Chapter 37: Million Dollar Painting
The storm hit the city for a whole weekend and then left as if it had never come. The new day started with a clear, cloudless sky.
Just like any other day, Harvey left the luxury apartment complex while the morning dew was still lingering on the foliage.
When the door to the president’s room opened, he saw Lucasta playing with a boy about five or six years old. Without asking, he knew that the boy was Bonita’s son because his face looked exactly like hers.
– Why do you go to work early today, Lucasta? Harvey placed his shiny briefcase on the table and asked.
– I looked at the wrong watch and took the first bus. She replied embarrassedly.
The corner of Harvey’s lips curled into a slight smile as he remembered the moment Samson fed her food in the restaurant. He also realized that she was only half-grown.
He hopes that after she separates from his friend, she will become more mature.
– So have you had breakfast yet?
– I ate already. Bonita bought cakes for me and Ricky.
Lucasta had just finished speaking when Bonita pushed the door open and walked in with an expensive painting in her hand.
Seeing Harvey squeezing her child’s chubby cheeks, the assistant couldn’t help but laugh.
Ricky is five years old this year, so she wants him and Harvey to meet and get to know each other slowly because in the future he will take her place.
Harvey couldn’t come to her house, so she took advantage of the boy’s fever and brought him here for a few days to take care of him and not take him to daycare.
– The baby is so cute. Harvey smiled, turned to look at Bonita, and said.
– So get married, after getting married, your wife will give birth to your children. Lucasta excitedly spoke up.
– I don’t want to get married yet.
The handsome vampire turned his eyes to the blonde girl, spoke in a tired voice, and walked to the desk.
Lucasta continued the Rubik’s Cube game with Ricky because she was about to bring the same colored patches together.
Bonita carefully took out the painting and showed it to Harvey. This painting “Half the Forest” was bought by her from the crown prince of a neighboring country under Harvey’s instructions to be used in an upcoming charity auction.
He smiled and expressed his satisfaction with the masterpiece of the mysterious artist named Lionel. Lionel is the most famous and mysterious figure in the world of painting.
No one could see his face and no one knew about his personal life because he did not leave behind any self-portraits or memoirs.
This painting almost disappeared after a major auction two hundred years ago and no one knows who bought it.
It was not until the art exhibition organized by Crown Prince Kamala took place that the world knew that this golden bachelor was the owner of the most valuable painting.
At exactly eight o’clock, Lucasta and Bonita went to distribute documents and collect important documents that needed Harvey’s signature from departments to bring to him.
The two girls were like two shuttles, running back and forth without a moment of rest, so the president of Star Group had to both approve the documents and look after the children for his assistant who was also his secretary.
– Another day ends with my legs no longer my own. Bonita shrugged as she stopped in front of the president’s office door.
– It seems like I don’t lose weight at all even though I run a lot. Lucasta wrapped her arms around her waist and gasped for breath.
The blonde girl’s contorted face made Bonita laugh because it was so adorable.
Although Lucasta ran all day, every time she stopped by Harvey’s room, she opened the refrigerator and took out milk to quench her thirst, so the energy she lost was quickly replenished.
Since the day Lucasta came to Star Corporation, Harvey no longer brought fresh blood with him for lunch because he was afraid of revealing his identity.
He drank two glasses of blood in the morning to last the whole day.
– Oh, oh my god, what are you doing, Ricky?
Bonita’s scream startled Ricky and he almost fell off the desk, but luckily Lucasta quickly caught the boy.
Looking at the million-dollar painting with a torn piece in the left corner, Bonita could no longer stand.
While Lucasta was trying to comfort Ricky because she saw him crying, Bonita kept holding her head and rolling her eyes.
The commotion outside forced Harvey, who was in the bathroom, to quickly come back out.
– What is going on? Harvey looked at three faces with three different expressions in front of him and asked.
– I’m sorry president, my son ruined the painting. Bonita bowed her head, her whole body trembling, not daring to look at him.
Harvey really didn’t expect that he had only been in the bathroom for a few minutes and the boy was already causing trouble.
All day, Ricky was very good, just sitting quietly on the sofa and playing with his toys alone without going or asking for anything, so he didn’t expect this boy to climb on the desk and make trouble.
– We can tape it up.
Only Ricky nodded when Lucasta suggested the idea.
Harvey looked at the innocent girl and explained to her that even if the painting was retouched, people would still be able to detect it when looking at the back of it.
– A tear in a once-perfect painting will be a loss that sticks in the collector’s mind. No matter how good you are at repairing it, it cannot change the fact that it is a repaired painting. Its value will decrease greatly and no one will even want to own it anymore. Harvey reached out to touch the tear on the painting and spoke softly.
