章 2: Making a Splash

Alicia's feelings were all over the place, leaving her at a loss for words. She made a deliberate movement toward Louis and then turned.

Just then, Louis smiled at her. Louis didn't smile very often, but when he did, it was a sight to behold. His dark eyes shone like stars in the night sky, and he possessed a charisma that could make anyone's pulse quicken.

"He must be thrilled to be with his Miss Right very soon", Alicia thought to herself as she forced a smile and replied, "I wish you happiness too," before turning around and getting into the car.

Alicia's eyes welled up with tears as the car door closed. The fresh pain combined with the agony of her previous emotional wounds, leaving her in excruciating distress.

The driver loaded her luggage into the trunk, got into the car, and drove off. As the car disappeared into the distance, the smile on Louis' face froze, and the light in his eyes dimmed.

Back at her parents' house, Alicia dragged her luggage inside. "Honey, what happened?" Genevieve Valdez exclaimed as she took one look at Alicia's red, puffy eyes and the suitcase in her hand.

Alicia lowered her head and calmly replied, "I'm moving back in."

Genevieve got off the couch immediately and asked, "Are you and Louis separating?"

"Yeah, his ex-girlfriend came back," Alicia said in a calm voice.

Genevieve was fuming when she heard this. "Three years ago, Louis had an accident and the doctor said he would be wheelchair-bound for life. That ex-girlfriend of his left him high and dry! And you were the one who stuck by him, taking him to doctors and healers, massaging his legs, helping him with his rehab. You were like a full-time nurse! And now that he can run and jump again, that woman comes crawling back? How shameless can she be? And as for Louis, he must be blind to choose that heartless woman over you!"

Alicia stooped and handed Genevieve a check she had taken out of her suitcase. Then she snorted, "For all I've done for him, this is what he's giving me."

Genevieve's mouth dropped open as she stared at the check's long series of zeroes. Eight zeros, she determined after a careful count. She seemed to relax a little and said, "Money isn't the issue here. You deserve better than this, and it doesn't matter how much he gives you."

Alicia lowered her head and said quietly, "A lot of couples get divorced with the man giving nothing and plotting to keep all the money. Some men will go so far as to kill their wives in order to keep their money to themselves. What Louis did was not so bad, in light of that."

"But are you sure you can get over that?" Genevieve asked.

Alicia forced a bitter laugh. "Otherwise, should I go to his family and make a hell out of it? Mom, that would only embarrass myself. He just doesn't feel the same way about us, and it wouldn't be fair to make him stay. I'm going to need to go to sleep for a while, Mom."

"Go ahead." Genevieve looked at her with love and sadness in her eyes.

After returning to her bedroom, Alicia took a sleeping pill and slept through the entire day and night. Genevieve even came in to make sure she was still breathing at that point. Alicia didn't sleep deeply, and she also didn't feel like eating or moving around because her body hurt. She was as miserable as if her world had crumbled and a large portion of her heart had been torn out.

Three days later, she finally forced herself to rise. After she had finished cleaning, she called Louis and asked, "Is the divorce agreement ready? What's the next step?"

Louis paused for a second before saying, "I'm on a business trip. We'll talk about it when I get back."

"OK, then I'll go to work now. Call me beforehand when you're ready," said Alicia.

"So soon you found a job? Where is it?" Louis's concerned tone made Alicia's heart flutter, like it was wrapped in moonlight, tempting and lovely.

"At an antique store. They've been approaching me since we were married," Alicia replied.

"Don't wear yourself out, and let me know if you need money," Louis said quietly, almost in a whisper.

Even though her heart hurt, Alicia responded coolly, "I don't need it. Thank you."

Alicia caught a cab after breakfast and headed to Oddities of Time. The son of the shop owner, Leo, was the one who took her in. He was wearing a light blue shirt and khaki pants. His broad shoulders and muscular build gave him an air of strength and capability. He showed off his athleticism with his assured stance.

After introducing Alicia to everyone on the lower level, Leo took her upstairs to meet the senior staff, Lance.

"Mr. White, this is Alicia, the successor of the legendary restorer, Pierre... Anyway, she is good at restoring ancient books and paintings. She will be specializing in the repair of historical artifacts as of right now. Just go find her if you get stuck."

