Bound For Eternity

9

Christian stewed for a day or so. He asked us to let him confront Natasha, but he was in such a bad mood that everyone seemed to notice. Lissa would give him concerned looks, but by those looks, I figured he had told her either.

All of the tension and secrecy was making me sick.

Not being able to stomach it any longer, I hid out in the art studio I was renting. It was nice doing something I loved for work, but it was easily the best part of my day. Not a lot of people got to do their favourite thing for work. It was even better that the space I got to rent was inside the University.

I chewed my lip as I looked at the canvas. I wasn't sure what I was painting, I sort of just went with whatever popped into my head. It seemed like a mess of colours but it reflected exactly what I felt inside.

There was some commotion near the door, and I looked up, seeing a handful of students from Dimitri's class. Sometimes students would wander in here and study because it was quiet, but these three didn't give me the feeling that they were here to study. I cleared my throat loudly and raised my brows, indicating that they needed to be quiet.

It didn't take long after that for one to approach me, probably thinking I was a student instead of an instructor. The one that I pegged as being the student Dimitri had had multiple issues with to be the blonde. And based on the way he spoke when he addressed me, I could see why he had an issue.

"Why would a girl like you be hiding out in here all alone on a Friday night? I'm sure I could give you better entertainment," he said leaning against my easel. I sighed and shook my head.

"You wouldn't, trust me," I said plainly and went back to my canvas. The three snickered and he tried his hand again, but I blatantly ignored him, focusing on my work. There was a timid knock on the door and I looked up, finding one of my night class students lingering in the doorway. Jeremiah gave off the look of a reckless bad boy but had a real heart for art. He caught onto the techniques quickly and had a flair for painting the images in his mind.

But from looking at his work, I knew that he had a troubled home life. He tried to conceal it, but it wasn't hard for me to see it, or for Dimitri to see it when he visited the classes.

"Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Belikova," he said quietly.

"Mrs. Belikova is my mother-in-law. Rose is fine," I said, "What can I do for you?"

Jeremiah glanced at the three others before coming towards me, setting his portfolio bag on the table beside me.

"I'm applying to the Academy of Art and wanted to know if you would look over the pieces I thought about submitting?" he asked. I nodded and wiped my hands on the towel while he unzipped the case. I crossed my arms over my chest as he pulled the pieces out, laying them on the table.

"Jeremiah, these are amazing!" I whispered in amazement, pulling the sketch towards me. It was a church of all things, but it was absolutely stunning.

"Really?"

"Yes! I wish I could sketch with this much detail at your age. You used brown here instead, didn't you?" I asked, pointing to one area. He nodded with a timid smile.

"I remembered what you said about how brown gives more dimension when black makes it look flat," he said and I smiled at him.

"I'm glad to know someone listens to me," I mused and went over the other pieces. They were good and I knew that they would catch the eyes of the admissions department.

"I think that these would be perfect for your applications," I said with a nod of my head. The three from Dimitri's class made a snickering noise and I looked up, raising my brows.