Chapter 143: Must Move On

"I think I’m going to get a job…" I said softly.

"A job? Sounds good…" my grandmother spoke up with interest.

That was when I realized that I must have spoken my thoughts out loud. Seeing my grandmother’s reaction convinced me that it was probably the right course of action for me right now. If Hayden had moved on already, then I should do the same as well. I can’t wallow in here all my life after all.

"I should start seriously job hunting…" I said with a smile.

"What job are there for art students?" my grandmother asked.

"Well, I still have some university projects so I guess all I can do is some parttime work," I said.

Good question. I haven’t graduated yet either and I wasn’t famous or anything like that. If I relied on just selling my painting, I probably wouldn’t be able to make ends meet. Plus, I didn’t feel motivated or in the mood to create any good artwork right now.

"I’m not sure actually but I’ll try looking…" I replied honestly.

"Good luck, Lisa. You can do it!" my grandmother said encouragingly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It always felt great to have at least one person cheering you on. A smile touched my lips and I started to feel like life hadn’t completely lost its color.

"By the way, I moved back home…you know, because the contract is over so I’m free now," I told my grandmother.

It had been over for a while now, but I just hadn’t brought it up to her. Now that I’ve comes to terms with it somewhat, I felt like I should tell her that I’ve moved out from the penthouse that I was living in with Hayden.

"Oh…isn’t it far for you to travel here then?" my grandmother asked.

It was indeed quite far but since I didn’t have much to do right now, I didn’t mind burning hours during transportation. Actually, the ride here and back felt quite peaceful for me, and it served as a good time for me to think a little about my future and what I wanted to do with my life.

"I don’t have any money right now so maybe I’ll start looking for a cheap apartment around here when I get a job…" I said.

"I have some money saved up. You can use it. I would prefer if you were close by. Why don’t you go and look for a place?" my grandmother quickly suggested.

I had no idea that she had money saved up. Even if she did, I was sure that it wasn’t a whole lot. What she said made sense though. Due to her current condition, it might be better if I lived nearby instead of a few hours away.

"Ok. I’ll take you up on that. Of course, I’ll definitely pay you back when I get my paycheck!" I said with determination.

"Don’t worry so much about that…" my grandmother said followed by a soft laugh.

…

I busied myself during the following few days finding a cheap apartment. At the budget that I had in mind, there wasn’t a lot of options so picking a place out didn’t take that long. After signing a short-term contract, I moved into a small apartment that wasn’t too far away from the hospital.

Moving into a new place made me feel like I had started moving on with my life. Perhaps, this was the right direction for me after all. I would be completely lying if I said that I didn’t miss Hayden like crazy. However, instead of daydreaming and thinking about him all the time like the first week of being apart, I only thought of him when I was free.

Some time though, he would randomly pop into my head, and I would experience an intense flow of emotion that would make my chest feel very tight.

Sometime at night when I was all alone in my tiny apartment, I would look out of the window and stare up at the sky while I thought about Hayden and how he was doing. I guess in the end there were many mysteries that I never unraveled about him. Sadly, those mysteries will probably remain mysteries forever for me now. There was no way that I could discover any truth behind them now.

I was still hopeless when it came to job hunting though. Finding a parttime job when you’re only an art student was really hard. Instead of waiting tables, I wanted a job that had something to do with art so that it would help my career progress as well. That was the part that made it difficult. I knew that I was being picky about it, but I just couldn’t give it up.

"What about the exhibition? Are you up for it?" Jenny asked through the phone.

Until she brought it up, I had honestly forgotten about it. At first, I didn’t want to do it and had decided against it. However, now I was experiencing a change of heart.

’Do you think that I should join the exhibition?’ I asked as I glanced over at Hayden

’I think you should,’ he replied, sounding very certain.

I recalled Hayden’s reply when I asked him if I should join the exhibition. I guess, I might as well give it a shot. After all, I had a lot of art supplies that a certain someone had bought for me. Might as well put that to good use.

"Yes, I am. Let’s do it!" I said enthusiastically.

"Wow! That’s great. Let’s do it! We’ll make it a success. Leave choosing the venue to the professor and me," Jenny said happily.

We talked for a bit about random stuff before she hung up. I lay in bed that night thinking that I had made good progress in life. The exhibition was in three months, so I still had plenty of time to decide what I wanted to put on display and then of course, I had to work on producing them.

That night for the first time in a long while, I went to sleep with a smile on my lips. I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed from a night of undisturbed sleep. For some reason, I had a feeling that something good was going to happen today.

--To be continued…