25
“Dexter! Dexter, wake up!” Jordan pushed open the gallery door and found Dexter curled up on the floor, surrounded by blood.
Dexter heard his voice and slowly opened his eyes, reaching for the bottle of liquor beside him. “Wine… my wine…” Blood spilled in heavy gulps from his mouth.
“That’s enough! Still drinking! Because of your stomach issues, Blythe used to worry you’d drink yourself to death. She blocked your drinks and even drank herself into a stomach hemorrhage, ending up in the hospital! If I had known you’d end up like this, I should’ve told her to just let you drink yourself to death back then!” Jordan cursed fiercely but still called for an ambulance. “Drinking myself to death would be better! Without Blythe…” Dexter clutched the bottle, trying to pour more into his mouth.
Jordan kicked the bottle away. “Blythe? You think you deserve her like this? She’s getting married! I’m leaving today to attend her wedding!”
“Pull yourself together! If you keep like this, she’ll only regret ever loving you! You’re not worthy of her!” Dexter, curled up on the floor, stared at Jordan in despair when he heard the word “wedding.”
He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, blood poured out uncontrollably,
He shifted, and Jordan rushed to support him. “What are you doing? Don’t move. The ambulance will be here soon! Dexter, you can make a comeback. You still have us, and you still have this gallery, you-”
With Jordan’s help, Dexter staggered toward the painting hung in the center of the gallery.
He had lost too much blood, and his consciousness was slipping, but by sheer will alone, he managed to pull the painting down.
His blood smeared the canvas, and in panic, he tried to wipe it away, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
“Help me… give it to her… wedding gift…”
After those words, he collapsed and passed out on the floor..
Backstage at the wedding banquet, I watched Noah pacing nervously. Just as I was about to tease him, Jordan walked in from outside with an awkward look.
He held a painting gently in his arms.
“Blythe, this is a wedding gift Dexter asked me to bring you. He’s been drinking heavily lately, but we friends will see him through this, don’t worry.”
I tore off the oil paper covering the painting. A bloody handprint smeared the bottom right
corner.
It was clear Dexter had truly been drowning himself in drink.
But that no longer concerned me.
My eyes settled on the painting. It was the only portrait I had ever painted of a person. In it, Dexter stood bare–chested, arms stretched wide as if embracing me.
24
373
3:36 pm
The love and tenderness in his eyes and smile, I believed back then he had truly loved me.
Jordan didn’t want to disturb us and quietly slipped away to join the ceremony.
1 crouched in a corner and lit the edge of the painting with a lighter.
The past was over.
Some people once turned away from them, were gone forever.
As for my future, it already stretched out a hand, waiting for me to walk with it into the hall of marriage and into the rest of our lives.
