The Numbers That Brought Our Fates Together 211 That Only One.

The exhibition in the central gallery of the Royal College of Arts was a landmark event not only for the creative youth of all of London but also for many professionals.

Experienced professors, masters and simply well-known artists attended this event in the hope of finding among the college students a new star or promising a.s.sistant who can be entrusted with responsible work.

Young people, on the contrary, used the exhibition as a way to show themselves and their talents, look at the requirements of one of the best art schools in the country and establish useful contacts that could become one of the impetus for achieving their bright future.

The first day was closed to the general public, and among the visitors were mostly college students and faculty, with the exception of personally invited friends and family members of each partic.i.p.ant. On the second day, critics and connoisseurs of art were invited to leave their subjective a.s.sessments and recommendations so that ordinary guests who visited the exhibition on the third day knew what to look for and whose work aroused great interest among professionals.

Liu Yang modestly stood apart from the main exhibition, fingering the edge of her dress from worrying. And she had her reasons to be worried.

Over the past three days, she practically did not sleep, trying to finish all the paintings on the topic that Amelia asked her to do, on time. The creative director of the young girl exploded in fury, like a fire-breathing dragon, and was ready to expel her from the number of exhibitors when he found out that at the last moment she changed the subject and redrew all the compositions without even consulting with him.

He was a very strict and principled professor, who did not give anyone concessions, so YangYang was surprised that his anger had significantly decreased when she showed what she would do at the event. The man carefully studied each work for several minutes, after which he turned around and left the studio.

But it wasn't even the most surprising thing, but the fact that he gave the order to hang her collection in the main hall of the gallery, which was considered incredible luck and a sign of high approval from the entire faculty members of the art faculty.

And now, a young and fragile girl was standing in the corner, almost hiding away from prying eyes, and was watching with excitement as guests discuss her work. If someone had told them that she was the author of these paintings, they would have laughed out loud, because such a child was too small to depict compositions of such depth. From the outside, she seemed no more than an ordinary student, present at the exhibition as an a.s.sistant for the gallery staff.

"Here is your water," Amelia held out a gla.s.s of warm water to Liu Yang, "And relax, everything will be fine. You did a great job."

"You think so? I've never been so worried like today. I feel like a person who is about to parachute for the first time almost from the level of the troposphere," the girl brought a gla.s.s of water to her mouth and took a few sips. Her eyes wandered around the visitors of the exhibition, looking at the emotions on their faces as they stood in front of her works.

"Believe me, baby. It will not be just a jump from the troposphere, it will be a free fall from orbit, straight from outer s.p.a.ce," Amelia playfully winked at her friend, causing the excitement of the latter to jump several levels up.

The two of them looked at the wall opposite, on which several paintings hung in a row. The paintings depicted a girl, frozen in her intricate dance. She moved from canvas to canvas, changing her outfits and poses. Landscapes changed behind her, showing either the pyramids of Giza, the forests of the Amazon, or the snow-white peaks of the mountains of Tibet.
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With each picture, she grew older and older, but retained her mystery, as the viewer could see everything in her appearance, except for her face. The name of the collection was indicated below the paintings. "Fragments of Time."

"Does it seem to me, or does the girl in the picture look like me?" Amelia asked, teasing her friend.

"Hah, and what do you think? You made me work my tail off from morning to night to finish this work in time. Of course, I used your image as a basis in revenge, but, as you see, I kept your privacy. Moreover, I have long wanted to paint you... Hmm... Sitting in some beautiful gazebo and watching the setting sun, for example," YangYang instantly flew into her creative fantasies, already imagining what this picture should look like.

Amelia laughed, watching the spiritual expression on her friend's face, "Hah, who knows. Maybe someday you will draw me. In the meantime, how about practicing and drawing a portrait of that pretty j.a.panese guy?" the girl winked.

"Ha? What j.a.panese guy?" Liu Yang turned her gaze to the side where Amelia was looking, and the girl's heart skipped a beat. At that very moment, she saw an unfamiliar young man who was looking at the girl with the same bewildered look in return.

The girl immediately turned away, her cheeks flushed with a crimson blush, "No way! He isn't j.a.panese! He is Chinese!" She hissed to her friend, trying to distract herself from her own heart, which was beating in her chest like a jackhammer.

"Oooh, sorry. We Europeans can't really distinguish who is who," Amelia showed her flawless white teeth with a pleased grin.

"Yeah, of course, go on with you!" YangYang grunted in response.

She could not argue for all Europeans, for most of whom it is sometimes difficult to distinguish Asians from one another, but in the case of Amelia, such an excuse did not work. This girl accurately knew not only the nationality of a person but also many other personal details that would be unknown to an ordinary pa.s.serby.

"I advise you to take a deep breath, otherwise after three seconds you will catch a heart attack from an overabundance of feelings," the girl added, turning to a whisper.

"Wh-what? Why is this?" YangYang asked, but the next second she understood what her friend's previous phrase meant.

"Um, sorry. Could you help me?" A pleasant male voice sounded behind the girl's back, his timbre was so light and enchanting that YangYang seemed to forget how to breathe.

She turned her head and her gaze met with a young man whom she accidentally looked at a couple of minutes ago. But now, when he was standing so close, and looking directly at her, the girl's knees were about to flinch from the emotion that surged across her.

