The Wrong Woman

Suzanne could only look at Nathan helplessly. Confusion and uneasiness filled her beautiful eyes.

Nathan felt as though his heart had melted into a puddle. Never did he realize that Suzanne’s helpless and vulnerable gaze would leave such a huge impact on him.

He walked over to Suzanne and leaned in to murmur into her ear.”

Suzanne, all the guests here are our friends and family. To tell you the truth, no one cares about the authenticity of famous paintings or your skill level.

“This is just an event that’s thrown in to please Grandma. It’s fine as long as you show her how much you care for her. Everything else doesn’t matter, so you don’t have to care about it. Just paint whatever

you want.”

Nathan’s words reassured Suzanne greatly.

He continued, “Do you know how to imitate paintings?”

Suzanne replied, albeit in an uncertain manner, “Yeah, I guess. It’s easy to imitate other paintings.”

Nathan said reassuringly, “Then, you can imitate one of Inkwell’s paintings. The painting before us is an imitation, anyway.”

Suzanne knew that she had to do it no matter what. Left without a choice, she picked up a paintbrush and dipped it in the ink pot.

Her other hand slowly glided across the paper, moving to and fro three times in a row. She caressed the paper gently and carefully.

At that moment, someone piped up, “She even imitated Inkwell’s habit during the preparation stage. It seems that she’s planning on

imitating Inkwell’s artwork.”

Some of the guests watched Suzanne’s every move intently. There were people who looked forward to seeing a wonderful performance. Others giddily waited for her to make a fool of herself. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Of course, there were some guests who weren’t interested in the performance at all. They continued mingling amongst themselves in the banquet hall.

The beautiful piano music continued interweaving with the ambiance in the banquet hall.

Suzanne took a good, long look at “An Ole to Fall”. Then, she put her paintbrush on paper without hesitation.

The moment she painted her first stroke, those who had experience in painting were instantly astonished by her technique. They could tell that Suzanne possessed extraordinary talent.

Her strokes were firm and controlled. She knew exactly where to paint, so her brush strokes didn’t come out sloppy.

Suzanne never raised her head anymore after her first initial study of the painting. It was as though she had developed muscle memory on how to paint.

She didn’t need to think about the force needed in every stroke n length and width of the strokes she should paint.

She gradually immersed herself in the process, leading to her increasing her speed.

All the onlookers were flabbergasted as they watched Suzanne paint. They were shocked by the emergence of a masterpiece. Some of them even rubbed their eyes as they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Some people even found Suzanne’s performance incredible. They

pulled out their phones and tapped into Inkwell’s account on a streaming platform she frequented. Then, they played some of her videos and compared them to Suzanne.

By then, Suzanne had already gone into a self-induced trance. She had no idea that everyone around her was starting to talk about her.

Nathan stood at the side silently, his gaze fixed on Suzanne’s

beautiful face. She looked even more dazzling when she was focused

on painting.

Right now, she resembled an incredibly talented young woman who had a unique flair in her charm. Those who laid their eyes on her could never avert their gazes, for she was too beautiful and eye- catching.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed in surprise, “Holy shit! She’s Inkwell!”

“Right? I just made the connection as well! No one can fully replicate every detail of this masterpiece save for Inkwell herself! This is shocking!”

“Just look at this video! Both Inkwell and Mrs. Horrison have a small mole on the back of their right hands!”

“Even their habits and their painting styles are the same!”

“Inkwell went missing three years ago. Rumors claim that she’s no longer alive. That’s why the value of her paintings keeps increasing.”

“I never thought I’d be able to meet Inkwell in person. What’s more shocking is the fact that she’s such a young and beautiful woman.”

Meanwhile, Sally and the Morrisons were so shocked that they could barely utter a word. They decided to do the same and look up Inkwell’s videos on their phones in order to make their own comparisons.

The more they compared, the more ridiculous they felt. None of them

could batielieve that Suzanne was actually Inkwell.

Suzanne kekept her focus on the painting until she painted her last stroke. Spipurred by her habitual memory, she left a poetic quote and signed hermaname on it.

After putting dedown her brush, Suzanne took a deep breath. Only after she raised herdrehead did she realize that everyone was studying her in a mixture of shock and awe.

Panic washed overéicher in an instant. She turned to look at Nathan

helplessly.

At that moment, Natharan’s brow was knitted into a deep frown. Shock was reflected in his eyeses as well.

Suzanne felt incredibly unabeasy. Could it be that her painting was too ugly and that she ended up s embarrassing Nathan?

Before she could recomposererself, a few middle-aged men rushed to crowd around her all of a succeden

They took turns in shaking her hand and introducing themselves with admiration and excitement dancing in their eyes.