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Rafiq snickered attime I would never hire ” He turned back to watch thes as precious as these I had this truck custom- happen to them”

His words made my heart flutter, but he didn’t look back to see ht throat and turned away to find so else to do

One by one, the paintings Rafiq had purchased in exchange for allery door I occupiedfor replaceallery wall By the time Rafiq returned and announced the truck was packed up and ready to head out, I had the entirety of the new collection picked out and ready to be displayed

The work took longer than I wanted, but, thanks to Rafiq’s strength and height, by noon we had hung a whole new set of paintings around the gallery, andadjustments We opened the doors, and for the first few empty hours, Rafiq seemed impatient and upset at the lack of custoup on my bills on the laptop as he paced around and practically started cursing the passing foot traffic through the s

“This is the business,” I said to hiet used to it Or, you know, you could just head back to the penthouse”

“Get used to it?” he said He seeestion “I just can’t understand how every single passerby isn’t stopping to look at your work Are they blind or so?”

“You’re a flatterer,” I said “And people don’t care about art as ed

“Well, that’s unacceptable”

I laughed at his are outside of your control, do you?”

Rafiq turned fro “Does anyone?”

I raised an eyebrow “Touché”

Rafiq gave

Eventually the day picked up, spurred on by the lovely weather and a cultural festival which was happening nearby By the late afternoon, there were h than I typically saw on a weekday afternoon Rafiq’s enthusiased the guests, first one by one, and then fluttering like a butterfly around a garden, stopping at each group to inspire the conversation and get the questions about my work