappily, raising her voice a little at the end and some people around us turned to look at us.

"I'll have to ask you not to raise your voice because we don't want the exhibition turning into something else and I'm pretty sure you don't want people staring at you and judging you and also, I have to ask, is it that you don't want to sell your painting at all or am I the problem? I'm honestly starting to think that you don't have any issues selling the painting but because it's me, that's why you are getting pissed off because you don't want to sell it to me," I told her and she rolled her eyes.

"I honestly don't know what you think you are or how important you think you are, but, I already had no intention of selling any of the paintings that are being displayed now and that is exactly what I told you earlier, that it's not for sale. Besides, how can I sell such meaningful art to someone as clueless as you are? You don't even understand the concept behind it and yet you want to have it just for show? Listen, Mr Stone, I think you and I have dragged on this conversation for way too long and I have other things to attend to because just in case you're forgetting, this is an exhibition and I'm one of the artists that need to promote her work,"