Chapter 248: Paintings
’’Careful!"
By the moment the word escaped from Daisy’s mouth, Ryle had already grabbed Ivy by her arm and pulled her back from the spot where the opening in the floor expanded. His other hand went to shield and stabilize Angel who was so visibly startled as she clutched Ivy’s neck harder. But other than that, she did not give much of a reaction nor did she cry even though her little face had turned red.
’’Gosh, what in the world...’’ Ivy patted Angel before turning around and handing the little girl to Ryle.
Once Ryle held her, Ivy squatted near the spot where the floor had parted, revealing a narrow staircase, ’’This... looks like a secret path.’’
Daisy narrowed her eyes, ’’We are at someone else’s place after all. It is better not to go... in...’’
Before she could finish her words, Ivy and Ryle with Angel in tow, had already stepped on the underground staircase as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world.
Ivy even turned around and batted her eyes animatedly, ’’What were you saying, Daisy?"
’’This is someone else’s place and we should not be intruding,’’ Daisy said.
’’But Caleb led us here, didn’t he? We are not intruding at all. We will just look around a bit before leaving. He won’t mind that at all,’’ Ivy blinked.
Daisy’s lips twitched at Ivy’s half baked justification that she threw just to satiate her curiosity of the place.
She turned to look at Ryle, the expected-to-be-a-responsible-adult but the man had already stepped forward with a ’I own whichever place I step in’ aura.
If it was other times, he would have stopped had she asked him to but now the man was promptly ignoring her no matter what she did and hence Daisy knew that her efforts would be futile.
After a moment of hesitation, Daisy stepped inside the place as well.
The underground staircase was dimly lit. And it did not take them long to descend the spiral staircase.
They were greeted by the sight of a small room. In fact, it was less like a room because of how compact it was but more like a grand elevator. A white curtain hung over the walls, half draping, half gathering on the floor as if it had been there for too long.
But what caught her attention was that there was not a speck of dust on those white curtains, or anywhere in the place.
Ryle stepped forward and gave the curtain a gentle tug and it came cascading down from all the walls, pooling on the floor.
A gasp escaped Ivy’s mouth.
Daisy’s eyes widened.
What greeted their vision was a row of huge and beautiful paintings that covered the walls. They were not hanging on the walls, but instead were stored inside glass display cases.
On a second thought, Daisy felt like the room was probably not as small but these cases were too big or so were the paintings which made the place feel small.
’’There is no way... This is too beautiful,’’ Ivy marveled.
’’Indeed,’’ For once, Ryle also seemed to be mesmerized by the beauty of it.
Daisy was slightly surprised at that because there were not many things that could easily phase the man.
The first painting was the back view of a man standing under a peach blossom tree. He was dressed in a white T-shirt and black trousers, his right hand tucked inside his pocket while his left shoulder leaned against the tree. In front of him was the broad expanse of a lotus lake.
It was simply breathtaking. Probably the way the artist had painted it made it surreal to the point it seemed ethereal.
’’Eh.. There is something written here,’’ Ivy remarked.
Ryle tilted his head to the side, ’’It’s Chinese.’’
Both the people turned to look at Daisy.
’’What is written here?" Ivy questioned.
And although Ryle remained silent, his eyes contained the same curiosity.
As much as she wanted to remind the duo that they were on someone’s private property, the words somehow did not escape her mouth.
Forget it. It was not every time that Ryle looked over at her for help.
And as she stepped closer to look at the delicate calligraphy at the bottom of the painting, Daisy had a moment of realization. She absolutely had no qualms in doing morally questionable things for this man.
She had done it before but back then it was her work. She was Dexter. Now, however, she had no work obligations but she knew that she would probably kill for him if he merely glanced her way like that.
Her palms turned a little clammy and her heart sank a little.
’’Is it too difficult for you as well?" Ivy asked when Daisy did not say anything for a long time and just stood there with a blank expression on her face.
Ryle gazed at Daisy and his eyes narrowed a bit. Almost as if he knew that the blankness of her face was not because of her incomprehension of the painting on the wall.
"To the flower like one in my heart,’’ Daisy cleared her throat as she turned to face the two, ’’That’s what written on there.’’
’’Is it probably a love confession painting?" Ivy glanced at Ryle and Daisy, ’’I had heard of letters but this is the first time I saw a confession like this. To think that a woman confessed to Caleb in such an extraordinarily romantic way.’’
’’His narcissism makes sense now,’’ Ryle sneered before he walked past the first painting.
Although he seemed aloof, Daisy could sense that these paintings had his attention. He was a tad bit curious and almost interested in them for whatever reason.
’’Do you like to paint?" she approached him as they moved to the second painting. She had not forgotten her main motive behind luring the man here. She wanted to break the ice between them.
’’Never held a paintbrush in my life,’’ he rolled his eyes.
Daisy felt elated. Given that he replied, it meant he was not upset anymore, right? But then she looked at his indifferent face and felt discouraged.
’’But you look interested in them.’’
...
A/N: Sweeties, just dropping by to inform you that the updates will be a little irregular these two weeks as I have my exams. I will try to drop Chapters but they might not be as regular~ Thank you for understanding. I have a few announcements to make and if things go right, I can do it before the end of this month~ Wish me luck! Love you <3
