Reject My Alpha President (Iris and Arthur) novel Chapter 59

Chapter 59

“Hello!” I say cheerfully to a woman who’s passing by. “Can I interest you in a-”

The woman ignores me, her heels clicking as she hurries past.

I sigh, but shake it off and turn to the next person. “Can I interest you in a Flora original? Just three hundred dollars!”

The man, wearing a leather jacket and jeans, stops and raises an eyebrow. “Three hundred dollars? For that?”

“It’s a Flora original,” I reply with a smile.

“Who the hell is Flora?”

“She’s an up and coming artist. She had an exhibition recently at Marsiel Gallery.”

“Where?”

“Nevermind…”

And so it goes for the next hour and a half. If anyone stops to look, it’s fleeting and often filled with rude comments. Hardly anyone knows who ‘Flora‘ is, and if they do, they think I’m a poser trying to pawn off a fake.

I’m about to give up when a young, slender woman with bright auburn hair and a wealthy air about her stops. “T give you one–fifty,” she says by way of greeting. She’s holding the cash in her hand already, and practically waves it in my face.

I hesitate, chewing my lip. That’s half of what I was hoping to get, and even three hundred Ordan dollars is dirt cheap for a painting of this size.

But I’m desperate. So I accept the cash with a nod and hand her the painting. She struts off without even saying ‘ thank you‘.

I sigh and sink down onto a nearby bench, counting the cash. It’s all there, I suppose, but I’ll need to produce twice as many paintings at this rate if I’m going to earn the same amount I was hoping for. And that’s just to be able to afford the legal consultation at Brooks & Lee.

“Iris?”

The sound of a familiar voice has me looking up. The curator from Marsiel, Alice, is standing there with a cup of coffee in hand. She glances at me, then the cash in my hands, and the woman walking away with the painting.

“Alice,” I say, quickly shoving the money in my pocket. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I thought you went back to Bo’Arrocan,” she says.

I swallow. “I… was going to,” I reply. “But something happened, and now I’m staying here for the time being.”

She nods toward the woman with the painting. “Selling paintings on the street?”

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