Chapter 6 WeWork

• Elle sat herself down in her work chair. One of her hands was busy wiping her head—drying her hair—with a towel, while the other hand moved to turn on her gray laptop. It was time for her to do her job.
• Her other job was as a digital artist, besides helping Sandra with the painting classes with the kids and running her restaurant. She mostly only checked the reports from Amy and occasionally came to see the condition, anyway. She drew digitally, following her clients' requests. Usually in the form of portraits of faces or pets, and could also be the buyer's body figure from head to toe, complete with a background according to their request.
• Honestly, Elle was not an expert in the arts. She had never studied art before. She meant she didn't learn it seriously. It applied to almost all fields of art, such as painting, sculpting, dancing, singing, acting, and so on. She followed his father's hobby, which was cooking.
• But, again, she didn't study it professionally, for example, majoring in cooking. She preferred to learn by dabbling in the recipes by herself. For her, that way felt much more fun. Oh, she could learn from Amy because her best friend went to a cooking school. It was an advantage, wasn't it, to have a chef as a friend? She could ask Amy to teach her for free. As the only daughter, she had responsibilities to maintain her family business. And for that reason, Elle chose to learn how to manage a company and its finances.
• The painting was her therapy. Correction. She was the one who chose the activity when Brigitta suggested she poured the chaos inside her head into a creative thing. And it turned out that the painting was fun.
• Elle learned it from the basics, starting with smoothing her hand drawings, coloring using various kinds of paint, and using the techniques in painting to produce a satisfying result.
• Of course, she had made mistakes. After all, it was learning. You couldn't say that you were learning if you had never made a mistake. It was when you knew which methods worked well for you. Her painting was developing much better than when she first joined Sandra's class.
• Only a few months ago, her interest in digital art emerged. She then studied it. Self-taught, of course. There were so many tutorials scattered on the internet which was intentionally shared and uploaded as a learning tool. And it all felt easier when she started to understand art. She only had to change the medium she used for drawing and painting. Well, even if that change was more challenging than it sounded.
• "Here, let me dry your hair."
• Elle gasped. That sentence suddenly flashed through her mind and snapped her out of all her random thoughts. What was no less random was why the words appeared, along with the memory of an incident that didn't happen. How could it be? The flash of the scene where Luke carefully dried her wet hair couldn't have been—or hadn't been—happened. Yes, it was all just a dream. She kept dreaming of the same person again and again. It was bizarre, right?
• She slowed her movements and ran the towel through her wet hair. She didn't know why it felt so real. His gentle touch and warmth managed to comfort her heart. A simple treatment that sounded trivial, indeed. However, these little attentions left a remarkable impression on her heart. And Elle appreciated the treatment, no matter how small it was, from her husband.
• Wait! Wait! Husband? She must be rambling. Elle was indeed strange. She always dreamed of that man who she didn't know for sure if it was Luke or not. And she didn't want to add to her weirdness by calling the gray-eyed man by her husband.
• Elle shook her head vigorously to clear the stupid thoughts in her mind. She was better at getting to work immediately than being carried away with her absurd ideas.
• Elle's fingers surfed over the keyboard. She opened a site where she sold her services. It was called WeWork. That site was a place for people like her to offer their skills. Sure, it was not only limited to art because there was where people with various skills gathered.
• Elle's eyes moved, following the cursor's movement on her laptop screen. She opened the notifications that appeared one by one, reading them merely to know that there was no necessary information. No new messages, not even with new orders. The state of her account was the same as the last time she left it.
• She reopened the most recent order that came into her account. To make a picture of the customer's pet, a cute little dog. She had just finished her sketch because the order came in while she was waiting for her laundry. She didn't have time to finish it because she had to attend her painting class. So, like it or not, she must continue it at night.
• Elle was a new member who had only joined the site for a month. It was natural that few people knew about her services. So, it affected the few orders that came in. She didn't mind it because one of her goals for joining the site was to hone her digital drawing skills. Apart from WeWork, she also often shared her art on her social media. Oh, she didn't want praise or recognition from those who saw her posts. She just wanted to document her learning process and show them that all the learning processes took time. It could take a long time, and it could also be fast, depending on each person's ability and the difficulty level of the field they were studying.
