Falling in Love is a Mystery

Mystery 2

Mystery of Art

The school's bell had just rang, classes for the first day had ended.

"Can we drop by a*****e later? I need to buy us something for dinner." Joice said. She was sitting just behind Mildred's spot. They both took their bags and left their classroom.

The hallway was packed with students, all were just chatting excitedly. Mildred got a bit disappointed and wanted to just wait for the crowd to calm down. She glanced at her watch - it was still early so she wanted to tell Joice if they could just wait it out.

"Corbin!" Joice was waving to one of their childhood friends. He just came out of their classroom as well. As soon as he noticed the two, he approached them.

"Hey." he greeted both of them.

"Going home already? We'll drop by a*****e before going home to buy dinner." Joice said.

"I hope it's not pre-heated."

"It depends. But I am planning to cook dinner." Joice's family were not from the area. Her aunt offered them to stay in their house for free since their aunt and her family had moved out of the country. Before, they would only visit every summer and that's how the three of them get to know each other. Her parents were both working from their hometown and could not come with them. And so, Joice now takes care of her siblings, who are still in Grades 3 and 5.

"Ugh. So crowded." Corbin and Mildred are pretty much alike. Except that Corbin says it out loud. Joice glanced at her watch.

"It's still early. We'll just wait for the crowd to calm down." The three of them went back inside the classroom. "I really don't know how I ended up with friends like you. You both are such introverts." Joice complained. She placed her bag down on her table and sat on her chair. Mildred did the same. Corbin just grabbed the nearest chair. Mildred just couldn't help but smile.

Minutes had passed, Joice was busy scrolling through her phone while Mildred was doing an advanced study. Corbin stood up to check the hallway.

"Hey, it's cleared up already."

"Let's go!" Joice walked by Corbin. Mildred followed Joice but Corbin stopped her.

"You should really open up more to her." He whispered. Mildred knew he meant what had happened before.

"I kinda did, but you beat me to it." Mildred answered back. She just doesn't like him telling her - because they were both introverts, she thought.

"Oh! Look, Millie!" the two stopped arguing and walked towards Joice. She was reading a poster on the Announcement Board just above the stairs. "An art exhibit."

"I don't know." Mildred was hesitant. Her enjoying art by herself is enough for her, but people knowing is a different story for her.

"Don't worry. It's more like you both accompanying me instead."

"I think letting people know you love art is not bad. If you let their opinion get into your head, then that's bad." Corbin added. Joice strongly agreed.

"I'm not ready for that. AND.. Accompanying is OK by me." Mildred said then she walked straight down the stairs to end the conversation.

A week after that was the art exhibit of the Grade 12 students. They were located just above Mildred's classroom. Mildred and Joice are both in the Humanities and Social Sciences strand while Corbin is in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics strand. The exhibit was a bit crowded. Mildred felt anxious around so many people and Corbin was just pissed about being in a crowd.

"Come on, you two!" Joice pulled Mildred over to the nearest art.

It was a photography art of a girl posing under a tree in black and white shades. The next art was also photography - a girl under the water still in black and white shades. Mildred heard music behind her, she turned around and saw a projector playing. It was playing clips of dancers doing various dance steps - like a transition from the old age to the modern. She also saw various handmade pots and vases. Then something caught Mildred's attention. It was a sketch of a ballerina, standing on one leg. The sketch was done by someone with the initial "ADN".

As she moved to her left, she suddenly saw the guy who picked up her sketch from the first day of school. She hurriedly pretended not to notice him. She pretended to admire an abstract painting of various triangles that was in front of her. She peeked at him to see if he noticed her. The guy was just staring at a canvas.

"Hey! What's that?" Joice suddenly tapped her shoulders and startled her. "Sorry! Did I break your zone?"

"No. Sorry." she just answered, pretending that she was just enjoying the exhibit.

"What does this mean?" Joice was also looking at the abstract in front of them. "All I see is a bunch of triangles in different sizes and colors. Is that a.. guitar? Looks like a guitar. Maybe, it's a...." Mildred was not listening anymore. He saw the guy went to admire another art. Her eyes just followed him wherever he went.

"I think it's a bear." It was Corbin's voice. Mildred did not realize Corbin had already joined the conversation.

"It's a guy and girl waltzing from an old era." Mildred said just to not make her suspicious.

"What? Like... where?" Joice stared at the canvas really hard.

"Yeah! I think I can see it now." Corbin commented.

"No you don't. You're just pretending to." Joice said with doubt about him.

Mildred left her friends arguing about the painting and went closer to where the guy was. But he wasn't there anymore or anywhere around it. She tried looking over the doors to see if he was leaving already. Fortunately, she spotted him just exiting the room. She hurriedly and carefully, followed him to the door. As she was on the door, there were lots of students in the hallway. The guy was nowhere to be found.