Chasing Hearts

Four

Saturday rolled around and things were tense at the house for some reason. I spent most of my day in my room working on more paintings after a rather awkward breakfast with the 'family', but once the sun started to set I got hungry.

I refused to sit through yet another setting like that, so I told my father I was going out before dinner and wouldn't be back for a bit. I rushed out before he had the chance to say anything and looked up at my phone at the nearest convenience store.

Once I got there, I was disappointed to see it wasn't anything like the stores back home and there was nowhere to sit or heat your food. I checked online to see if there were any stores similar and found a small store ethnic store around the corner from where I was.

Inside, I got a bowl of noodles and an ice cream cone, heated the noodles and sat and the bar-style area at the front window. I peeled back the rest of the top of my noodles and went to town on them before my ice cream had the time to melt in the heat that was still leaking in from outside.

I was simply minding my business when the bell above the door rang, and I felt an ominous aura behind me. I turned to see a group of guys had gathered around me and started throwing taunts out at me, wondering why 'such a pretty girl' was all on her own.

I tried to ignore them, but that made it worse. One of them walked over and slapped the bowl of noodles off the table and spilled it everywhere. It seemed like that was my queue to leave, until the bell dinged again, and the room fell silent.

"Is there a problem here?" I recognized the familiar deep voice and sighed.

The guys muttered to themselves and then left without a fight.

"Hey," Reign said nonchalantly like he hadn't just insulted me hours before.

"What are you doing here?"

He snickered. "I like to frequent stores from time to time, I wasn't aware there was a law against that."

I was too exhausted to deal with this at the moment. I packed up my ice cream and tried to wipe off as much of the spilled noodles as I could. I didn't notice when Reign had disappeared until he reappeared with two more bowls of noodles and set one down in front of me.

"Don't leave until you eat a full meal," he said, then tossed over a stuffed cake pack.

I smiled a little and readjusted myself in my seat to eat my noodles. We sat like that in silence until we finished our food, and then Reign grabbed it all and disposed of it.

"Come with me, I want to show you something."

~*~

Reign brought me back to his art shop, but this time I was able to venture into the back. To my surprise, it was a giant room with an art workshop taking up most of the room and a single bed and dresser on the side of the room.

"Do you live here?" I asked.

Reign shrugged. "Sometimes," was all he said. I wanted to ask what he meant but he kept walking through the room to the very back where there was another old, wooden door.

This broke out into an even bigger extension of the place that you couldn't tell was there from the outside. Inside the room was a large workshop, with a huge tarp covering the ground and multiple easels set up around the place.

"Wow, this is amazing." I looked around the room in awe as Reign went over and dug something out.

It was the traditional Chinese-style oil painting that I saw in the front of the store on my first day there. "So, this is where it went."

"You've seen this before?"

"When I first came here, this painting was displayed in the window out front. It was what drew me to this store in the first place."

Reign chuckled. "Funny you say that; this was my first oil painting."

I gaped at him. "Your first? This is amazing work."

"I'm glad you think so, it's been months, and no one has shown interest. No gallery thinks it is worth it and no customer seems to care for this art style."

"I'll buy it," I said suddenly.

Reign blinked at me a few times. "What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not? I love this art style and I think it would suit my room quite well. How much are you willing to sell it to me?"

He walked over and grabbed it to hand to me. "You can have it. Think of it as a gift back for the painting you gave me."

"Are you kidding me? My painting is hardly worth comparing to this."

He shook his head. "Like you said, you will appreciate it more than I or anyone else will. That's all I really wanted."

I bit my lip and contemplated receiving such a large gift from him. What would Bianca say if she ever found out?

I laughed to myself as soon as I thought that. When did I start caring about stuff like that? If anything, I would love to rub in her face that her crush had given me such an amazing and personal gift.

"Thank you, I promise to cherish it."

My phone goes off from a text message from my father, wondering where I was. It was getting late and I never told him when I was going to be back.

"Also, thanks again for today at the store. Are you going to be at school on Monday?" I asked.

Reign just nodded and I mimicked him.

"Okay, make sure to go over those notes thoroughly, then. I worked really hard to get them, so don't disappoint me and fall behind. I'll see you Monday!" I rushed out of the store after the embarrassing words I uttered and ran home with a beat red face, unaware of the eyes that watched me from inside the store.