"How can we help you?" Amelia was the first to stop the unexpected awkwardness.

"Um, the thing is that this is the first time I attend such event, a friend of mine working at the College invited me, but I don't know all the rules," the young man explained, trying to look at Amelia, since she was the one who answered his question, but his eyes immediately returned to YangYang.

"In general, I really liked those pictures, and I would like to talk with their author to buy a couple of them. If possible," the young man finished his question.

"I doubt about buying, but you can talk to the author. Liu Yang, can you draw another picture for this handsome young man?"

"Wh-what?" The young artist asked in complete confusion. She did not expect her best friend to drive the girl into even bigger awkwardness.

"Oh my G.o.d, are you the author of these works?! You know, this is awesome! Congratulations! This is my first impression of paintings! You are simply amazing!" The young man grabbed YangYang by the hand and squeezed her palm slightly.

Realizing at the same time that he allowed himself too much, he released the girl's hand, and his face was no less red than Liu Yang's. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please. I did not want to embarra.s.s you with my bright emotions. Khem, I don't know what came over me," he hastily apologized.

'Yeah right, he doesn't know! Aha, it is so obvious what is happening here, with both of you. Ehh, kids,' Amelia smirked to herself. She was so far from all these love games, and felt like an old-fas.h.i.+oned old woman, despite the fact that she herself had only recently turned eighteen years old.

"N-no, all is well. Thank you for your words, I am very pleased," Liu Yang replied to rea.s.sure the worried young man.

"Sir, my girlfriend... Well, she is a very creative person, so she is a little scattered. I recommend that you take her phone number and invite her to some decent and comfortable place where you can discuss the purchase of any of the paintings from all her future collections. And it's advisable to do it today because in three days she will be very busy," Amelia said in an even voice, as the professional manager of some superstar.

The young man hung for a few seconds, trying to comprehend the business proposal, but as soon as a hint came to him, his face would overshadow by the brightness of the sun, he shone so much with joy.

"Um, if Miss Liu Yang doesn't mind, I would be extremely happy and grateful for such an honor," he bowed his head slightly in deference to the girl's talent.

"Ahh... uhh.... Wait a minute, please!" YangYang grabbed Amelia by the elbow and dragged a few steps away from the place where she was standing, "Lia! What are you doing?!" the girl shouted at her friend in a whisper.

"What? What am I doing?!" Amelia portrayed complete innocence on her face, "As if I don't see what you both want. Yes, you already incinerated each other with your eyes while we stood together."

"This is not so!" YangYang was indignant, but after thinking for a moment she corrected herself, "Okay, okay, that's so. But... I don't even know him!" The girl was very attractive in appearance and had long been accustomed to such looks from the men. But this was the first time that she would stare at someone with the same look in response.

Amelia looked over her friend's shoulder and scanned a young man standing aside and looking confusedly in their direction.

"Ugh, what is there to know? Chen Lee, a young Master of the Lee family, a future successful businessman in the field of pharmacology. Smart, caring. His family owns the ancient knowledge of oriental medicine so that he knows some interesting recipes that allow...," the girl leaned over to her friend's ear and when she finished the phrase, YangYang was red as a tomato.

"Lia!" The girl cried out, burning with shame after what she heard, and it came out a little louder than necessary, which is why all the visitors immediately looked in her direction.

YangYang turned to the wall and covered her face with her hands, but even her ears were burning with fire. "Oh, come on, that's natural, that's natural. Don't pretend you don't know where the children come from," Amelia didn't give up and with her jokes drove the innocent girl even more into the blush.

"Hah, that's it. It seems I should go," the girl looked at her watch and patted her friend on the back in approval, "Come on, go to him. You don't want the first day of your seven years of life to be wasted, right?"

"You want to say that it is ...," YangYang turned and looked at the young man, who was patiently waiting for her to come back. She did not need to know the answer to this question. When their eyes only met, she already realized that He was that only one.

"When will you be back? Do you have another meeting with some politician?" Liu Yang was worried every time Amelia had a meeting with someone. It seemed to her that one day her friend would not return from one of these meetings.

"Do not wait for me, because I can't say when I will definitely return. And about the meeting, nothing special. Just need to see one homeless man," Amelia replied in a melancholy tone as if that was her daily routine.

"H-homeless?!" YangYang asked again, thinking that she heard it wrong.

"Yeah, homeless. Never mind," the girl waved off and threw a coat over her shoulders, after which she hugged her friend, "Take care of yourself."

"Lia, are you not coming back?" YangYang asked her friend, a feeling in her chest was telling the girl that this could be their last meeting.

Amelia did not answer this question and only hugged the girl, "Thank you for everything."

"Lia, I love you. You are my dearest person," YangYang added quietly.

"And I love you too. Now go. He is waiting for you," Amelia pushed her friend forward and showed a thumbs up.

YangYang squared her shoulders, nodded, and walked confidently toward the young man. "What do you think if I give you a tour of the gallery and we discuss all the issues at the same time?"

"It will be an honor for me," answered the young Chen Lee, and before following the girl, he cast a glance at Amelia and nodded to her in grat.i.tude.

"Tsk, children," Amelia shook her head, watching the retreating couple already cooing with each other like innocent doves.

The girl turned and walked away.

. . .