The amount of money Harvey spent to bring the painting here was huge, but the love and relationship between him and the Bonita family, and her in particular, were much more valuable.
Therefore, he was not angry at all when he saw this scene. He could have even spent more money than that to donate to charity, but, he was quite regretful that Lionel’s masterpiece was destroyed as soon as it arrived in his hands.
– How much is this painting worth? Lucasta put Ricky on the floor and approached Harvey, asking softly.
– Four hundred million dollars. He replied, his eyes still glued to the tear on the painting.
Lucasta’s eyes lit up when she heard the huge number, even though she didn’t yet know what that amount of money could buy.
If she remembered correctly, her brother also had a painting identical to this torn one. Moreover, the paintings placed by Samson in the drawing room are much more beautiful and unique.
She spread out each finger, counted them, and calculated their value without knowing that both Bonita and Harvey were looking at her.
– Lucasta, what are you thinking about?Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
– Ah. I remembered that Samson also has a painting identical to this one, we can ask him. She was startled by Harvey’s question and quickly answered.
– Are you sure? This painting is unique. He looked straight into her eyes, expressing doubt.
Seeing Lucasta nodding vigorously, Harvey immediately took out his phone and called Samson to confirm what the blonde girl had just said. And the answer from his best friend made him feel like he was a person from another planet.
How could Samson be Lionel and the painting “Half the Forest” is not just one painting as people once knew?
– You don’t know what you just did, Lucasta. Your brother will regret it very much. Harvey gently stroked Lucasta’s chin and happily sat at the desk.
A gentle nod from him brought a gentle smile back to Bonita’s lips. She felt funny because Lucasta was still bewildered, not understanding anything.
The painting is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and this little girl thought it was like a cake or a carton of milk, she could ask for it with her hand outstretched.
Although Bonita knows this will make it difficult for Lucasta to cope with the hustle and bustle of life, she does not want her to lose the innocence and carefreeness of a child.
After every hard day of work, just seeing a few lovely moments of Lucasta makes her forget all the pressures.
Like every other day, when the clock rang signaling the end of work, Lucasta immediately left the company.
She chose to take the bus partly because she wanted to go home early with Samson because Harvey always came home late. When the company only had security staff left, Harvey leisurely walked out of the room.
Because Lucasta wanted to hold on to her brother’s hand and walk a short distance on the street in the windy afternoon, when the bus dropped her off at the bus stop, she sat on the bench instead of going home.
The purple light gradually deepened as time passed, and just as the street lights were sporadically lit, Samson’s tall, thin figure also appeared under the row of deciduous trees.
Lucasta was fascinated when looking at the picture of a man leisurely walking in the purple afternoon light, on the carpet of yellow leaves typical of autumn.
– Why don’t you go home and sit here? He grabbed her hand, pulled her up, and asked gently.
– Samson, will you give Harvey that painting? Was I wrong to reveal this to him? I looked it up online and realized that four hundred million dollars would buy a lot of houses, cars, cakes, and milk. She looked at him stealthily and spoke softly.
– You didn’t do anything wrong. That painting will be auctioned to raise charity funds to support orphans. This is a good thing. Furthermore, there is nothing more precious to me than you, silly Lucasta.
If it were before, when Lucasta heard Samson call her stupid, she would have frowned, glared, and got angry.
But after a period of working to earn money, and meeting and communicating with many people, she became much gentler.
She understood that he scolded her like that, proving that he loved and pampered her very much.
The girl’s legs gently stepped forward, her long slender arms covered by sleeves gently hugged him.
She rested her head on the warm chest to relieve her fatigue and reminisce about the joys after a day of work.
– Do you need me to carry you home? He patted her back and asked.
– No. She rubbed her head back and forth and smiled softly.
– Everyone is looking at us.
– Ignore them, I can’t see them, I’m closing my eyes.
After two minutes, Lucasta clung to Samson’s arm and walked with him.
The handsome vampire didn’t know that this fall, the young girl next to him suddenly realized a strange feeling in her heart every time she thought about her brother.
Sometimes, she wanted him to be the man she would hold hands with and go to the banks of the Rose River to pray.
The kiss on the Ferris wheel, which she thought had disappeared into oblivion, now reappeared in her mind and haunted her every night.
It made her feel guilty and always had the feeling that the gods were about to punish her.
She intentionally had intimate contact with him to remind herself that it was all just a misunderstanding because the love between brother and sister between them was so deep, but it seemed to have no results.
Warmth, happiness, sadness, and worry are what she receives after the hugs.