The soft launch was attended by old master artists, art professors, as well as some promising young artists from Seoul. Faith’s paintings have created a buzz in the artist’s circle further piquing their interest, including the “eccentric” way the artist chose to hide from the public even when it’s her paintings that were being exhibited. 

Minji came to the soft launch on behalf of her sister, of course nobody knew she is the sister of the reclusive artist that everyone right now would like to get a piece of. She came to observe their reaction, their comments and later give her sister the blow by blow account. 

She went to the mini-bar set-up at the far end of the room and replenished her drink. The night is young and this group of artists present here tonight is just bowled over by what they are seeing. 

Jiyong, dressed in a light grey suit with a salmon pink long sleeved polo underneath with its top button left opened, arrived a little late and went to search for In Young to congratulate her for the good turnout of attendees considering that it was just a soft launch. He was half expecting to meet the painter that day, to ask her where she got the inspiration on her butterfly painting but was told she rarely comes to her own exhibits.

He went to the mini bar to get a drink and saw Minji receiving a glass of wine from the bartender. 

“Hello, Minji,” he greeted. 

Minji turned to the source of the voice and bowed, “Jiyong-oppa, nice to see you here.”

“You alone here tonight?” he asked, as his eyes made a quick scan of the room for a particular blond.

Minji noticed the way his eyes were searching for someone and surmised correctly that he was looking for Chae rin. She gave him a knowing smile and said, “My sister isn’t here. Much as she loves the arts, she shies away from very public opening of any exhibits and instead comes to watch the artworks when the exhibit is already on its normal run.”

Jiyong grinned, blushing lightly and asked, “Who are you with? Did you come with one of the artists?”

“No, this is partly my event. The artist hired me to oversee the event from her side of things while In Young took care of the rest.”

“Oh. Well, have you seen the paintings here? I heard from In Young, these are all new ones.”

“Yes, except for the butterfly centerpiece, they are new ones. You should go see it, something just might catch your fancy,” she said before excusing herself to talk to Gene who was signaling to her at the mezzanine floor. 

Jiyong drank his wine and started touring the gallery. The paintings are really interesting, on the surface they are just so ordinary you would not think they’re worth second looks but the images and the colors have a certain way of catching your eye. She does draw inspiration from the ordinary things in life, events one would normally think so mundane but on her canvas can give a person an epiphany that can leave him stunned. 

There were seven major paintings displayed in this exhibit, one of which is the “Autumn Rain”. “Autumn Rain” showed an old bench, painted in an unusual mix of grey and blue that made the bench looked like a wet pool of silver. The bench was placed in the middle of a road, with a brightly painted red umbrella that is left open on top of the bench. At first glance, that is all that you see: an old bench with a red umbrella and rain all around. But depending on where you approach the painting you will see a shadow: a shadow of a woman when you near the painting from the right and a shadow of a man when you come to the painting from the left. Then when you stop in front of it and give it a second glance, you will see the shadow of both man and woman seated underneath the umbrella enjoying the autumn rain. 

It was brilliantly captured, the splatter of rain, the vivid red of the umbrella against an almost grayish background and the ethereal quality of the shadow. It was as most critics had already said -- thought provoking. 

A caption was placed underneath the painting with this question: “Rain falls on everyone, but how do you catch the rain: do you catch it with a lover’s heart or with tears in your eyes?”

To this piece, Jiyong’s attention was caught and thought how uncannily familiar the painting is to him. Yes, he remembers sitting on a roadside bench one rainy afternoon with Faith and this painting is just so close to what he did that day. 

“Could it be?” Jiyong wondered as a thought crossed his mind. “It can’t be!” 

He pivoted and started looking for Minji, rushing to get to the mezzanine floor where he saw her went. He took the stairs two at a time in a mad dash to catch Minji and ask her about this sister of hers and the artist who hired her. 

When he reached the landing of the mezzanine floor, Jiyong came just a minute too late, Minji already left along with Gene and Tanya. 

~*~

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