• All right, back to work. Elle carefully read the client's request to ensure she remembered the details. Next, she shifted to her half-finished worksheet.
• Oh, she forgot to say. She preferred to work on a tablet. It was just a matter of preference and work comfort. It didn't mean that using a tablet was better than working in front of a computer. Not at all.
• Elle studied the sketches she had made, then compared them with the reference picture sent by her clients. She added a few details in the parts that she felt were lacking. After that, she created the required color palette, just like creating colors to paint on canvas.
• She took one color to make the base color apply to all parts of the dog's body she drew. Then she stacked it with other colors that had been prepared before. The hardest part was arranging them into the color combinations she wanted. Maybe she was still confused about using the drawing application features because she was not used to it.
• Elle's attention was fixed entirely on her work. She was busy blending the existing colors and ensuring no details were overlooked, especially regarding the client's requests. It could be terrible if she forgot something that led to the client's dissatisfaction. Even without her mistakes, the possibility of revision was still there. What if she made a mistake? She would better do it carefully to prevent that possibility and bring satisfaction to the results of her work later.
• But her phone screen suddenly lit up and popped up a name, breaking her concentration. Luke. A message came from him.
• [Hi, this is Luke. Do you still remember me? How are you?]
• She didn't open it but merely skimmed through the notifications on her locked phone screen. Elle chose to ignore it and went back to her work. But all was no longer the same. Her focus had been divided between her work and Lucas. That man managed to infiltrate her mind. Again.
• Finally, Elle replied to the message with a smile slowly growing on her face.
• [Hi, of course, I still remember you. I'm good. How about you?]
• Elle leaned back against the back of the chair she was sitting on. The tip of her finger tapped lightly on the edge of her phone as her mind wandered back to their last meeting two days ago. Everything went smoothly, and no problems, like Elle, caught red-handed looking at Lucas. Luckily, she could take care of herself so that the embarrassing incident didn't happen. Well, although she had to admit, she enjoyed observing him.
• At that time, they were sitting opposite. Lucas and Elle often looked at each other, and she was delighted to see his face up close.
• That time, it was an actual figure, not a painting, a flash of memory, or an image from a dream. It was a relief to see his handsome face. There was also a thumping of joy in her chest. But she managed to endure it. She tried her best to keep her body's reactions from over-expressing all the feelings in her heart. One more thing that amazed her, she met the man who had been haunting her sleep all this time!
• [I'm also good. Am I bothering you?]
• Yes, they exchanged phone numbers. Elle, who was usually reluctant to share her contact with just anyone, for some reason, wanted to give it to Lucas. She felt like she shouldn't miss that opportunity. Their first meeting, or even their second, perhaps, would bring a cheerful story. Who knew?
• [Surely, not. I'm working, but sometimes I take a break time. How about you? What are you doing?]
• A lengthy reply she sent. The comfort Elle felt made her not want to quickly end their communication. She still wanted to text Lucas and, perhaps, tell each other about their respective activities.
• [Same here. I'm also doing my work.]
• A heavy sigh escaped from Elle's lips. Lucas' answer caused her to be disappointed. He was working. That meant Lucas' work would be interrupted if she continued their conversation.
• [Then, good luck with your work. I don't want to bother you.]
• With a heavy heart, Elle sent the message to Lucas. She had no choice but to end it, or their work would not be done. From their last meeting at Amy's house, she knew Lucas had started his own business. So, his responsibility was more significant because his business fate and its employees depended on Lucas. Unlike her, who was just a teacher assistant and a freelancer that had those crucial responsibilities.
• Ah, it reminded her of Henry's offer at their meeting. She hadn't thought about the answer, or had she? The quick response was a no because the company was unfriendly to her mental state. Though, in retrospect, she did have to go back there. She had to save her family's legacy.
• Elle slapped her cheeks pretty hard enough to bring her focus back to where she was. Unfinished workbench, tablet, and illustration. She didn't want to drag herself into a problem she wasn't ready to deal with. She would think about it slowly.
• She was getting ready to resume work when Lucas's message came into her phone.
• [No, you don't bother me at all. If you don't mind, can I call you? Later, after your work is done.]
• Instantly, Elle's heart seemed to beat faster. She was nervous.