THE PAINTING

-Haruka POV-

"Of course, it looks just like your eyes. Blue and pretty. It'll remind me of you every time I look at it." He said that with a smile. Eyes not looking at me but the painting instead. Is he feeling embarrassed right now? Right now, I should be the one to feel that way.

"No answer? Well, I guess you're not really interested to know the other reason then." With a smile plastered on his lips, he left me to go get the staff.

It's not that I'm not interested, I'm just speechless, you idiot! Wait, did I really admit that I'm interested just now? Argh, I don't know anymore.

"Did you call for me, Mr. Ackerman?" Mr. Hudson came out of nowhere, and Levi was already here since I don't know when.

"I would like to buy this painting." With a straight face, he said that. Wait, is he really going to buy this painting? He's really not joking right now?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ackerman. I'm afraid that the artist advertised the painting here only for the exhibition purpose, not to sell it." Mr. Hudson said it politely.

"Who's the artist? Let me talk to him. Tell him to name the price. I'm willing to pay how much the artist wants." He said that with a serious face. Now, he really is serious.

"Levi, it is merely a painting, and I do not believe it is a worthwhile investment." I whispered in his ear.

"Haa. You don't understand Haruka. For me, if it's something related to you, I would spend all my money on it. And, please don't whisper in my ear with that sweet voice of yours. You're making me hard down here." He said it playfully, and I could feel the blood rushing into my face. This pervert jerk!

"Mr. Ackerman, the artist said he didn't intend to sell the painting, but if you still insist on buying it, it would be 1 billion Australian dollars." I can see Mr. Hudson tried his best to find the right words to tell Levi. Well, I'm sure Levi is not going to buy this simple painting for $1 billion.

"1 billion, is it? Alright, give me the account number, I'll transfer it right now." Levi's answer made me look at him, and again, I'm speechless. It's not just me. I can tell Mr. Hudson is shocked too.

"What? Why are you not saying anything? I can pay more if you want." Levi said, waiting for Mr. Hudson to give him the details.

"Ohh, yes, sir. I'll give you the details." Mr. Hudson took his phone.

"Oh, wait. Because there will be a limit, I cannot transfer the $1 billion amount in one transaction. I forgot about that. Can you please ask the artist, Is it okay to pay in cash or check?" Levi spoke with a straight face. This guy really just thought about that right now?

"Alright, sir. I'll ask him right away." Again, Mr. Hudson dialled the artist's number.

"The artist said he prefers the payment made in check instead." Mr. Hudson said after he's done talking on the phone.

"Alright. I will present him with ten checks, each worth $100 million. I assume you'll be the one to present them to him, correct? This time, Levi asked Mr. Hudson with a serious face.

"It would be me, sir, or would you like to meet him in person later?" Mr. Hudson suggested.

"No, it's okay. I don't have time for that, you see. Here are 10 checks for the artist, as well as one for you, Mr. Hudson. To cover the shipping fee, you can take the balance as a thank you for helping me here. Please deliver the painting to my house, and here's the address. Make sure to tell them to deliver it on weekends only. Then, we'll take our leave." Levi gave Mr. Hudson the checks and his address, then grabbed my arm to leave.

"Thank you for your help today, Mr. Hudson. We'll take our leave first." I said that politely.

"It's my pleasure, young master Charles. Please come again." He bowed, and then we left.

Now, we're outside the gallery, walking to the parking lot.

"Seriously, you spent $1 billion on a simple painting like that?" I spoke. I don't know where I got the courage to speak first.

"It's not just a painting, Haruka. It has a lot of meaning behind it, especially when it comes to you." He keeps smiling while saying that and continues to walk in front of me until we reach the car.

"Then, could you please tell me the many meanings you mentioned just now?" This guy is really irritating me right now, making me want to know more.

"And, mind me telling you next time since we still have some places to go? Hope in, young master." He opens the car door for me, and without arguing, I enter the car.

"Where are we going now?" Realizing he wanted to avoid discussing the painting right now, I changed the topic myself.

"Amusement park, of course." He grinned like a kid. Seriously, anyone wouldn't believe it if they saw the great Levi Ackerman behave like this.

"Seriously, you've been acting like a kid today. A petting zoo, and now an amusement park. Don't you have a better place to go?" I ask him out of curiosity.

"I don't. In fact, those are the better places I want to go." He says, eyes on the road, smiles on the lips, but I can sense the sadness in that tone.

"Well, since it's your visit here, I'll just let you do what you want then." I reply

"Well, thank you then." He replies with a smile. I did not say anything, I turned my head outside the window instead. The journey continues with a silent atmosphere between us. I'm glad our destination is not that far.

-20 minutes later-

We arrived at the amusement park, and Levi clearly looks very excited.

"Now, what should I try first?" His sparkling eyes looked around the park as if he did not know what to do now.

"It's not even your first time going to a place like this. Just do what you want." I spoke when he's still standing there, looking around, not knowing where to start.

"You're right. This isn't the first time I came to a place like this. But this is my first time coming here to play, so I don't exactly know where to start. You see, I've been raised not to go to places like this by my father." He says that with a smile on his lips, but even a stupid person would know that was a fake smile.

"Did you buy the ticket already?" I ask him.

"I did. But I don't know which ticket I should buy, so I ended up buying everything on the website." He grinned, and I'm not going to lie, he's cute right now.

"Well, that's good then. I'll be your guide today. We're going to try everything here today so you won't regret it." I grab his hand so he can follow me.

Maybe just for today. Just for today, I'll do this for him just for today, and this will be the last time. I thought to myself.

"Let's ride the roller coaster first." He stopped when we reached the roller coaster section. Wait. I have never ridden a roller coaster before because I'm scared. There's no way I'm going to ride it now.

"Levi, maybe you should just ride this by yourself, I'm going to wait for you here." I try my best to hide my fear.

"Huh? But you just said that we're going to try everything here today. Don't tell me, are you scared?" He looks at me with a smirk. This jerk.

"Who said I'm scared? I'm just…."

"Then there's no reason for you not to ride it, right? Let's go!" He grabs my hand without even waiting for me to finish talking. Right now, I realise. Levi surely won't regret anything. But I will. I swear this is the last time!

After that, we really did try everything there. Including the foods and taking pictures at the booth. And one thing I know, today is the day that I really did my courage test, as I need to try every dangerous ride and also the haunted house. And now, I'm sitting on the bench. Exhausted. I'm waiting for Levi, and I don't know where he went off to.

"My, my. Look who we have here? Isn't it our second young master, Haruka Charles Auclair?" A familiar voice spoke. I looked up to see who that voice belonged to, and I was shocked.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!