The painting

It was a sunny day as expected during the summer seasons, the hot glaring sun and warm wind.

The cold beverages in hand and some mini fans to save from this extreme heat.

A long line had been gathered near the entrance to the large historical museum in China holding up an exhibition of many ancient heritage pieces in this building.

There was a line of people who were devoted lovers of the arts regardless of age or some curiosity to see.

The excitement filled up with the warm air despite the hot sun, they were holding up for hours to see the exquisite pieces inside most of which had been hidden from the public for thousands of years.

A white car pulled over behind the cowards and went past through the path as people stepped aside with curiosity and anger at the owner.

As the car drove to the back of the building, everyone started to talk among themselves, thinking who it might be.

Leaving behind the curiosity to be unsolved by themselves, the car pulled over the garage inside the building. The driver got out and opened the door whereby a slender footstep out wearing a classic black square heel and the lady in a white Cami dress came out.

Xinyi pulled her shade and then put it in her bag. She looked at her driver who passed her the ticket for this event.

She smiled at him and asked him to stay there despite his reluctance to follow her inside.

Xinyi walked elegantly and slowly then waited for the elevator to come down.

As she stood inside and was about to press the button when she heard a young woman's voice. Xinyi dropped her head down and pulled cap further down to hide her face.

"Excuse me, can you hold up for me?" On hearing, she quickly pressed the other button when the door almost closed and the lady came rushing for the door.

"Thank you. I thought I would not be able to catch it on time." The lady breathed as she smiled at her, showing her both dimples on her cheeks.

Their eyes met and QiLi's eyes flashed with realization as she stepped a little further from Xinyi and her earlier warm expression dropping down.

"Oh, aren't you Xinyi Handerson?"

Xinyi squinted her eyes a bit as she forgot to put on her contacts and then her eyes widened in recognition.

"QiLi?" She said unsure if the person was someone she knew and waited for her acknowledge. QiLi nodded her head and stood with her back straight.

The air shifted drastically between them as both looked ahead with indifference and silence.

Xinyi knew QiLi from a very young age as both had been dropped off at the same orphanage and were good friends. After that one incident, everything changed between them.

When Xinyi was ten years old, she was adopted by a European couple while Qili was adopted by an American couple one after another. They hadn't seen each other until now.

Xinyi heard QiLi was a surgeon in one of the reputable hospitals in Beijing, China and a famous person in the health care industry.

She found this ride long and to clear this air, she thought of talking with her ex-friend.

"How have you been?"

"Good."

A short cold answer which meant a rejection to ask any other questions.

QiLi looked at the reflection of both in front of her as her hand clenching on her side. Xinyi stopped asking and was relieved when the elevator reached the floor of the exhibition hall.

She was surprised when QiLi also got off the same floor and walked in the direction of the hall. Xinyi remembers QiLi hated anything associated with arts and music and always fixated with science books.

Xinyi thought she might have changed in her preferences over the years and resumed her walk.

There were a lot of people in the room in line and watching the artifacts. She put back on her shades again and pulled cap further down while walking in the direction where two security guards stood in front of the entrance blocking people to go inside.

She prayed none of them recognize her and breathe in relief when she reached near the entrance. Xinyi handed the black ticket written in sliver colored ink. The guards gently took the ticket and inspected before opening the entryway.

Xinyi nodded at them and took off her shades. There were little people inside as this room held the most valuable artifacts, that's why the organization didn't want many people to come with a caution of being stolen or worse damaged by the public.

She breathed out and smiled softly as she strolled from one artifact to another. One of the things she was excited to see was the paintings despite her professional being a musician.

Xinyi always loved to paint in her rest time and going to the exhibitions, secretly.

She had to hold her cap down when someone passed by her and then wait for them to be safe distance.

Stopping in front of the painting, she would stand and gaze at it while trailing her eyes in every detail and thinking how they painted with and how.

An hour passed as she slowly strolled around the room and observing paintings. Until she reached the end where a small painting encased in a glass frame.

