Chapter 8 At The Gallery
Maddie's POV
As we walked into the art gallery, I felt the warmth through my dress with Mariko's hand on the small of my back. My heart raced because of his touch. But it wasn't for long until he removed his hand from my back as soon as we were now taking champagne from the waiter at the door. Champagne glasses stood on a table, ready to be served for more guests that arrived. This time, I followed after Mariko as he weaved through the guests, but every now and then he would check if I'm okay behind him until we stood in front of a painting of a woman that was naked, only her breasts were covered with her arm and a sheet was draped around her private parts.
I was standing beside him, most of the guests were chatting further away, this side was more of the s^xual images, but as I looked at this painting, I felt uncomfortable but mostly nervous as to why we were looking at it, or why we were even in this section of the art gallery. I could see Mariko looking at it as he took a sip of his champagne.
"Have you ever seen anything like this in person...with many people around?" he asked. I looked over at him but his gaze remained on the painting.
"No, but perhaps in movies," I said, as I wasn't sure where he was going with this conversation.
"I used to love being in art galleries just to see what talent these artists have and what stories they tell through their art." he moved away from me as he stood in front of another painting. I stood next to him, his one hand in his pants pocket.
This time the painting was close up, the woman's breast was covered by a male's arm that was wrapped around her while his other hand was sprayed out on her flat belly. "I guess you still enjoy it," I said as I smiled.
"It is an escape for me, it has always been." his voice was laced with sadness, but I didn't want to pry as to what he was escaping from, but he could mean his wife...or ex-wife.
"It is good to have something to escape from, lose yourself in something that you admire or love," I said softly. I could see that he was now watching me out of the corner of my eye.
"Do you know what I see in this painting?" he asked as I looked at him. His eyes glowed like an inferno on fire. I shook my head, no. "I see a woman and her body is being worshipped. Gently...every inch of her body." my lips parted and his gaze moved to them for a split second before he looked back at the painting and I felt disappointed, but I continued to listen to him no matter how much I wanted him to just grab me and kiss me. "You deserve to be worshiped too when you find the right man," he smirked as he looked at me again.
"What if he is right under my nose?" I asked, which was barely a whisper.
His smile widened and then he took a sip of his champagne. "Then I guess you have a lot of men in here that could be that perfect fit for you. You just need to find him," he smiled, but his gaze was burning into me.
"What if that man is-"
"Mr Donovan, it has been a long time since seeing you," I turned around as Mariko did the same. He shook hands with the one person that I never wanted to see in my life again.
"Maddie, I see you have been accompanying Mr Donovan this time," Ash of all people, reached his hand out to me, but I refused to touch him.
"Ash," I said with acknowledgement before taking a sip of my champagne.
"Quit being that way, it is impolite when you do that," Ash just carried on. I looked away at the other guests. I certainly didn't come here to the exhibition for this.
"So, Ash. I see you have helped your father quite a bit. I see progress," Mariko said.
"Yeah, one day I will take over his empire and then I will be unstoppable. Hopefully, we can do business in the future together. Right, Maddie?" I rolled my eyes. I was annoyed with him.
"There you are!" A female said as she was now next to Ash. Her blonde, curled hair was loose. She wore a red mini dress and I can see that Ash preferred them than the type of woman that I am.
"Genna is here in support of her brother. It's his opening here for his paintings," Ash looked at Genna.
"Congratulations to your brother," Mariko said to Genna. "I hope that you treat a woman with respect and not someone to be walked all over."
Ash scoffed as he looked at Mariko, "Me? No way, I am done with women who are gold diggers and just want to be with me for material things and money. Genna here, is more than that. She sees me for me."
I tightened my grip around my glass, I swear that it could break. Anger was rising within me and I knew that I would explode. I didn't want to be here any longer.
"Excuse me," I said as I hurried away through the crowd and I placed my half empty glass on a table. Before I reached the exit, to get some fresh air and to cool down. A hand gripped my wrist, stopping me. "Let out of me!" I hissed as I yanked my wrist out of the grip. When I saw that it was Mariko, he was concerned. My chest was heaving as I tried to calm down from my anger.
"Are you okay after what he said?" he asked. "I can take you home if you want me to."
"I prefer to be anywhere else but here. You must think of me as a gold digger too," I said.
"No, I don't. I hate men that have disrespect for women. I can see that when it comes to him. I have seen him treat you like you are less than anything since five years ago at that function. You are a woman that works hard for what she wants. Do not let his words get to you because you are not that kind of woman. I will take you home because you do not need to be here," he said, and I felt more at ease with what Mariko had to say.
He took my hand in his and led the way out of the gallery and out into the cool night breeze towards the parking lot. Mariko doesn't know to what extent I have been treated. But I don't want to see Ash or his father again.