BXBX NOVEL Chapter 219: Full of Surprises
"Come along, Little Hayden," I called out to the puppy for him to follow me out of the art studio.
I decided to quickly check the form submission on the website on my computer just to be sure. If someone was spamming it, then I must report it. I sat down in front of the computer and pulled up the backend of my website to check on the submission form responses.
There were so many of them and they were all sent from different people? My eyes narrowed as I focused on scanning the headings of the form submissions. There were almost twenty of them and the notification bell on the side of the screen showed that more submissions were coming in. I clicked to open one of the submissions to see its content.
To my utmost surprise, I found that the submission didn’t seem to be a spam. The fields were filled out correctly with adequate details and this potential client seemed to be requesting for a portrait commission.
I closed that submission and opened another one. This one seemed legit enough as well. All fields were filled out properly. Surprisingly, this client was also requesting for a portrait.
"Aha…" I mumbled as I opened another submission.
I ended up going through all the forms that were submitted on my website. There were close to fifty forms submitted and I spent almost two hours just flicking my eyes over the text. The most surprising thing was that the forms seemed to be real requests from potential clients with contact information for me to contact them back to discuss the commission request in more detail.
The next most surprising thing was that all the submissions were requesting for a portrait of some kind whether it be a sketch or a painting.
It was a good thing that my website was gaining traction and getting attention, but I felt a little uncomfortable not knowing where all of this was coming from. Since all the requests were for portraits, it made me wonder if or how my portrait work caught their attention.
I haven’t done that many portraits and none of them seemed noteworthy except for the portrait of my grandmother that I displayed at the exhibition before. However, that didn’t create a hype or anything at that time and I didn’t think that the hype now was related to that painting at all. The timing just wasn’t right.
While I sat there in front of the computer with my brows knitted together in deep thought, someone knocked on the door. It’s either Auntie or a maid. They’re probably here to set up the dinner table and also help me feed Little Hayden. Time flew by so fast, and another day was coming to an end. It was already early in the evening.
"Come in…" I shouted just loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear.
The door opened and maids wheeled in a trolley of food, plates, and utensils. Following after them was Auntie who had Little Hayden’s dish in her hand. Upon seeing and probably smelling the food that Auntie held in her hand, Little Hayden bounded over to her on his short chubby legs. No wonder he was growing up so fast, that puppy truly had an appetite.
"I think he’s hungry…" I said before flashing a smile at Auntie.
"Haha…this little guy is always hungry," Auntie replied with a laugh.
We stood side by side as he watched Little Hayden gobble up his food at lightning speed. I could already foresee the future state of this puppy and it had a big fat belly. I better make sure that he gets enough exercise by getting Hayden to play with him outdoors. The maids were busily setting up the table for dinner and I hoped that Hayden would be back soon.
"Oh, have you seen the magazine?" Auntie asked.
"What magazine?" I asked back, cluelessly.
"Hayden didn’t tell you about it? Wait here, I’ll go grab it very quickly. You have to see this!" Auntie said excitedly as she hurried out of the door.
I cocked my head to the side as I watched her abrupt exit. I wondered why she was so excited about a magazine and was Hayden supposed to tell me something?
After a very short while, a very breathless Auntie came back into the room. Her shortness of breath told me that she had rushed there and back in a hurry. She held a magazine in her hand as she approached me.
"Here. You need to take a look at this!" Auntie cried out loudly as she shoved the magazine that she was holding into my hands.
I looked at her in confusion before my eyes shifted to the cover of the magazine that I now held in my hand. My mouth fell open in amazement and surprise at what I was seeing. How did this end up on here? Why didn’t Hayden tell me anything about it before? My hand shook as I continued to stare at the cover of the magazine.
"Why is this here?" I asked in a breathless whisper.
"I thought Hayden told you about it already. I knew he would be featured in this magazine and that he’ll be on the front cover. I’m so proud of him so I had this magazine ordered in advance. Do you want one or a few? I ordered a bunch of them and I’m giving them out to all the staff!" Auntie announced proudly.
That’s not exactly the point…
Sure, it’s a big deal and all that with Hayden being acknowledged as the top influential businessman and it’s a big deal that he’s on the cover of a magazine but I was sure that it wasn’t his first time. But that’s besides the point entirely.
"Why is my sketch of him here?" I muttered in pure shock.
--To be continued…
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