For Lovers Only - [A Zarry Stylik]©️

ONE RING FOR US

The Malik Gallery was full of guests. Not as many as usual when it came to this, but the right amount of people. The walls exploding with colours told the abstract representation of what went inside the artist's heart for months in Italy. Alternatively, photographs in black and white complemented the abstract with imagery of emotion.

A photo of a hand picking a beautiful wildflower in colours red, green and yellow. The abstract of water against the skin is blue and white. The sweet bite of peach in mostly watery colours and warm transitions.

A love story told most delicately fashion with the intensity of Zayn's brush and the delicacy of Harry's eyes. The Lovers had debated for days which painting should be paired with which picture to construct their story - surprisingly, they found in their art a common thread and the presentation took life.

The result was obvious for those who knew them - their Italy escape was right there from the moment they arrived, to the day they left. For those who didn't, once they noticed that it was Zayn in the photos or the depiction of an eye matched Harry's, the curiosity about what was going on took over.

The night had been going beautifully for the two. Neither of them expected the work to be sold or for anything more to come off it. It was just an expression of their love, a wind of creativity, something they wanted to share with the rest of the world in a controlled manner.

Some would ask more inquisitive questions, yearning to know more about the scandalous affair in the obvious depiction of Zayn's hands squeezing a juicy peach or the photo of Harry's hair close to his nose. Others were more focused on the sentiment the artist wanted to share through his work: like why that colour or what it meant when he had an H in most of his paintings - sometimes big, sometimes small.

At first, they roamed the room together, but as people arrived they were separated. Oftentimes, communication through glances at a distance while responding to curious questions.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Harry shared with Carol who stood beside him after another guest walked away. He felt nervous about what he was saying. "How do I sound? Do I sound smart?"

"You sound very confident." She replied, padding him on the shoulder. "You're talking about something and someone you love."

"I feel like I'm rambling. Am I repeating myself?

"You're doing great. My suggestion? Give in a little bit more. Open just a tad."

"You think I'm being cryptic?"

"Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone shares off experiences' are pretty broad statements. I feel if you give a little bit more of an insight, it could be more interesting."

"I don't want to share our story in detail. It's right there for anyone to see it. It's pretty obvious."

"To you. To Zayn. Even to me, who wasn't aware of any of it. But, you have to understand that 1) people love to gossip and 2) people love mysteries. Feed them a little of what you mean, but not enough that they are full. Keep them intrigued, but at arm's length. There's always a level of morbid curiosity, but none of them will dare to ask the real nasty questions; they'll form the narrative by themselves. That's why we have so few people."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we could have a big opening, with hundreds of guests, but Zayn is betting on the mystery of it all. One night only, limited list, a sordid story behind this? After what happened at the fundraiser? Oh, there's value here. Sure, you two are together and it's known, but what did it take? What happened next? Tell them, but not really. Keep them drooling for more, but with enough room for speculation.'