SWNOVELS Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT – THE ART STUDIO
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By the time the moving trucks had come and gone the following day, unloading the carefully curated pieces into Jasmine’s new home, she could scarcely recognize the desolate woman she’d been just donty–eight hours earlier.
The ache and anger remained, yes but they had been soothed into something almost manageable, thing she could begin rebuilding herself around
Speaking of rebuilding – Claire immediately to work assembling the design team in transform one of the auxiliary rooms in a cutting–edge art studio space for Jasmine
She treated the endeavor with the same meticulous amusement to derails as it up heading an architectural overhaul of her own.
just think of all the prolific masterpieces that will spring from the hallowed space,” she declared as they mood surveying the blank caman
as before them with the work crew. “I want every
in – while leaving
The women moved in a furry around the studio, Clair defily handling all the logistical aspects–lighting configuration, and system installation, proper fixture setup thepealed embellishments to Jasmine’s discontin
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you looking more fully yourself than in this very moment,” Claire commented from where she hovered nearby, idly straighorning the sheaf of design
schematics in her hand
Jasmine passed mid–stroke, glancing down at her sister–in–law with a look of bemused surprise. “Is that so?”
“Absolutely.” Claire’s Robine tips curved into an easy smile. “ou’ve got this this blazing seal purpose just radiating out of you right now. Like you were born to harneys that creative marg simmering inside and mold in into something extraordinary for the world to experience?”
one hand on her cocked hip.
Heat prickled across Jasmine’s cheeks at the unabashed admiration in Claire’s warm appraisal. The site carefully on the ladder’s top rung, propping one
“You really think so?” she couldn’t help but ask a spark of curiosity – no, of renewed ambition – Nickering inside her again.
“I know so, Claire aimed without missing a beat. “Which is why also you aren’t going to let Ethan’s callous actio derail you from reaching your fall potential as an artist. That would just be giving him far too much power over you
Squaring her shoulders, she felt the familac surge of creative adrenaline begincoursing through her veins once more.
“You’re absolutely right,” she declared, spinning hackards the wall mural as she dipped her trowel into the shimmering paint reservoir. “Echan doesn’t get to dictate my passion or identiary longer. This is my caETOV
Over the ensuing days, Jasmine found herself settling into an almost meditative routine within the sanctuary of her new studio space. From the moment she would wake until dink’s fading. caps steamed through the skylights, she spent countless hoor immersed in her work
Gradually, Jasmine Jadi anmered sense of clarity and purpose taking shape within the cathartic process. She would overcome Ethan’s treachery, would rise Like a fiery phoenix in spite of the thashe had strewn across their life together.
The shattered remnants of her identity would be remolded into something even more powerful and uncompromising than before.
And the first step towards that metamorphosis? Securing a covered spotlight in Madame Rousseau’s prestigious Bergstrom collection
The mere prospect of having that eminent critic display her work filled Jasmine with an impassioned her unlike anything she could remember experiencing before.
The child of hellphone pieced through Jasmine’s solitary musings, jarring her from the trance–like vacia she often slipped into while painting
Frowning, she set aide har brush and paleme, already keenly aware of who would be on the other end of that call
Sure enough, Erhan’s picture flashed across the display, accompanied by the insistent buzzing she had avoided for days
Jasmine stared at the device for a long moment, chewing her lowes lip as she weighed the ramifications of finally facing whatever excuses on bluering protestations her estranged husband Intended to sail bar with
A part of her – the part
clinging to the faintest wings at the devotion that had once consumed her so thoroughly–craved a reprieve from all this sorrow and upheaval Perhaps, against all logic and heartbreak, Ichan was finally prepared to offer the remorse, the explanation, the effort toward reconciliation that she deserved.
“Hello?” she said into the phone, hertone at me and composed than she felt in that moment.
“Jasmine, thank god.” The rush of audible relief in Ethan’s volitantly grated against her later. “I’ve been trying to reach you for days now, I was starting to fear the worst
“Save your false concerns,” the interrupted him in a clippedtane, some of the nervous energy simmering inside bleeding through at last.
you were so desperate to make sure was alright, you could’ve just reached our to Claire, Who you seem to have no problem dining out marital rises with
There was a loaded pass on the other end, as if Ethan wan wholly thrown by her creble reference to the confidant he’d confided in before her
“Look, Lye Claire has_expressed her duappointment over my actions quite dearly,” he said at length, sounding somewhat chastened
“But that’s hardly the point, Jasmine. We never should have let things deteriorate this far between us without properly communicating-
“Communicating?” Jasmine couldn’t quite stifle the harsh bark of laughter that burnt from her lips. “Is that what you think this situation call for Ethan? More communication from the man who’s been blatantly lying and making around behind my back for god knows how long?
“No, of course not, I just_please, just give me a chance to explain everything in person.” The desperation in Ethan’s tone was palpable.
the cloud her eyes, feeling the fast pinpricks of moisture stinging her lashes as the tides of anguish temporarily overwhelmed her heat once more.
“Tine,” she heard herself whisper, the words escaping on a tremulous exhalation. “Tonight at 7 pm. In the garden of Forsythe Park downtown, near that fountain sculpture that you
was their place, one of those tacked away city encases they used to seek out together as a calming refuge.
Part of her ceased that having this conversation there, amit the echoes of happier times, might help Ethan finally grasp the sheet magnitude of what he had carelessly destroyed
*10) be there: Jaumine, thank you, truly.” There was a wavering in Ethan’s voice as well now, though she couldn’t discem if it was from eat motion or simply skilled manipulation. “I
“Kave it for later,” she cut him all, roddenly yearning to just and this call altogether before slothes wave “se you tonight, Ethan.”
The went dead.
(atmine stood invullence for a long, the phone gripped gly in her palm as she fought steady her aged breaths. Deep down, she for this counion wasaf
gestate, that no poetry words from Ethan’s mouth could ever fully above the sina she’d witnessed with her own eyes. And yet, sansa dangerously optimiul part of her willing to the belled that their love–theliance cosmic conection The city hadsel to the parlous hay glow of twilight when Jasmine Ünally asheed at Fousythe Pack later that evening.
had to be stronger than this violation
The gardens were awal in dusky shades of indigo and burnished gold, seeming to bleed wamily into the cenery she remembered to countless evenings spent strolling these wwww pathsam
CHAPTER EIGHT = THE ART STUDIO
wing on one of the secluded the back ramrod straight and hands clasped before him a manner that made Jasmine’s heart clench with both recognition and