The exaggeratedly large room was dimly illuminated. The sliding gla.s.s door and transparent wall facing the east was fully blocked by a thick velvet curtain. However, due to the faint glow of the lampshade by the bedside, the interior of the place could be seen. 

The king-sized pitch-black bed was at the westmost side of the room. There was a piano at its left.

Alongside it, all the way to the wall adjacent to where the door was, canvases and paintings of different sizes and styles could be seen. The background and colors were most of the times different, but the subject of all the artworks was the same. 

That subject had woken up a little earlier than the owner of the house. When she accidentally tossed to the other side, she caught sight of her face there, blowing her sleepiness away, replaced by both shock and speechlessness.

'Unbelievable...'

Her breath seemed to have been taken so far away.

It was not only about the paintings or the subject being so breathtakingly beautiful, but how the one who worked on them had etched every detail of that subject, that woman, in his mind, allowing him to perfectly transfer those details into the blank canvases. 

How strong were his memories of those scenes to remember even the angle of the shadow of the woman there? 

'The real unbelievable is how everything in his works happened in real before...'

While pulling up the sheets to cover her alluring nakedness, she climbed out of the bed and headed towards the rows of paintings. One by one she looked at them. A smile never left her lips as she remembered the memories behind each image. 

'I'm sure this one's the first time we went to one of his resort...'

In front of her, a girl stood amidst a flowery landscape below a white painted balcony. The girl's slim and shapely back was facing the viewer. Her long grey gauze skirt almost blended with the sea of plants and flowers. 

'This must be when we made love facing the gla.s.s walls within the top floor of the hotel there...'

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks and her heartbeat accelerated. While the hand securing the fabric covering her body tightened its hold of it, she moved away her sight from the first drawing. 

Shortly, Sofony's eyes widened. 

'Wow... This one is so large...'

The next painting which her eyes perused depicted her peacefully sleeping on the sofa. She was wearing a long forest green dress. Her long straight hair fell like flowing water on the side, its tip only a few centimeters off the ground. The background was a mini-waterfall and pond, so she knew it was inside the bedroom of their condo in the former Golden Residences. 

'When was this?' She tried to recall every possible event where she wore a long green dress like this and only one eventually came into mind after. 'Is this after we meet my adoptive parents for the first time? Around that time, I was not yet very fond of dressing up so the occasions I have attended with him could be counted in one hand. Half of those events, I'm sure, involved my adoptive parents.'

She smiled, reminded of the two other people who she now considered as important as Steffy and Wendy. Harry and Cindy Silver were nice people and they had taken good care of her when Gio disappeared.

It was through these two's support that she easily got back to her feet and learned to maneuver herself in the business world and the world of the rich. 

'I'm sure once we're back to Alina City, they too will be happy for me to reunite with Gio.'

Moments later, part of her porcelain white legs peeked out of the white bed sheet when she took two steps to her left. Her eyes left that huge image for another one which was only half of its size. 

This next painting had purple and red as its background. A swing could be seen nearby. A woman with dark shades on sat on the stone bench, looking so forlorn and melancholic as she looked up to the approaching night sky.

Her heart skipped a beat. The scene was when she lost her vision due to Floyd's death. It was also when she had almost run away from him and the city, afraid of seeing his reactions to her blindness and ugliness.

As she stared at it, it was as if the genius and careful mix of red and blue could make the viewers feel how sad yet relieved the artist was. The girl almost slipped out of his fingertips but thankfully, she stayed. Though more or less two months later, something had still forced them apart...

The woman disliked the pang of pain that sharply cut through her heart for that brief moment. This was why she moved on from it and browsed the other images.

At the end of the display, the tantalizing smile returned to her lips. It was when she laid eyes upon two loving people embracing as they gazed at each other. It was the only work here with him on it, and thus it appeared very special. 

"Do you like what you see?"

The voice which came from right behind her made Sofony turn around subconsciously. She found that instead of joining her in enjoying the works he painted by himself, he was looking at her. 

He was still in bed, looking so lackadaisical as he propped up his chin up with one hand. 

Seeing the teasing grin on his face, she laughed and said, "I didn't know you can paint."

Gio replied. "Yeah. I learned. I had to."

She froze for a moment, realizing the hidden meaning behind his response.

He had to. Because he had nothing with him when he got tossed out of the country and couldn't procure news or pictures of her too. 

Painting had become his only solace. He learned the craft as to not go mad from missing her too much. 

Her heart felt so heavy and constrained. 

It was not only him who almost went crazy due to their separation. He too. When they had a brief talk yesterday, she learned of how he couldn't go into the city no matter how many attempts he tried. No possible way to communicate too.

For the past three years that Alina City was beguiled, it was like he had lived in a different dimension and there was simply no way for his world to intersect with hers again. For her, that sounded so painful and frightening. 

"Sofy..."

The heartwarming gaze he gave her made her return to her senses and feel thankful that they were now back to each other's side. 

"Come here."

She smiled and then obediently came over.

The man gently pulled her into his arms and planted small kisses all over her face and hair. 

When their lips met, a long and pa.s.sionate kiss ensued which made the girl closed her eyes and not noticed that he had already loomed above her. 

When they parted, both of them showed each other a happy smile. After leaving a mark on the fair and flawless skin above her collarbone, his lips went to her left cheek. 

Grabbing onto her small and smooth hand, he asked, "Do you still remember what I said yesterday afternoon?"

Drunk in his dark eyes, she nodded. "I do... How can I ever forget?"

Her free hand went to his face, which he later on grabbed and kissed. 

The man stared at her and said,

"I am not a very romantic person. But when I said let's not separate anymore... I definitely mean it."

Sofony's eyes shook, and tears started to pool within them. Gio's looked at her warmly. 

"Let's not be vague about this anymore. Let's put a proper label to our relations.h.i.+p..." 

The next words he said was more heavenly and fulfilling than any soulful melody she had heard before.

"Sofy... Be my fiancee... And then my wife."

His fingers interlocked with hers, squeezing and not letting go as he sincerely added,

"...I badly want you to be mine forever."

...

...

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