When Love Happens

Chapter 7

"I may not understand why you suddenly took an interest in my work but because Hannah personally introduced us and she speaks very highly of you, I'm going to appreciate your time and your interest in me. If you ever change your mind and you genuinely want a painting, you can let Hannah know and she'll get you one that suits your liking. Have a good evening, Mr Stone," she said with a curt bow and without bothering to even wait till I said something to her, she walked away and I simply stared back at her retreating figure, feeling rather excited instead of offended.

"Interesting," I muttered to myself with a small smile playing on my lips.

###Chapter 8 A Wrong Choice

Amanda

"What did you and Jeffrey talk about Amanda? You two seemed to be having a very long conversation and I didn't want to interrupt you," Hannah said as soon as I walked back to where she was standing with some other guests.

"If you don't mind Hannah, I'd have to ask you to excuse yourself because you and I need to talk," I said to her and she stared at me worriedly before quickly apologising to the people she was with and pulling me aside to a corner.

"What exactly happened dear? Why do you sound so serious? Did the conversation with Jeffrey not go well? Did he tell you that he has no interest in your work?" Hannah asked and I let out a frustrated sigh.

"You know how I always say that I'm very uncomfortable around most rich men because they always feel like the world revolves around them, well, your dear friend Jeffrey only ended up proving me right today and I honestly had to hold back so much, out of the fact that I have so much respect for you and I did not want to ruin your relationship with him by putting him in his place," I said to her and she looks even more concerned.

I was not completely certain if I should be saying this to her but because she was the one that introduced me to him and she wanted him to sponsor my work, I felt like I was obligated to let her know that he was an irritating person and he was certainly the kind of person I would avoid having any kind of interaction with.

"I think you need to be a lot clearer with me Amanda because, I honestly can't think of anything that Jeffrey could have done that would make you sound this way about him and I need you to explain things to me very clearly so I can give him a piece of my mind, should in case he disrespected you in any way," Hannah stated and I wasn't going to hesitate to give her a clear explanation.

"After you left us, we were talking about how he wasn't very interested in artworks and how paintings weren't exactly something that he could understand and relate to and I offered to explain one of my paintings to him, that is, the one that was right in front of us. I did give him a very brief explanation on it just something to open his eyes and open his mind to several possibilities of what the painting could mean to him but right now, I'm regretting my decision because almost immediately I gave you an explanation on the painting and how I interpreted it, he offered to buy it and told me to name any price that I wanted," I explained.

Hannah furrowed her brows in confusion. "Excuse me for saying this Amanda but, are you trying to be sarcastic with me in any way? Is your reaction right now supposed to be like a joke before you celebrate or are you being serious with me?" she asked, and I'm wondering how that is even a question.

"You know very well that I'm not the kind of person that knows how to play jokes on people and I'm being very serious right now. Your friend persistently offered to buy my painting even when I told him severally that it wasn't for sale and I found out very disrespectful on his part because, it was almost like he was trying to just use his money to get me to sell my work even when I didn't want to," I replied her and something about what I said must have been funny because the next thing I know, Hannah burst out laughing like I just said the most hilarious thing in the world.

"I don't recall saying anything funny and I don't think that anything I said right now is something that you should be finding hilarious in any way, Hannah. I just explained to you how your friend got on my nerves and how upset he made me and the fact that you're laughing right now is confusing me because I see no reason why you should be laughing," I told her immediately but it seemed as though, everything that came out of my mouth was very funny to her as she just kept laughing even more.

"I'm so sorry for laughing at this Amanda but I found all that you just told me very funny because I never thought that I would meet someone that would get upset over the fact that someone offered to buy their work at any price that they wanted. Don't get me wrong though, I understand that his persistency might have gotten on your nerves but I recall telling you that, Jeffrey could be very difficult to deal with and his persistency is one of the things that make him very difficult to deal with,"

"What I'm even more surprised about is the fact that he even offered to buy your work because I don't think that Jeffrey has ever offered to buy the work of any of my students or artists that work with me and even when he had purchased my work, he had only done it out of courtesy of our friendship and nothing else. So the fact that he's asking for your work is something I find very surprising and excuse me if I can't see the reason why you're upset," Hannah responded and I honestly couldn't believe it.

