Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 244: Zoe Qing I: Breaking the Quiet

As the flock of chickadees fled off the roof of the Storm Mansion, Zoe lowered her arms and shifted her gaze to the shadows of the fig tree stretched toward the fountain.

"What did I just do?" she said in her head, then looked down at her palm while heat slowly radiated beneath the skin.

A pink glow appeared and vanished from her palms when she turned and began to walk toward the entrance of the main building of the mansion.

A soft clicking sound echoed as Zoe pushed the door open and entered. The diamond shapes on the glass windows sprayed their reflections on the ground when the mid-afternoon sun’s rays shone into the sitting room.

Lily was happily swinging her legs in all directions as she lay flat on her stomach with a plain white sheet in front of her, holding a blue pen.

"Lily," Zoe called out to her as she entered the sitting room. "Why are you lying on the ground?"

Lily tilted a smiling face to Zoe, her expression momentarily turning still before she smiled again. "I’m drawing Leon."

"Drawing Leon?" Zoe asked, then moved forward without waiting. "Let me see."

When she crouched down and tried to see what Lily had drawn so far, Lily covered the center of the sheet with her left palm, then shifted a squeezed face to Zoe.

"Why are you covering it?" Zoe asked, then laughed. "I promise not to laugh at you this time."

Lily loosened her squeezed face but kept her palm on the small portion of the sheet as if waiting for a second approval. "I’m only done with the heart; I will show it to you when I’m done with the full body."

"Done with the heart?" Zoe said in her head and looked at Lily with a strange expression. "Before you can draw a human, you have to start with the head."

"My style of drawing is different," Lily said and began shaking her shoulders.

"It sure is," Zoe said and stood up, still carrying the strange look on her face.

The scent of boiled ginseng and wolfberries drifted from the kitchen and entered Zoe’s lungs. "Mm, what a nice smell."

Min-seo was in the kitchen cutting vegetables, while sweat slowly trailed down her forehead and neck, when Zoe entered.

"Min-seo, good morning," Zoe greeted, then walked toward the silver bowls that had been arranged perfectly and were gleaming on their shelves.

"Good morning, madam," Min-seo said in a calm voice, but as soon as she saw the careful look on Zoe’s face she giggled. "Sorry, Zoe."

Zoe brushed her right index finger across the serving trays, then stopped when she saw the boiled ginseng and the wolfberries.

"Oh don’t," Min-seo said when she saw Zoe trying to do her work. "You will dirty yourself, please don’t."

Zoe looked at the sad look on Min-seo’s face, then frowned as she moved a step back. "Why do you always reject help when you truly need it when cooking?"

"That’s how I was raised, madam," Min-seo said with a smile on her face. "To work with every part of yourself so you don’t need help from others."

She lowered her head and watched the tiny skin she had sliced from the tip of her right index finger, before looking back at Zoe. "Also, if it wasn’t for this job, I wouldn’t have met a family like yours."

Zoe averaged a laugh, then waved her left arm through the air. "A family like mine? Silly, I wouldn’t even push anyone to be in the Qing family."

Min-seo laughed, then shook her head. "No, I’m not talking about Qing. I’m referring to the Storm family. This very family."

Zoe straightened her shoulders, then leaned against the four-foot table and crossed her legs, while folding her arms over her chest. "But I’m not a part of it yet. So I don’t call it mine."

Min-seo lifted her gaze slightly at Zoe while keeping the rest of her attention locked on the margin she was using to cut the vegetables.

After a full minute of silence, Zoe cleared her throat, then spoke to Min-seo when the helper lifted her gaze from the vegetables. "What if you no longer work here?"

Min-seo smiled once, then looked at her reflection in the knife. "Then I think I would have to go back to the farmland."

"Farmland?" Zoe asked in a shocked voice while her eyes widened.

"Yes, madam," Min-seo answered in a calm but worried voice, then shifted her gaze to Zoe.

She stared at Zoe for a little longer before looking at the space opposite her, while the memories she had long abandoned began to reel in her mind slowly.

"That’s where my sister and I were born, raised, and worked," she paused and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her left upper arm, then smiled. "But Mr. Lee came and offered us freedom to live a life we hadn’t lived before."

Zoe’s heart dulled when she saw two tears trailing thin lines on Min-seo’s cheeks. "What if I don’t want you to be in the kitchen anymore?"

Min-seo tried swallowing her tears, but the more she did, the more they came. "Then I would have no choice but to go back there."

Zoe looked at her for a moment, then waved her hand. "You got me wrong."

She walked to Min-seo, then placed a hand on Min-seo’s left shoulder. "What if I, or maybe we, don’t want you to work in the kitchen but to live in this mansion as one of us?"

That slight change ignited tears of joy from Min-seo. She loosened her grip on the knife, wiped her hands quickly on her apron, and crouched down, cupping her face in her palms.

...

When Zoe exited the kitchen, Lily rushed out of the sitting room with a smile on her face.

"Aunty, I am done with Leon’s picture," she said and danced while holding the sheet behind her back.

"Okay, let me see," Zoe said and smiled back, then stretched her right arm forward. The moment Lily handed the sheet to her, her face fell. "LILY!"