Nearing sixty himself, Lance White peered at Alicia through his reading glasses. Alicia sensed that he didn't take her seriously as a qualified restorer because she was too young.

She's about the age I was when I started my apprenticeship. Why should I bother such a young girl for assistance? Although he nodded in agreement, Lance felt deeply unhappy about everything. Then, after Leo had left, he turned to Alicia and asked, "Alicia, how long have you been in this industry at such a young age?"

Alicia gave a small smile and answered, "For more than ten years."

Lance asked in disbelief, "How old are you now?"

"I'm twenty-three, sir," Alicia replied.

Lance's face lit up with an incredulous grin, and he didn't continue his talk. This job required some serious skills. He couldn't wait to see how this cocky young girl would fail.

Just then, the cashier downstairs came up and asked Alicia and Lance to come down. As they descended the stairs, they saw a man holding a dirty old painting and asking if it could be restored.

The sight of it caused hesitation in Lance. The painting had a thick layer of yellow varnish. The frame was full of holes and chips, and many areas were loose. This level of damage could only be repaired by highly trained restoration specialists. Lance smirked at Alicia and said, "Hey, Alicia, everyone's watching you. Just don't let us down, OK?"

Alicia walked over and examined the painting carefully. She then turned to the client and said, "We can restore this."

The client was overjoyed. "Who will do the restoration? How long will it take?"

"I will, and I can have it done in three days," Alicia replied calmly.

"You?" The customer's suspicious gaze landed on Alicia, a young woman in her twenties. Then he asked, "This painting cost me a fortune. I need someone to take good care of it for me. Are you sure you can restore it properly?"

Alicia was met with a room full of skeptical stares. Everyone knew that, for such a massive undertaking, three days was clearly insufficient.

gave Alicia a friendly smirk and said, "Listen, Alicia, having ambition is great and all, but you gotta know your limits. If you mess up this painting, it's not just our reputation at stake; you may get your career ruined! The best restoration experts wouldn't dream of promising a three-day turnaround for this level of damage. Even restoring one better-looking painting can take a really long time, sometimes several months or more."

He wanted to end his lecture with the classic "don't bite off more than you can chew," but decided to bite his tongue instead.

Alicia stood her ground, saying, "I can do it in three days. And if I mess it up, I'll pay double the market value."

The client, eager to get the painting fixed for auction, jumped at the offer. "Words are wind. Let's sign a contract."

"All right," Alicia said flatly.

After negotiating a fair price, they both signed the agreement, and Alicia went up to the repair room. Two red oak, half-height work tables were inside, stocked with staplers, pens, pliers, a tacking iron, silicone release paper, and more. Alicia held her breath as she carefully removed the painting from its frame, knowing that even the slightest misstep could have torn the canvas.

She was an expert because she had learned the skills from her grandfather, who specialized in restoration and collection.

Louis's grandparents were also avid antique collectors, so for the past few years, Alicia had practically taken over their family's book and painting restoration work. During that time, she had restored even older, more severely damaged works.

The next few days were a blur of work for Alicia, but that was fine. Keeping busy helped her forget Louis, and even the sadness faded away.

Three days later, the client returned to pick up the painting, and Alicia brought the restored antique to the first floor. The client was shocked at the stark difference from before and asked, "Is this the painting I gave you? You didn't switch it out, did you?"

Lance, the store manager, and the other employees gathered around, each more surprised than the other. The once-dreary painting had been painstakingly restored to its former glory, with even the torn sections looking brand new. Everyone who had seen the painting had almost forgotten its previous condition.

Alicia calmly replied, "You can use a tool to check its authenticity."

After the painting passed the authenticity test, the customer gave Alicia a thumbs up and left in satisfaction.

As the sun began to set on a beautiful evening, Alicia was preparing to leave the store when Louis called her. "I'm right outside the store. Come out."

Alicia's heart throbbed with pain when she heard the familiar voice. She checked her watch and said softly, "It's almost dark now. We won't make it to the court in time. Can we go tomorrow morning?"

Louis was silent for a moment and then said, "It's my grandma. She wants to see us. She said it's very important."