Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)

Chapter 108

"Are you at the exhibition now?" Albert asked. "I wanted to call you, but I've been too busy these past few days that I forgot to tell you. Yeah, for some reasons, your painting has been taken down."

Carmella's mind buzzed, her face turned pale, and her voice trembled, "How could this happen? Wasn't it all settled? We just checked it over yesterday, and now it's gone?"

Albert apologized, "I know, and I couldn't do anything about it. I wish I had told you sooner."

Tears streamed down Carmella's face, and she choked out, "Is there any chance of reconsideration?"

Albert gravely replied, "No, but don't worry, you're still young and there will be more opportunities in the future. Don't take it too hard." Carmella sobbed uncontrollably. After Albert comforted her a bit more, they hung up the phone.

Seeing Carmella's reaction, Simone knew something was wrong. She pulled her aside and asked, "What happened?" Carmella mustered her words through sobs, "Mr. Mullins said my painting has been removed!"

"What?" Simone's face changed dramatically, "Didn't you say it was a sealed deal? How could it change at the last minute?"

Carmella said with a grievance, "Mr. Mullins told me my painting was selected, and I even saw it hanging in the exhibition yesterday. I don't know why it was removed."

Simone's expression became extremely unpleasant, and her voice became sharp, "I'm calling Albert now and asking him what the hell is going on."

Bennett quickly grabbed her hand, "Calm down, how can you question Mr. Mullins? Do you want to ruin Carmella's future?"

Simone shouted angrily, "So what do we do now? I invited so many people to see Carmella's painting, and now they tell us it has been removed. How am I going to explain this? What will they think of us?"

Carmella cried even harder.

Bennett's expression was also not good, "Well, there's no other way. We'll just have to come up with an excuse to get by."

"How?" retorted Simone, visibly upset and overwhelmed by disappointment, panic, and anger. She couldn't calm down.

It was already embarrassing at the Copeland family' birthday party last time. She thought that the art exhibition would help her regain some dignity, but this turned out to be even worse. "What happened?" Mrs. Reeves and others approached, looking shocked.

Simone quickly put Carmella behind her and forced a smile, "We just called Carmella's teacher, Mr. Albert. He said a staff member accidentally damaged Carmella's painting, and it's under recovery. It'll be displayed a couple of days later. I'm sorry for making you all come for nothing."

The crowd exploded with chatter, someone snickered coldly, "In such a grand exhibition, how could professional staff make such a mistake? I bet Carmella's painting wasn't even displayed at all!" FE S

Simone snapped back, "If it wasn't displayed, why would I invite you all here? Do you think we're just putting on a show for no reason?"

The woman scoffed, "Who knows?"

Mrs. Reeves stepped in to smooth things over, "No worries, we didn't come for nothing. There are so many lovely paintings here-it's still an eye-opening experience."

But the woman was relentless, "What a waste of time. I didn't even want to come in the first place, but someone had to show off. I only agreed to come out of courtesy! What a waste of time!" After that, she turned and walked out.

Simone trembled with rage, wanting to chase after her and slap her in the face.

Mrs. Reeves comforted her, "Oh, don't take it to heart. She's always a straightforward person."

Yet, Simone could see from Mrs. Reeves' expression that she was also gloating secretly, making her feel even more suffocated.

Carmella's two classmates sensed the tense atmosphere and excused themselves, "Carmella, we have something else to do, so we'll leave now."