The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Corinne had never heard about that painting before.
“How did you discover that painting?” she asked.
“I saw it at a friend’s house. Moreover, the paint on the canvas isn’t completely dry yet.”
Corinne’s eyes became focused. “And you think it was painted by Nellie Nymphaea?”
Lucas nodded sombrely. “Yes. Nellie Nymphaea’s style and brush strokes can be imitated, but there’s one habit that our mom
has that no one else knows about.”
Corinne did not have much memory about her mother so she looked curiously at Lucas. “What habit?”
“Mom always adheres to a very standard way of holding her brush when painting, but when it comes to signing her works, she’ll
put her hand down, causing her to pick up some paint from the canvas. And this will show up as a ‘C’ shape next to her
signature.
“Every time, she would try to fix her mistake and remind herself not to do it again, but she never does remember. So the same
thing would happen again and again. The painting I bought this time has a little ‘C’ paint mark next to the signature. She must’ve
thought it was okay to leave it there since it was a painting she did in a spur.”
At that moment, Edmund—who was sitting in the front passenger seat on stand-by—passed Corinne a painting that was about
the size of an A4 paper.
“Please have a look at this, Miss Corinne.”
Corinne took the painting from him and saw the tell-tale ‘C’ mark next to Nellie Nymphaea’s signature, just as Lucas said!
Her hands started trembling. The ‘C’ mark had all the lines and folds of the side of a hand running through it. This meant she
would be staring at her own mother’s handprint if she was still alive.
After so many years, she finally came face-to-face with proof that her mother was still alive!
Corinne raised her head and stared fixedly at Lucas with reddened eyes. “How did your friend get this painting? And how come
the paint isn’t dry yet? Does your friend know Nellie Nymphaea?”

Lucas frowned. “My friend said this painting was drawn by her art teacher when she came over to her house to teach her a
lesson. Her art teacher had just left when I went to visit that friend of mine. That’s when I saw the painting.”
“Then did you ask your friend to arrange a meeting with her art teacher for you?” asked Corinne hurriedly.
Lucas’ eyes darkened. “Of course I did. Regretfully, I didn’t get to meet her art teacher because she and another student went
out on a field trip to do some landscape painting. She wasn’t sure she would be back, but she promised she’d inform me first
thing when her art teacher is back.”
Corinne grabbed Lucas’ hand, which was the first time she had ever done so out of her own accord. “You must bring me to go
meet with your friend’s art teacher too when she’s back.”
Lucas’ heart ached when he saw how teary Corinne’s eyes had become. He stroked her head gently and said, “Of course I will.
If not, I wouldn’t have come rushing here to tell you the news as soon as I got down from the plane.”
For the past three years, Corinne had been taking care of three kids by herself. In fact, without Jeremy by her side, it would not
be an overstatement to call her a widow.
There had been no news about Jeremy, so everyone was preparing for the worst. However, Lucas knew it would be useless to
persuade Corinne to find another husband. As much as it pained him to see her so sad, he knew the only thing he could do was
to protect her.
It was also why he rushed over to tell Corinne the good news about their mother as soon as he found out about it. That way, it
would at least give her something to look forward to.
Corinne gradually calmed down as she went back to staring at the painting.
“By the way, Mister Lucas, I’m preparing to bid on the piece of land on Serenity Bay on behalf of Holden Group during an auction
tomorrow. I’ve already looked into the owner of the land. He’s called Brian Addison. He also owns the land beside Serenity Bay
which he didn’t put up for auction but Holden Group has intentions to buy it as well. Do you know who Brian Addison is? Do you
have his contact?”