Chapter 20

"Sure" Giselle chuckled and let him work, content to watch him paint. She felt a sense of peace she hadn't experienced in the last few days and sighed deeply. The air coming from the windows was just right too.

"Ahh Adam, you're really something else. You're so adorable" she mumbled. Adam took another two hours to finish the painting, those hours Giselle used to nap. There was a clean table there which she rested her head on to sleep. Adam wiped off the sweat on his brows and assessed the painting.

It captured the listless environment around her while she rested her head on the table in boredom. Only one of her eyes was drawn but the listlessness in them was captured vividly. The rest of her facial features and her upper body was captured well, making it look like the actual Giselle was glaring down in contempt at everyone who dared to gaze at her.

"Even in my art, you're still so feisty"

He left the painting to dry and turned around to clean up where he had used to work. That was when he noticed her.

"Ack! Giselle, when did you get here?"

Giselle roused upon hearing his voice and rubbed her sleepy eyes. The action was so cute, Adam gulped and recited a sutra in his head.

"Mmhm, Adam? You're done?"

"Y...yeah"

"Took you long enough. You were supposed to send me back" Giselle yawned and stretched.

"Oh, that's a pretty good painting. A perfect replica of myself. I'm the Mona Lisa, hehehe"

"You like it?"

"Yeah, it's good. No wonder Matthew praised your art"

"He did? I thought he hated me"

"Well, appreciating the art is different from appreciating the artist"

"I'm pretty sure it's not"

"Well, what do you know mafia boy? Take me home before Matthew goes nuts"

"I'm coming. Give me a moment"

As Adam went to clean himself up, Giselle looked at the painting again. There was a vague memory in her head that was starting to surface.

Giselle normally paid attention in class but that week, in particular, she had a fight with Dr. Monroe after he found out she put Psychology as her major. Needless to say, he was not happy about it but Giselle was obstinate to see it through. It made her upset he didn't see it from her point of view.

The droning of the history teacher made her anger worse. To distract herself from flipping out in class, she was counting sheep, a subtle but sure way to distract a mind as intense as hers. She was also ignoring the stares directed at her from almost every corner of the class.

Adam mustn't have surely thought he was the only one staring at Giselle. The truth was, most people in the department and some from the faculty were interested in the famous silent freshman beauty. It irked her how people won't just leave her alone.

Also staring at her that day was one of the people she regretted meeting the most in her life, one she had the most urge to kill in the most gruesome way. But those are memories best left in the past. She didn't want to taint Adam's good memories as it was an awful one for her.

"I'm ready Giselle. Let's go"

"Okay"

The drive back was silent. Giselle found it awkward and tried to break the ice.

"Where's your Benz?"

"I sent it for cleaning. It had a little blood in it"

"Oh. Give it to me. I like the car"

"Are you sure you want it? I mean I can give it to you but I could buy you a new one instead"

"I want that one. It gave me good memories"

Adam glanced at the leg in the cast.

"Riiight. I'll send it over when it's all cleaned"

"Thanks"

The car lapses into silence once more. Giselle remembered what Adam said when he was painting and asked him about it.

"Can you tell me about your mother?"

"Um, sure. Well, my mother's name was Carol Sanders, she married my father when they were 18 and had Amelia a year after. She died while giving birth to the twins due to internal bleeding"

"And your father didn't remarry?"

"No. Somehow their puppy love lasted for more than 15 years. They used to argue a lot but never stopped loving each other. They were so lovey-dovey it was gross"