5
1189 Words
Chapter 5
Emily Monroe
A faint smile curled up my lips as I turned to see fear in Erica's eyes. She looked like she just saw a ghost. Josh wasn't an exemption.
The silence dragged on for seconds, followed by murmurs that soon progressed into chaos.
“What is she saying?”
“Who is she?”
“What is going on?”
“What do you think you are doing?” Erica snapped as she shot to her feet.
“This isn't my work? Are you kidding me?” her voice was sharp and firm, but the fear in her eyes betrayed her. She couldn't fool me.
“What! Is that Indigo Nightingale?”
“Wow! I've been looking forward to meeting her.”
“She's so pretty.”
Of course, people would always have something to say about a celebrity, just that this one was an imposter.
"Do you have proof?" Both her eyes and voice betrayed her again, but I remained calm. She better save this energy till when the fire hits and burn her. She would need it more then.
“Woman, I have no idea who you are, but I won't have you talk down on my woman in that manner!” Josh held her hand and pulled her behind him, shielding her. And wait! Did he just say he had no idea who I was?
As much as it hurts, I wasn't surprised. I knew he was a jerk.
I noticed the nervousness in his eyes. The one he tried so hard to cover up but couldn't.
“Can you prove that the work is fake?”
“Yes, prove it,”
“We are not going to believe you if you don't have proof,”
The audience demanded, and Erica had the gut to ask me for proof also even though she knew deep inside her that she was on the losing end.
“Sure... I don't talk without evidence…” I paused, and smirked at Erica before striding to the stage with my phone clutched in my palm.
Photos of my previous works popped on my phone screen as I opened my gallery.
I had always loved taking pictures of the result of each painting I ever did, so I had all the records.
I clicked on one of the pictures, and had it displayed on a big screen through a projector.
“This is one of indigo's paintings. Her recent painting, actually..." I paused and zoomed in on the picture. "If you are a true fan of Indigo Nightingale, you would know she always has her signature blurred into every of her paintings…”
I scrolled through five other pictures with the same signature in every one of them.
To avoid being impersonated, I had resorted to blurring my signature into every painting of mine that was difficult just for anyone to notice it, but this b***h still did it anyway.
“Also, Indigo Nightingale has special brushes she use for her painting. One that only a single shop sells in the whole world. These brushes are difficult to come by, and if you check this well, you would know that the brushes used in the painting on the screen are different from the one there,’’ I explained further, and everyone started gasping and murmuring.
“Indigo’s paintings are known for their uniqueness, so none of her paintings costs less than five million…”
By now, Erica and Josh's face were frozen and had gone pale with nervousness.
“Ms, can you tell everyone here where you got this painting, and why you are impersonating Indigo?” I looked straight at Erica, and she took a step back. I watched as she rubbed her palm against her dress, batting her eyelashes nervously. Gosh! I had never been so satisfied the way I was at the moment.
“This is disgusting!”
“Trying to take someone else's credit is really the height of it all.”
“And she was going to walk home with the money like she didn't steal it. Gosh! People are shameless these days.”
I watched as Erica dragged her legs back, clenching and unclenching her fingers as she got bashed. She looked like she wanted to disappear from here, but sadly, there was no miracle for that.
“D...do you have proof? Do you have proof that this artwork doesn't belong to Indigo Nightingale?” Josh shamelessly spoke up, getting my attention to himself, and I scoffed. Why not give up now? You are f*****g busted already!
“How do you know that she is not Indigo Nightingale? Are you the one? And how sure are we that the picture you showed… how sure are we that the painting belongs to Indigo Nightingale?” He boldly asked.
“Do you have proof that she is Indigo Nightingale, and this painting belongs to her? Do you have proof that the one I showed everyone is fake? And no, I am not Indigo Nightingale, but a true fan of her work for years. Even with just a glance, I would know her work,”
“And…and you think we should judge this based on that? Come on, Ms,” Erica's voice trembled.
“Yes, you should prove it. What if you are lying to everyone?” Josh insisted, probably confident that I wouldn't be able to.
I stood there silently, thinking of another way to go about this. I couldn't reveal yet that I was the artist, and there was no other way that I could if they won't believe me now.
My eyes wandered around the hall, everyone's eyes were preying on me, waiting for me to give them proof. And I was sure it wouldn't be good if I didn't. Then, I noticed a man sitting quietly at the corner, his hands crossed in front of him. He looked mysterious.
'Who is that?'
I was still trying to figure out who he was, when he stood up and spoke.
“She is telling the truth…”
His voice commanded attention, and as he walked up to the stage, all eyes followed him.
He stood beside me. “I've been a big fan of Indigo Nightingale for years, and just as she said, you could always recognise her work at first glance... I don't know for others, but I could always do it effortlessly,”
I looked at the man shockingly, wondering how he knew about that. This was a secret only myself and Stiles knew about, so how did he know this? It wasn't something so noticeable.
The man also displayed a few of my works to everyone, convincing them that Erica was an imposter.
“I can't believe I was going to pay millions to buy that. Gosh!”
“She's a thief! A chronic one!”
Erica turned on her heels, her legs trembling as she wobbled out shamefully out of the hall while holding her gaze low. Josh followed her.
My phone pinged with a text from Stiles at that moment.
‘'Hey! I'm on my way to pick you up’
- Writer