I couldn't understand how she did not get why I was upset at the moment. She knew very well that none of the paintings that are being displayed right now is for sale and that the fact that Jeffrey was persistent was quite disrespectful even after I told him that I wasn't willing to sell my work. He was throwing the fact that he had enough money to pay me for it in my face and I felt very insulted because it felt as though he was seeing me as someone that would be desperate enough to change my mind just because he was willing to offer me money.

"How exactly do you not understand how I am feeling right now Hannah? You know very well that none of the paintings that are out there is for sale which means that when he first asked that he wanted to buy them, I patiently explained to him that I could not sell them and that the paintings that are going to be sold were not displayed yet and instead of respecting the fact that I took my time to explain to him, he still went ahead to persist that he wanted it and even went as far as telling me that he was someone that liked to get whatever he wanted which I felt was an indirect threat to me and a very stupid way to show off," I explained to her and she let out a frustrated sigh.

"To be very honest with you Amanda, I don't even know what to say to you at this very moment because I feel like you are going to be offended by whatever it is that I say but regardless of whether or not you take offence to my words, I still need to tell you this because you need to know what you're doing and you also need to learn how things work in business and this part of the world,"

"I understand that the fact that Jeffrey's persistence could have upset you and he needs to apologise for that because he had no right to try to pressure you to sell your work even when you already told him that you were not interested in selling it to him but you do realise that, you would eventually have to sell this work to someone at the end of the day and even if you're not ready to sell it now, the best thing that you could have done was to just let him know that it can't be sold at the moment because it still has to be displayed for other exhibitions that you're going to hold during this period but that once the exhibitions are over, you can sell it to him,"

"If he still insists that he wants the painting even after you've already given him an explanation then all you have to do is just apologise to him and end it there and if you have to walk away, then you can walk away and tell him that you need to see other clients. I just don't think that you should be upset by the fact that he wants your painting because these are things that you would likely experience as an artist and no artist should be upset that someone wants to buy their painting," Hannah said, diving into another one of her advice sessions.

"So what you're telling me is that I have to deal with the fact that he was not respecting my explanations and was being rudely persistent just because, as an artist, I should be happy that somebody wants to buy my work? Is that it?" I asked.

"I'm not telling you to deal with any sort of disrespect but in this case, you don't need to be upset by the fact that somebody wants to buy your work because that is good news at the end of the day. I honestly don't know how I'm going to explain this to you but, Jeffrey isn't the only person that can most likely behave this way towards you. He doesn't even like paintings all that much and yet, he wants your work, so imagine if you ever run into a client that's actually obsessed with art and then wants to buy your artwork one day? Are you always going to get upset and walk away from them?" she asked.

I can't myself down to think about what she was saying and I realised that she did have a point. I still found Jeffrey's behaviour very disrespectful and I most definitely don't like him or want anything to do with him but at the end of the day, he was a potential client that wanted to buy my work and I could have handled the situation so much better instead of getting upset and walking away from him.

"You know what Amanda, how about you annoying continue this conversation much later because I need to get back in there and meet up with a few clients of mine and I'll also introduce you to other clients and I hope that your behaviour towards them is different should in case they also offer to buy your work," she added, and I nodded in understanding before we both walked out of the corner and back to the event that was ending very soon.

###Chapter 9 Losing my mind

Jeffrey

"What do you think about the proposal from Flair cosmetics, Jeffrey?" Tania asked as soon as she walked into my office, distracting me from my train of thought.

"Tania dear, I'd like to believe that I've mentioned many times that whenever we are at the office, you should stick to referring to me as Mr Stone, instead of calling me by my name however you like. You know very well that I don't want any sort of rumours going around in the office and I also don't want any sort of disrespect," I reminded her for the umpteenth time even though I was already well aware that she'll never listen to me.