The bad-tempered muse

Chapter 6: she's smiling there...

Chapter 6: she's smiling there...

"Oh, dear, I hope I brought my granddaughter along, you're going to like her, I'm certain."

Mrs. Cruz commented, she, with no scruples or anything, reached out her hand and touched Martin's face as if examining it.

Martin didn't know how to react to human contact, especially if it's his face, so he softly took the old woman's hand and covered it with both of his hands.

He gently smiles at her then he lets go of her hand.

"I appreciate that you think of me that way, Mrs. Cruz. I think your granddaughter is very lucky to have you."

Mrs. Cruz's smile became sweeter as she gushed at Martin's gentle manner and soft manly voice in her mind.

She's already thinking of how she can matchmake the young man with her granddaughter.

"I would like to accompany you around the gallery if you want me to?"

It was a sunny afternoon when Mrs. Cruz arrive; the temperature outside was not pleasant, especially to older people.

Plus, Mrs. Cruz's arrival was timely; he'd rather tour the old lady inside his gallery than entertain the young women in the lobby.

May the Lord bless Anthony's soul and deliver him away from temptations.

"You're such a gentleman. I'd really love to go inside please."

Martin's art gallery has a lobby for walk-in customers who didn't want to go inside the gallery, they can sit and wait as Anthony prepares their orders.

Their clients would want to see the painting to see if they like it before they pay.

It's also for Martin's advantage as it's theirs.

Before Martin and Mrs. Cruz went up to the second floor, Martin gives Anthony a good luck sign.

"I noticed you have many clients, haven't you? Women nowadays love to design their houses instead of paying professionals."

Martin took the old woman's hand and placed it on his forearm to support her climbing the stairs.

Yes, it seems so; that's what keeps women active, he supposed.

"All of the women downstairs are mostly young wives; I saw the rings. It's good that they take care of their houses and not just go shopping every day."

"You seem to have taken good care of your health all these years, Mrs. Cruz, your eyesight is rather sharp to see a little detail."

Martin commented which made the old woman laughs, she answered saying, "Oh, no, dear. That's the first thing I looked at when I saw them.".

"Uh,", the only thing Martin can say.

Martin tours Mrs. Cruz and explains to her every painting on the wall while the old woman's hands hold on to his arm the whole time.

The last painting he led the old woman to is the painting hanging in the center pillar.

The second floor has a total of 7 pillars in the middle, the painting is hanging on the 4th.

"That is?"

Martin's eyes were glued to the blue painting, he was silent momentarily before he took a glimpse at Mrs. Cruz.

He touches the painting with his left hand.

"That's the 'Mermaid's Tears'."

"But, it seems to me that she's not crying?"

Martin heard the complete confusion in the old woman's voice.

"That's right."

The painting was mostly blue because of the picture of water.

There's a mermaid under the sea.

The thing that most people would notice first was the beautiful, sparkling dark color beads on the mermaid's lower body, the tail.

The mermaid's body was covered with a beautiful shade of blue scales; from its neck down to its lower body, all area was covered with scales.

"Contrary to common beliefs, mermaid doesn't cry. The mermaid's tears turned into pearls are not true either; in the story behind this painting, when the mermaid feels a strong negative emotion, its scales would slowly harden like a metal. It'd feel the tormenting pain of its scales piercing through their skin."

"She's smiling there..."

Martin and Mrs. Cruz were standing directly in front of the mermaid.

Martin leads Mrs. Cruz to the left side, and there she finally sees the disturbing picture of the deranged, tormented-looking mermaid.

The mermaid was pulling on its black seaweed-like hair, its body was bleeding and the pearls were falling off of her body to the water.

"She was really beautiful there... Why do you have to ruin her?"

It seems to him that Mrs. Cruz doesn't agree with him on this painting.

As he noticed, Mrs. Cruz seems to be an emphatic person. She would want to know why something comes up to this and that.

"Usually, mermaid can't feel anything, it can only feel when the feeling is too deep or strong. When it feels a strong positive emotion, maybe it will let out a sound as we do when we laugh. When feeling something negative, as you can see, the effects are also unimaginable. It will happen once when it loses its mate."

Losing someone you love can be so devasting. In the mermaid case, it will suffer and die from it.

"Wasn't mermaid stories supposed to be a happy ending? I didn't think you have a hobby of destroying a good story, young man."

Martin doesn't know whether or not the old woman was serious.

Nevertheless, the mermaid story was indeed supposed to have a happy ending, but reality sucks.

"Fortunately, the ending you want to see still depends on which perspective you want to see; just don't go in the left, it's the wrong path."

You can stand directly across from the mermaid and you can see the happy mermaid.

"That's true, it's a clever idea. Despite the scary part, the painting is absolutely a masterpiece."

"I appreciate that, Mrs. Cruz. Thank you,"

It's already 5 p.m when Martin escorted Mrs. Cruz outside to her car.

"Our delivery track will be following closely. Have a safe drive, Mrs. Cruz."

"Dear, just call me grandma. I like you to be my grandson one day.", Mrs. Cruz said as she appreciatingly looks at him from the open window of the car.

Martin laughs her words off silently dismissing her idea by saying, "I hope you had a great time at my gallery, it's my pleasure to have you, Mrs. Cruz."

"I will visit again when I have time. I will bring my granddaughter next time."

Martin gave Mrs. Cruz's drive a nod before the driver closed the window.

Finally!

Martin's shoulders immediately relax seeing Mrs. Cruz's car going away.

Are older people so pushy these days?

"Uhh..."

He stretches his shoulders because it accumulated quite a tension the whole evening.

Martin walks into the lobby to see Anthony laughing with 3 women sitting across him on the couch.

"I heard the painter is very talented at painting? I wanna see him, can I see him?"

Martin's brow instantly twitched after hearing the women's laughter.

Perhaps, facing 3 more people before they call the day wouldn't be so bad, they are still his clients.