Chapter 34: Jessie made the painting

The excitement that was on Sophie's face while waiting for an answer from Alyssa was appalling and it was certain she was up to something creepy.
"What is it, Sophie?" Alyssa asked, fighting off the fear she felt. She tried to shake off the anxiety as she was certain that Sophie was not going to try any rubbish as she did not have just Raymond by her side, but Jessie and Luciana who were physically present at that also.
"Come on dear. It was a friendly greeting, you don't have to sound so rude" Sophie spawled out.
"And since when did you start giving me friendly greetings?" Alyssa scowled, her brows wrinkled.
Sophie gasped, raising her hands to her chest, trying to play the emotional part, "are you now saying I'm not caring enough?" Alyssa only scoffed in response, tilting her arms to check how much of her time Sophie had succeeded in wasting.
"Sophie, can you do us a favor and save this drama for another time? We have things to attend to." This time it was Luciana that spoke up, and it took Sophie's gaze to her.
"Now when I want to be on my best behavior, they call it drama. Well, I will do just that. I actually want to inform you that in the play that will be coming up, I am competing with you for the position of the Lead character." Sophie turned her eyes back to Alyssa, "well good luck," she winked and left.
Alyssa was not a bit bothered about the information Sophie left, her only concern was about the part of Sophie bringing the information herself. Regardless, she let the thoughts dissipate from her mind and moved to the practical hall with the girls.
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Jessie made her way inside the Ranez home with Luciana following behind, Charles had asked her to call him, but he sent a text instead, informing her that he was busy, and was not going to meet with her as planned.
She did not appreciate that he canceled their plans, but it consoled her that he cared about her by sending a text to inform her.
Yawning as she made her way into the Kitchen, Jessie's first action was to take the bread that was kept in the fridge, and she ate it hurriedly, making munching sounds as she did.
Luciana took a bottle of water and a ceramic cup from the fridge, gulping down a large quantity of water as that was her primary concern at the moment. She turned to look at Jessie and could not help watching how she was chewing.
"Are you that hungry?" Luciana asked as she kept the cup back from where she picked it.
"I really am" Jessie replied once the mouthful of bread she gnawed on had reduced, giving her space to make sentences. With the whole happening of that day, she forgot she was supposed to eat lunch and went looking for Charles just while others were in the cafeteria. She thought she was going to eat later, but unfortunately for her, the practical took longer than she expected and the cafeteria closed before they were out.
Luciana chuckled at her response, taking her hands to her mouth to control the laughter, "next time, you will prioritize food, and won't go searching for a man when you should be eating" she voiced out.
"You are making it sound more terrible in my ear, and I agree I was crazy. I won't try it anymore," Jessie giggled and took out water to drink.
The chatterings went on in the Ranez home, the girls laughing and giggling about many crazy things love could cause, till they were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ring. It was not unusual for the doorbell to ring, it was just that it was usually followed by their phone rings also, informing them of who the visitor may be, as they did not expect many visitors on a normal day.
Luciana walked over to the sitting room, and pulled the curtain apart, only for her eyes to meet a car parked in the driveway. From all physical indications, the car was Charles's own and she turned back to Jessie and whispered an "it's Charles" before moving over to the door to open it.
"Hey," Charles beamed immediately as the door opened to his face. His face met with Luciana's and he smiled at her waiting for a response.
Luciana was not only greeted with Charles's wide grin, but her eyes caught the pale tint of the orange color of the setting sun. Their day was quite occupied that they had no idea when time moved fast, not dropping a reminder calling them to the usefulness of the day. They spent a lot of their morning hours discussing that Luciana forgot she was supposed to meet with her doctor, and the loads of lectures that took place beginning from noon did not help ease the pressure of the day in any way.
"Hello, I'm surprised to see you here, you know," She uttered in response, trying to buy time for Jessie who went upstairs to drop their bags and work on her face as she was stressed out.
"I guess if you keep on smiling and staring, I may not be able to come in." Charles hypothesized, and Luciana giggled again in response.
"Forgive my attitude, you can come in," Luciana stated and paved way for his entrance.
Charles walked into the Ranez home admiring the interior of the house. The landscape paintings on the wall showed a little bit of masculinity, but apart from that, every other thing in the house right from the pieces of furniture to the curtain designs showed feminity.
He walked over to one of the paintings that his eyes caught and took a closer look at it. Staring at it for quite some time, the image got clearer in his eyes.
The scenery painted, was an area around the east of Ausburg city. He had been there a few times, and the environment looked like one that was habited by low-income earners. Slums and ditches were the order of the day there, and the paintings pointed it out boldly. It was not just the fact that the picture was a painting of a place that left a remarkable memory in his head that was the problem, but the difference it had from other paintings.
From the little time he had stayed in the Ranez home, he had already noted out that they liked Landscape paintings and just as he took his eyes from the other paintings back to the one at Ausburg city, he heard Luciana's voice throwing a question at him.
"You like this painting?"
"I do. Why do you ask?" Charles inquired, his attention still fixed on it.
"You spent a long time checking it out, and the way you took your eyes to it instantaneously was distinct." Luciana vocalized her thoughts, staring intently in his direction.
Charles chuckled at her response and turned his face to her. "Not as if I like it so much, the theme of the painting is just different from the others and I can notice it," Charles stated, trying to kill two birds at the same time. First, he was interested in the painting and wanted to know who had the inspiration for it and why it had a different theme from the others, and at the same time, he did not want to sound intrusive.
Luciana on the other side was grateful that she did not have to do a lot of work thinking up ideas to distract Charles, as the painting did a good job handling that.
"Yes it's different" Luciana started, taking steps closer to him, "most of the others are paintings my Father got from just any artist. He likes this kind of painting so he always gets a new one especially when he's coming back from a trip."
Luciana stopped in front of the picture Charles admired and continued, "this particular one is not one of the ones he bought. Jessie made the painting herself, I also don't know where she got the idea from."
"Jessie?" He asked with furrowed brows, and different thoughts raced through his mind.