Runic

Monnet

Night began with cackling of some champagne glasses, she stood there gawping at a painting, a Monnet was it or seemed like a new artist in the town with a tinkle about his novel ingenuity?

Nina kept staring at this one particular painting, a woman showing off her nude back, partially covered with a red stole. Her side face bent down giving her an artless guise of fronting limelight with her eyes rubbernecked to the ground.

She seemed shy to the world showing off her stripped back, in quest of attention, that stared at her from afar. Every passer-by was marvelled by the looks of it, something exceptional yet simple, adorning the galleria with its presence. 

An evening filled with elites of the society, those champagne glasses, trinkets and baubles, envious ensembles, made things appear extravagant, dazzling models, a soft background band appeared enormous than a movie's set.

When things appeared larger than life, it brought out more than some loneliness, infidelity to adultery, gossips to goggles, totes to stilettoes, lonely apartments to holiday homes, heiress to hoes, fat shaming to slut shaming.
It appeared enticing through those windows and doors but in reality, they lived just like a person living in a small studio, whose two times meal was less rational than a shopper's rundown perhaps.    

Nina in some way felt a fixation with the painting, a connection possibly of standing alone in a room full of people. Everyone knew her, but she did not fit in with the discounted crowd even if she wanted to for the sake of her presence.

She could observe how people looked at her, different angles of conclusions by bunch of brutes, who would trade and hinder other's affairs for trifles.
"Someone's been staring at her for long? What do you see in it, your soul?" James patted nina from behind.
James Patrick, a business tycoon who inherited his wealth from his fourth step father, his mother married four men in her life time, amassing more affluence than any person ever could, his  father left him a profuse sum of treasure to live a bountiful life for generations.
He liked socializing, mingling, entertaining his guests, hurling amazing revelries for friends was his everyday gala. He was a respectable photographer, a professional one, mastered photography from a renowned school, always surrounded by gorgeous models, indulging them with their morning lattes and decafs was perhaps had turned into his a.m. routine. 

Nina was his latest eye candy, toying around with her depressed demented mind and convincing her for a photoshoot was his earliest unearthing. A divorcee with two children was eyeballing for a new wife, other than his insolent scintillating lifestyle, he was a brood at heart, humble enough to bestow a new life to Nina.

In six months, he had turned Nina into the most sought celebrity of the town, rearranging her life for good, she loved her new life and was significantly indebted for it. 

"It's fetching, I like her innocence, chasing bare courtesy from a bunch of outsiders, feeling empty on the inside, making amends with her rubric to fit in. What more would she do to live a life like that?"

"I understand, what are you trying to say here? I recognize her misery, I felt matching a few years back, trying to get into this industry is not very easy. You have to live your life in an unalike manner, a place from where people can adore you, see your flawless elegance and tribute you for your régime. In few years, you will forget where you came from and accept it as it welcomes you and it's not that you're new to such a life. Your life has been a multi-baggage feature film, and now you own the copyrights to publicly exploit it, just the way you wanted."

"Do you think I should buy the painting? For what it's worth, I would like it in my living room? I can adore it for longer, maybe a lifetime. I have my first modelling pay check for the month and I don't need that money for at least a year. Meanwhile, I have other endorsements and a cameo in a movie is also on its way." 
"I'll inform the manager, you'll have to bid the highest price, it's the only painting which is on auction for tonight. It will fun to see you bid, a new face in the town is good for the newspapers and magazines. Struggling model who is an apparent heiress is a tad statement for the public whiz."