"Welcome, sir," Jiyong nodded, briefly acknowledging the gallery's receptionists.

He'd been there so many time before, they were no longer surprised to see him. They didn't even offer a tour, he knew the layout like his own apartment's. 

It was the space that had been acquired to exhibit those of her works that weren't for sale. Each time she held an exposition, clients had long ago learned to ask which pieces were personal, as the she called them, so as to not fall in love with them. After all, no matter how much money they'd offer, they'd never obtain them. 

As he passed through the small small chambers it was arrange in, each imitating the mood the original exhibits had possessed, it was looking at a time line of Jieun's life in reverse. The first thing he encountered was a room that resembled the bottom of the ocean. In it hung an exquisitely crafted chandelier with curved tentacled that evoked the image of the most intelligent of invertebrates. 

The next held a precariously balanced sculpture of a pair of contortionists. There was a single light in the closed room and it's effect resembled that of a spotlight. 

The one of the third's walls was plastered with one of her collages as if it were wallpaper. The fourth showed bodies that fit together like puzzle pieces. The fifth had glass. The sixth played a video. Another displayed nature. One was filled with dreams and face paint. And yet another was simply full of faces. 

The last one was the beginning. The last one was his favorite. 

It had been the first time she displayed her work. She got almost instant fame and critical acclaim. Yet, he thought with a smile, none of them really knew what it meant. They didn't really know what was behind any of them.

How she had spent a month on a boat with three marine biologists and the artisan who would carry out her vision just so she would be able to be sure he understood what she wanted. How she had become so familiar with the contortionist duo at a Chinese circus that she could draw their figures perfectly after a week without seeing them. How these things had all been originated from a single diving trip, one show of the Chinese State Circus in London, or a small tapestry hidden behind shelves in a kiosk in an Indian market. 

And the first piece. Oh, God, they had no idea about the first piece. 

Jiyong walked into the museum and imme