as I thinking of just now? The portrait... yes, portrait!"
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Andre was sitting at his desk in the Percys'' house, writing a document, when Edith burst into the room and strode straight up to him, saying, "I want a miniature of you."
Andre was surprised. "A miniature? Why do you need my portrait? I''m right here, I''m not going anywhere."
She remained expressionless, turning her head away without a word.
"Did you miss me?" he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, but his tone still cautious. "Edith?"
"I didn''t!" she immediately retorted.
He sighed, set down his pen, and rose to his feet, circling around the desk to stand in the face of her. "You''ve been avoiding me all these days. It''s been weighing heavily on me. Do you ever feel the same way? Even just a little?"
She noticed the dark circles under his eyes, his pallid lips, and the debility that still lingered in his movements. Thinking of his long nights at work recovering recently from the serious illness, her heart couldn''t resist softening considerably.
As she refused to answer, the light in his eyes dimmed, his gaze shifting downwards with a sense of loss. Edith caught a glimpse of a colourful painting on his desk, hidden beneath some papers.
Before Andre could stop her, she had snatched up the painting. It was the image he had sketched of her years ago, during their first stroll by the Seine in Rouen. After he returned home, he had carefully added colour to it, bringing her childish yet wild laughter to life.
In that moment, Edith felt a rush of cool river water wash over her ankles, and the breeze of high summer once again brushed past her ear.
"You''ve kept this painting all these years!" she whispered in wonder.
Andre felt a bit embarrassed. "I missed you so much, but I don''t have any other portraits of you. So I had to hold onto this painting to console myself."
Edith pressed her palms to his temples and turned his face towards her, kissing him fiercely. "Ay, you fool! You silly fool!"
They kissed and kissed again, as intimate as they were in the beginning.
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On a scorching day in July, Edith volunteered to help