The Taste of Silver | Fortune's Fool #2

14 | similar to petrichor

[ s i m i l a r   t o   p e t r i c h o r ]

♥ louisa ♥

The walls were pale white and ensured that all attention remained on everything else. That wasn't very difficult considering the fact that one wall was almost completely covered in a floor-length painting that I had made a year ago.

In the centre was a sculptural orb that I had created out of plaster whilst dotted about were my art portfolio sets that I had to leave behind when I moved to Paris.

About thirty other paintings had been hung around the room creating a heart-warming exhibition of all my work.

Tears filled my eyes and I blinked hard to make them disappear.

It failed for they only welled up more. My chocolate eyes were still transfixed on the supersize painting I'd made of Rae when I had been grieving.

She looked beautiful, watching over all three of us with her bright eyes that would never those their warmth. A faint red tint was on her cheeks that were reminiscent of the slight flush that would appear on her cheeks whenever she ran up the stairs quickly, excited to tell me how her piano lesson had gone.

"Than-" I croaked out, clearing my through when my voice cracked halfway through. A large hand rested on my shoulder and when I glanced up, I met a pair of eyes that were the exact same colour as mine.

My father smiled warmly as I tried again.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. This is beautiful." Lifting my right hand delicately, I gestured to the whole exhibition. "All of it is. I'm stunned. I-I don't know how to even express how much this means to me."

"You don't have to. We can see," Mum countered, not knowing what to do with my hand which was still clasped in mine. It felt unfamiliar to both of us.

She settled with a gentle squeeze. "We'll give you a few minutes in here alone if you like? We can go through the paperwork that the representative from Schillings sent later on."

I nodded and they both left. Although I knew neither of them knew it, I was thankful for their departure. I hated being seen when I was vulnerable and right now, that was the only words that could describe how I felt.

Finally, a tear escaped from the corner of my eyes yet I instantaneously wiped it with the corner of my manicured red nails.

Out of all the people in the world, my parents had been the last that I'd expected something like this from. My heart swelled in a way I didn't think to be possible.

I dragged my finger along the front of an acrylic painting I'd made, feeling the little bumps and ridges.

•••

"No, I don't want to see them."

Manvi, the nurse who was in charge of taking care of me, tentatively stood by the door of my hospital room. "I know it's not my job to pry-"

"Then don't."

I stared at the ceiling ahead of me replaying my encounter with Gabriel from a week ago. How the hell could I have let things get so bad? And how could I have just sat there quietly whilst he broke down, unable to even give a mere explanation?

For God's sake, Louisa. You've fucked it. You've lost everything now.

I swallowed hard in an attempt to rid myself of the lump in my throat. It didn't work. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to convince myself I did the right thing. But if it was the right thing to do, why did it feel so wrong?