Gold is Rare But Jade is Priceless

Part 10

The art exhibition was all set up with panels of dividing walls separating artists' artworks from each other. I did not tell anyone that I had changed one of my paintings in the collection, but I doubt they would notice. My manager on the other hand was probably going to scold me but I did not care because this was my display, my work, and my most important collection yet.

Most of my works used mediums of gouache and acrylic making the layering and shadowing of her face stand out. The hardest part was always her eyes. I had missed seeing her eyes so much, yet they were ingrained in my head with how they looked even when she expressed different emotions on her face. Her eyes were the secret to the soul. At the same time, I struggled to capture them in all of my paintings. I tested and mixed enormous amounts of blues and yellows together, evening buying additional tubes of premixed greens, but nothing could capture them correctly. I, unfortunately, had a deadline to meet and had to use multiple colors layering them to create a deep emphasis on them, but they still were not the real thing.

Hopefully tomorrow, the real thing will appear in front of me as I glanced over my paintings one more time and left the gallery waving goodbye to the police waiting outside. I took a taxi home to 57th street paying the taxi and went past the security down the hall up to my penthouse. I heard my phone ring as I looked down to see it was indeed my manager.

"You went to the gallery, didn't you? I told you it is bad luck to see your gallery one day before the exhibition if things go poorly, I will blame this bad karma on you. Do you hear me?" He continued talking about how superstitious rituals and how it was not too late to counteract my actions if I did one of the things he listed off. I ignored him taking off my suit jacket and looking into the fridge to take a bottle of wine and pour myself a glass.

"Frank" I picked up the phone unmuting it and interrupting his rant.

"Yes," I could hear his eagerness as he knew I only spoke when necessary or if things were of great importance. 

"Pick up coffee for me tomorrow" before hanging up on him before I could hear a reply back. I smiled closing my eyes knowing that he was probably in shock with his mouth open like a koi fish. He was always stressed and anxious but then again, he told me one time that without his job he would not know what he would do with his life.

I walked into my bedroom going over to my closet to see what I would wear tomorrow for the exhibition. I knew I wanted it to go with the green emeralds the Tiffany company had just gifted me as I sold them one of my paintings that they had liked even though it was one I was going to discard because the eyes were not the right shade. I slid off my clothes to stare at myself in the full-length mirror. I turned my hips to the side seeing the scar-less back but when I turned back around my front view had damage done to it. I would let Frank figure things out as I grabbed a silver-coated plastic box off my desk that had worn edges all around from being opened so many times. I opened it as I stared at my grand collection. My fingers traced over the cold metal deciding which one to pick. I finally choose a golden-handled one that I only used for special occasions.

Tomorrow was a special occasion, but it wouldn't hurt to celebrate a little bit earlier. I grabbed it walking over to the living room where the painting was displayed above the fireplace. It was truly one of my best works seeing that it captured the raw emotion as our bodies laced together as we molded into one. Frank had wanted to put this one up as an exhibition piece, but I would not allow it. It was too private for the world to know and I wanted limited eyes to be able to see this masterpiece.

I sat on the couch in the nude as I stared at us together. Tomorrow I prayed would be that day so we could be together and end this madness as I sliced three lines across my chest letting the faint crimson beads bloom from the lines and ever so lightly trailing downwards as I lowered my fingers down my body fingering my rosebud as a gush of euphoria and warmth racked through my body. This was how I ended my nights with pleasure by looking at her eyes watching down upon me as I shuttered from the imagination of her touch.