It looked really old upon looking at its physical condition. The paper was wrinkled, and the edges of the paper looked like it would be torn even if you touched it gently.

Overall, the color of the paper was reddish brown.

But it didn't hide the beauty captured in this small scroll of paper. There was a lady in pink and white hanfu dancing under the cherry blossoms as the petals fell down upon her. It was difficult to see her face as her eyes were lowered and veil covering most of her face.

What a bummer for this artist to hide the lady's face.

There was a tablet underneath the painting which had written that this painting was painted by an emperor of his queen. This painting was discovered in the late 1800s by an archeologist.

The archeologist thought it was some random painting when he came across a seal behind the paper and upon research, it found out that this seal belongs to the kingdom which lived prior to the Han dynasty and there wasn't anything written about that kingdom. Thus, this became one of the valuable paintings.

It said there used to be writing on the poem which over the past years, it had started to disappear.

After reading it, Xinyi squinted her eyes and leaned forward to see the remnants of the black letters. She turned to look back to the tablet when a pale hand swiped the screen.

It was quoted and written in italics.

I could tell you about my love

Write poems and songs for you to let know But not any could of this could see

How I am unable to breathe and think without your presence

Or cover an ounce of my love for you

Nevertheless, here I write just to reassure myself

I love you, my beloved.

An instant of overwhelming warmth and then pain surged inside Xinyi's heart as her eyes became blurry.

She quickly closed her eyes and slowly opened her eyes while shakily breathing out

Xinyu then put on her shades and turned to the person by her side to thank her for earlier.

But her word stuck in her throat when she saw QiLi with her finger still on the tablet and her eyes red as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Xinyi thought that she must be also affected by the words and the painting. It seemed QiLi was ignoring her presence. At the same moment, her phone rang and quickly took it out to see if it was her manager.

Before taking the call, she looked at QiLi who looked focused with the writings on the tablet and turned to look at the painting for the last time then walked in the opposite direction.

As Xinyi took the phone, her manager started to scold her for being late for makeup for her show which is just in an hour.

She took a big stride as she listened to her manager rants about her unpleasant behavior as she stood in silence.

"Are you sure no one saw you at the exhibition?"

"Yes." She nodded at her driver who opened the door as she stepped in and quickly sat on his seat, reviving the car. Xinyi answered in short sentences to her strict manager's interrogations.

She could feel headache and frustration coming up again as she closed eyes and laid her back against the seat. The driver looked at Xinyi through the rear mirror with a sympathetic gaze as he knows how much she works a lot and was always drained out at the end of the day.

Guess that is what happens when you are the most sought-after musician who can play violin, cello and piano.

Even if you are so talented, it is no use when Xinyi could barely get time to sleep, the driver thought.

He remembers seeing a smile and excitement whenever he drove her to the art exhibition which unfortunately lasted for a few hours.

His eyes softened and turned on the air conditioner a bit down as it was cold inside.

As Xinyi walked out of the exhibition hall, Qili stood in front of the painting for another half an hour and stared at the painting.

"I will come back, my beloved." She looked at it with a warm smile as she said it and then slowly walked away.

Xinyi heard the splatter of the rain against the window and woke up from her nap to see, it was raining hard outside. Somehow, it made her feel serene as she watched the rain and listened to its sound.

Xinyi just wanted to step outside and play in the rain. Her adoptive parents were strict with their rules and she had to abide by them.

They once scolded her harshly upon seeing her playing under the rain with her pet dog, Ruby and gave away her only friend dog to the shelter after seeing that she was distracted from her piano class.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed and quickly closed her eyes. She heard loud truck horn and her car clashed with the truck.

She fell forward and backward as her head banged against the window. She hissed with a sharp glass that pierced her cheeks and felt warm liquid on the side of her head.

There was a buzzing noise in her ears and her head pained a lot.

That's how I will die.

That was Xinyi's last thought as she smiled and welcomed the death with an open arms.