Cherished By Seven Sisters by Melvin Houle

Cordelia wasn’t interested in paintings and calligraphy, so she decided to head back instead. Yelena could barely contain her excitement as they made their way over to the Haberle residence. That was because Lorenzo said he had recently acquired a genuine painting from the famous painter, Emerentius, and would be putting it on display that night. “Is Mr. Emerentius really that amazing?” Emrys asked curiously. “Of course! Mr. Emerentius is a master of Chanaean traditional painting, which combines poetry, calligraphy, and painting! His works are able to express really intriguing ideas with very few strokes! Also, Mr. Emerentius is a really mysterious guy! They say no one has ever seen his true face!” As Emerentius was Yelena’s idol, she started fangirling over him the moment Emrys mentioned him. There was a hint of jealousy in Emrys’ tone as he said, “Since you like Mr. Emerentius so much, I’m curious to find out just how amazing he really is.” Yelena shot him a surprised look. “Rys, are you jealous?” Emrys simply looked to the side and kept quiet. “Come on, don’t be jealous! I only like Mr. Emerentius’ art, not his person. For all we know, he might actually be an old man in his seventies or eighties!” “That’s more like it.” The frown on Emrys’ face eased up a little, but he still had a strange feeling in his heart. While he knew for a fact that he liked the sisters, he wasn’t really sure what that feeling was. If I only see them as my sisters, then why did I get jealous when Lena said she likes some other guy? If I see them as more than sisters, then how would I manage my relationships with all seven of them? I can’t have them all marry me, can I? No, that’s just asking for too much. I wouldn’t be able to respect myself if I did that! He was snapped out of his train of thought when they arrived at the Haberle residence. “Welcome, Ms. Lynch! Mr. Haberle has specifically requested that I wait here for you. Please follow me!” the butler greeted them at the door. “Okay!” The butler then led the two of them over to an old-fashioned loft that Lorenzo had built specifically for his art collection. There were quite a number of people in the loft by the time they arrived. An old man with a white beard walked up to them and greeted them with a warm smile, “Haha! There you are! Please come in, Ms. Lynch!” That man was none other than Lorenzo himself. Yelena took the initiative to do the introductions by saying, “Hello, Mr. Haberle. This is my brother, Emrys Lund.” “Welcome, Mr. Lund!” Lorenzo said while flashing him a friendly smile. Emrys nodded and returned the smile. “I know you are a big fan of Mr. Emerentius, so I waited for you to arrive before displaying his artwork,” Lorenzo said while leading them over to the showroom. Yelena was both shocked and delighted by his act of kindness. “Thank you, Mr. Haberle.” The moment they entered the showroom, they received quite a few displeased glances. A man with slicked-back hair let out a disdainful snort as he said, “Well, well, well… And here I thought we were waiting for some kind of big shot. Turns out it’s just Ms. Lynch from Nightrose Bar! This is a grand event, though. It’s not a place for you to perform your exotic dances!” His tone was dripping with sarcasm and mockery. A few other guests snickered when they heard that. They were all looking forward to seeing Emerentius’ artwork, so they were not happy with having to wait that long because of Yelena. “Rowan Zalenski! Where are your manners? We are all art enthusiasts here! We should set aside our differences and appreciate good art together!” Lorenzo said with a frown. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Haberle. With all due respect, I’m not used to appreciating artwork around ladies of the night!” Rowan was getting increasingly rude with his remarks. “Ladies of the night” is a slang term for prostitutes! Yelena’s eyes grew cold when she heard that. She was about to snap back at him when Emrys stepped forward and sent Rowan flying with a hard slap. He refused to let anyone insult his sister. Thanks to his profound medical knowledge, he could tell that Yelena was still a virgin. That meant her flirtatious behavior was just an act that she put up, and Emrys absolutely refused to let anyb*dy insult her. “How dare you hit me?” Rowan exclaimed as he staggered to his feet and rolled up his sleeves. He was about to hit Emrys when someone shouted coldly from behind, “Rowan! Apologize to Ms. Lynch and Mr. Haberle right this instant!” The man who spoke up was none other than Rowan’s father, Harrison Zalenski. They were both art enthusiasts and had been invited by Lorenzo to view his collection. “But, Dad…” “Apologize right now, or get out of here!” Harrison ordered in an authoritative tone. As reluctant as Rowan was, he clenched his teeth and apologized anyway. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lynch. I’m sorry, Mr. Haberle. I shouldn’t have said all that!” The people standing next to him tried to help relieve the tension as well. “Now, now… We’re all here to admire Mr. Emerentius’ art, so let’s not bring up our personal affairs.” “Exactly! We should focus on admiring the artwork!” “Hurry up and show us Mr. Emerentius’ artwork, Mr. Haberle! We’ve been waiting for a long time now!” Seeing as the crowd was starting to grow impatient, Lorenzo turned around and retrieved a painting from his collection. Everyone’s eyes lit up with awe when they saw the painting. “Whoa! It really is Mr. Emerentius’ artwork!” Emerentius loved using bright colors and simplistic strokes to create the most memorable of paintings. It was such a unique art style that people could easily identify his work, and yet, nob*dy was able to plagiarize it. Yelena was so excited about the artwork that she didn’t even notice the strange look on Emrys’ face. Wait a minute… Isn’t that a painting I made when I was thirteen? I was done with training for the day and happened to see an eagle in the sky when I looked up. Because I was bored, I decided to paint a picture of that eagle. While I was painting that picture, I accidentally dripped some fruit juice on the eagle’s head, which left some red stains on the painting. Those red stains are also there on the painting that Mr. Haberle is displaying, so that painting is definitely the one I made. Hmm… Emerentius, huh… Hold on, that sounds kind of like my name! Oh, I get it now! I tossed that painting away and had completely forgotten about it, but that old friar must’ve stolen it, brought it down the mountain, and created a fictitious person named “Emerentius”! I suppose my legend has already been spreading through the streets even before my arrival! Oh, you sure are a genius when it comes to marketing, old friar!