The café's atmosphere was elegant and comfortable, the kind of place where one could truly relax.
Natasha sat there, watching the girl across from her, Lily, who was taking several of her works out of a tote bag.
"These are some of my pieces. Although I already submitted a few samples before, since you came all this way today, please take a look at them yourself."
Lily placed her drawings on the table and gently pushed them toward Natasha with both hands.
The coffee arrived just in time, a cup placed before each of them.
Natasha began to flip through the pages. In truth, she wasn't interested in art at all; the only reason she had arranged to meet Lily was entirely because of Arthur. No matter how brilliant or how terrible these works were, it didn't actually matter.
Even so, she had to look, because at that moment, she honestly didn't know what to say to the girl sitting across from her.
Lily radiated youth and vitality. Natasha had known about her long before this, not just for a day or two, but for quite some time. Yet this was the first time they had truly met face to face. And in such a meeting, Natasha couldn't even reveal her real name.
She didn't feel outright sadness, it was more a quiet sense of helplessness. Perhaps, she thought, this really is a little unfair.
But then again...
She smiled faintly, with a soft, resigned expression on her face.
Unfairness didn't belong to her alone. Was the girl across from her living in perfect fairness? Her boyfriend was that kind of man, the kind who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and what she had to endure went far beyond what anyone could imagine. Even worse... she hadn't even known Arthur for as long as Natasha had.
Was that fair to Lily?
Of course not.
Even if she didn't know of Natasha's existence, even if she didn't know that Arthur constantly faced life-and-death struggles, it was still unfair to her, too.
But when it comes to love... who can really say what fair means?
Lost in thought, Natasha continued absentmindedly flipping through the artworks. But after a few pages, she froze.
Before her eyes was Arthur.
Right there, on the page.
The face, the eyes, every tiny detail, exactly like him. So vivid, so precise, so alive, it was intoxicating.
She had drawn him.
Natasha suddenly felt a sharp twinge of jealousy, jealous of Lily's gift. To be able to capture the person you love on paper, so that even when you can't see him in person, you can still see him every day, that was a kind of happiness Natasha could never have.
But... what had she been thinking while she drew these?
'Ha! Of course, she'd been thinking of him.'
How else could she have captured him so perfectly, as if someone had literally painted Arthur straight from life? After all, this wasn't one of those "dimensional-reduction attacks" Arthur liked to joke about.
One sketch. Two sketches. Three sketches…
So many of her works were of Arthur, wearing different clothes, showing different expressions.
Natasha had never seen most of these sides of him before.
In some, he was resting with his eyes closed, his brow relaxed, and even Natasha felt herself relax just looking at it. In others, he was frowning deeply, lost in thought, as if wrestling with some impossible problem. And in a few, he was baring his teeth in anger, face twisted in frustration.
At that one, Natasha almost burst out laughing, because in her memory, Arthur had never shown such exaggerated expressions.
But when she turned the next page, the laughter died in her throat.
In that picture, Arthur was lying in bed, the blanket half pulled back. The clothes on his body were torn and bloodstained; his brow was furrowed tightly, his face deathly pale, he looked like he was in terrible pain.
When... when had this happened?
Was it from when they first met? Their very first encounter?
Silence fell between them, sharp and thin as a needle, quietly pricking at Lily's nerves.
Waiting is a kind of torment. Since Natasha had put all her attention into the sketches before her, Lily could only sit there and wait. Her only form of entertainment was watching Natasha's expressions. From those subtle changes, if there were any, she might be able to tell whether this "Ms. Beth" was pleased or disappointed with her work.
Unfortunately... she didn't see any change at all.
As a former agent, Natasha had trained herself to hide her emotions, even unconsciously, her expression remained perfectly composed. It wasn't deliberate; if she'd been thinking about it, she probably would have shown something.
But right now, her face was completely still, and Lily mistook that calmness for dissatisfaction.
She sighed inwardly, a little heaviness creeping into her chest. It seemed her earlier hunch had been right, Ms. Beth suddenly coming to meet her in person probably wasn't a good sign. Maybe she had come all this way just to tell her that she wasn't suitable for their company?
To dismiss someone in person, that was professionalism. But no matter how polite it was, it would still be a disappointing result.
Yet, soon Lily noticed that the woman across from her had stopped flipping pages. She was staring fixedly at a single drawing.
Lily leaned forward slightly to peek, and froze.
"Wait… that one?"
She suddenly stood up in a panic. "Um, Ms. Beth, I, I'm so sorry, "
Natasha blinked, as if waking from a dream, surprised to see Lily suddenly standing there in such a rush.
"Th-these aren't the works I meant to show you," Lily stammered, lowering her head. "I… I must have brought the wrong ones."
No wonder the woman had been so expressionless earlier. Of course! How could she possibly show expression when the "art portfolio" turned out to be an Arthur showcase!
"You're very good at character sketches," Natasha said with a small smile. "Sit down, it's fine. Even if these weren't what you intended to show me, I think they're even better."
Lily looked embarrassed and tried to take the drawings back, but seeing that "Ms. Beth" made no move to let go, she hesitated and finally said softly:
"He's my boyfriend… Whenever I miss him, I draw a picture. Before I knew it, there were all these."
"You two… don't get to see each other often?" Natasha asked, though she already knew the answer.
Lily nodded.
"Yes. He… because of work, he's always traveling everywhere. All I can do is wait here for him. It's a long-distance relationship, we spend more time apart than together."
"Does it hurt?" Natasha asked quietly.
"Of course it does," Lily admitted, nodding again. "But as long as I know that the time to be with him will come, all that pain stops mattering. Haha, does that sound silly? But… even a short time together gives me courage that lasts for such a long, long time."
A short reunion... can give you courage that lasts a long time.
That sentence struck Natasha still for a while.
This girl, who looked so delicate, almost fragile, yet could say something so moving, so powerful. And she truly meant it.
Suddenly, Natasha understood. She understood why Arthur loved her so deeply.
(End of Chapter)
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