This
was another shocking piece of news for Sage to find out that the artist actually needed five years to co
mplete the painting. It was no wonder that the painting gave an impression of time passing as if many c
enturies had passed. However, the artist was just 15 years old when he completed the painting. That m
eant that he was just a teenager.
“What‘s his name? Where is he? Is he still painting?” Sage asked.
The act of imitating was different from creating one‘s own art. It was not a glamorous occupation and m
ost people could never understand the reason behind it. Most imitation artists preferred to stay low–
key and often did not like to disclose their names and occupation to other people.
Nevertheless, it did not stop Sage from being curious and eager to want to know this teenager that was
able to imitate such a legendary piece of art.
With a pair of sorrowful eyes, Wayne stared at Sage with a regretful expression, “He... he‘s passed
away.” ‘Passed away?‘ Sage squinted her eyes and looked at how desolate her grandpa was. Suddenl
y, a nerve in her brain began to uncontrollably spark. This caused her to have an oncoming migrane.
She lowered her head and looked at the painting in her hand. The little people in the painting were laug
hing, screaming, shouting, and some even looked angry. However, in her vision, these little people bec
ame another person. That person smiled and called out her name lightly, “Sage, Sage...”
“Sage, are you surprised?”
“Sage, please talk to me.” “Sage, it‘s all my fault. Could you please forgive me?”
“Sage, can we start all over?“.
“Sage, would you mourn my death if I died?”
Her body shivered from the thoughts that came. She had to bite her lip so strongly until she tasted bloo
d in her mouth to ground herself. As she tried to speak, the only thing that came out was air.
After a while, she managed to make some sounds, but only with a hoarse voice.
“This painting, he was the one who painted it?” She paused a while, “Was it Jace?”
She looked at Wayne. Although she knew the answer in her heart and it was a rhetorical question, she
did not want to believe it until she was given the final confirmation. Wayne closed his eyes. When he fo
und out, he did not believe it either. It took him a moment to digest the information before he finally acc
epted it.
“It‘s him,” Wayne confirmed it.
‘It‘s hiin. But, how could it be him?‘ Sage shook her head
and tried hard to throw away all the thoughts in her head. “I‘ve touched his hand before. There were thic
The calluses on her hands appeared because she used a carving knife for art and the calluses on Jace‘
Wayne replied, “That was after. When he painted this painting, he had not served in the army yet. Or he
art teacher was actually an elite in imitation art that no one else
knew about. He saw the talent in Jace and secretly taught him. No one else other than Simon and Mend
went missing all of a sudden. Till this day, he hasn‘t been found. This painting, The Starry Night, Jace co
to the army. First of all, it was for his safety, and secondly, it was to prevent those people from wanting to
also when he gave up on imitating, and forgery. Slowly, those people gave up and no longer target him.”
While Sage listened on, she remembered his hand and the first time he entered her
office and saw the painting, Still Forests, hanging on the office wall. His eyes were sparkling and she tho
wanted to admire the painting. Come to think of it, he did not not look surprised, instead it looked like he
‘Common interest... There were so many similarities in their experience. So much that she even began t
life.
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