Tom grinned all the way home, he couldn’t explain why he was feeling so happy but the thought of Amber brought a smile to his face anytime her face comes to his mind. He didn’t even know when Anita came in to check up on him while bringing along a plate of sliced fruit.
“You hate to have late night food but you came in late so how about some fruits?” Anita announced as she entered the room but the grinning Tom caught her off-guard.
That was the first time she would see him grin like that in years, she paused for a bit to observe well if she was indeed seeing right but it was real, Tom was grinning happily.
She rushed to his side and placed the plate on the table before touching his face, raised it up and turned it to the sides to see if he was really okay.
“What are you doing?” he growled, removing his face from her hands but she only leant closer to him “Are you sure you are fine? You have never given this expression for years” she panicked and he raised his brows.
“What do you mean by give this expression? Do I wear only one look?” he questioned and Anita didn’t wait for him to finish before a big “YES” flew out of her mouth.
“You are always looking fierce, even when you sleep so this is definitely another side of you” she slammed and he smiled
“You smiled? Did Tom just smile now?” she almost scream but covered her mouth quickly before she wakes everyone sleeping.
He knows she would make sure to get to the root of what is going on with him if he doesn’t send her away soon so he stood up and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Thank you for the fruit, I want to wash up now” he announced but she stood there to his surprise.
“Are you not leaving?” he queried and she shrugged, “Go on and pull off your clothes, it’s not like I’m a stranger. I am your mother so what is there to hide?” she countered and he could not believe his ears.
“What do you mean there is nothing to hide? Are you going to watch me go naked?” he almost shouted and she laughed a bit “Go and shower” she finally released him and heads for the door.
She didn’t want to pester him because it was definitely a happy time for him. If she wants her to know then he would surely tell her so she just have to wait till that time.
“This is nice, I hope you can smile more often” she said as she held unto the door’s handle before going out of the room to avoid him seeing her tears.
She was so happy that she cried. Her son have been cold for as long as she couldn’t even remember. He never laugh no matter what anyone says and works himself to the bone but her seeing him laugh on his own accord today, it was worth crying about.
****
They spend all night texting after his shower that he didn’t even know when time passed by so fast. They agreed to meet at the hidden house the next day being Saturday before they finally slept off.
He went ahead to pick her at her house and they went together not knowing that they were being tailed by Joseph’s men. They went into the house, drew all day, read some books about arts and did all sorts of things they could.
He ordered in foods for them during the break and they discussed about themselves while eating. They both realized that they didn’t know that much about each other even though they have been working together for so long.
“I think Lawrence is someone you might know” she stated out of the blues and he paused his food. “Why did you say so?” he asked.
“I replied what we rehearsed at the interview and he asked me later if I was by chance the friend he named Umbra. He went on about how they drew together, and his strokes always had the dark shade. He also said that he haven’t heard from him in a while” she explained and his hand ceased.
The looks in his eyes gave her the answer she wanted, they knew each other.
Lawrence and Tom both knew each other from their childhood days but he had disappeared without telling Lawrence and they lost contact since then. He was a very good friend to him and taught him many things because he knew more about arts than him. They had the habits of drawing together based on their feelings and he gave him the name Umbra because of his shadow always over his works.
“I must be right, seeing your reactions” she muttered and he nodded. “Lawrence was my good friend, I wonder why I didn’t recognize him earlier” he answered and covered his food because he lost appetite.
He was mad at himself for not recognizing a good friend sooner, he had even forgotten about him. The only time he remembered him was when he decided to draw again, it was shameful of him to forget such a friend so easily and now he’s in his debt because he lied to him and blew off the opportunity of them reuniting.
They left the house around seven in the evening and were not aware that Joseph’s men were still there waiting for them to leave.
The tailing continued until they finally got an evidence to guess whatever was going on in the house. Tom had just ordered in new supplies and paints, he was packing them inside and didn’t know that the men were taking pictures.
“Paints and art supplies? What is going on here?” Joseph murmured as he stared at the pictures that was brought to him.
Amber was the artist he was aware of but the house was under Tom’s name when he checked about. Whatever they were up to was not clear to him but he was sure that there is a secret involved that he didn’t know of.
He scrolled through the social media page of Amber and noticed that she liked the paintings uploaded by a strange username and the paintings were exactly the ones that was revealed at the exhibition. A thought flew through his mind and he picked up the phone to call Eddy and confirm.
“You dated Amber for a while, have you ever seen her draw or talk about her interest in arts?” he asked Eddy who went silent for some seconds.
“Although she loves to go for art events but I have never seen anything related to drawing or painting in her place or even around her. She has never exhibited the characters of a painter or do anything related. I am not sure if she did in secret but with me, she never did such” Eddy replied innocently
“But why are you asking about this? Is it because of the recent news on her arts?” he asked further but Joseph just disconnected the call
“What a rude moron!” Eddy cursed at him and threw his phone to a side.
Joseph thought more about what could be the twist between them for a while but couldn’t pinpoint it because never have he seen Tom painted anything in front of him or even talk about arts. He only reads anything related to business and his company affairs so there was no way he would be the artist behind the arts.
Few days passed by and he had even given up on the secrets when he went to join his father in the sitting room and his eyes landed on a bird painting by the side of the room. He went closer and took a careful look at it, he could see the similarities to the drawings Amber claimed to have drawn but he didn’t want to rush before he ruins his suspicions so he just kept quiet and left for his room.
****
Weeks flew by and Amber went back to Paris because of the buzz worthy artist of the month interview where she partook in the photo shoots and all other schedules prepared for her. The last day being for the interview, the company had informed her that they would be giving chances to some of her fans to communicate with her live so she was well prepared since they already assured her the questions would be strictly based on the arts that belonged to her and her experiences.
She was ushered into the studio wearing an oversized arm length green blouse, a white trouser, and a black pencil heel to match. Her sense of fashion was top notch as the reporters couldn’t help but marvel and comment on how stunning she looked. The session started and everyone was asking one question or the other which she answered effortlessly.
“We will take the last question for today” the host said and called on the last number, only for Joseph to stand up to her surprise.
“I will love to see Artist Umbra draw today, it might not be something nice or perfect but I just want to see the aura of when you work” he requested and her eyes grew saucers while Joseph just smirked, he had confirmed his suspicions.