"What are you doing here?" Hazel's words rushed out of her mouth as quickly as she hustled over to them in the vibrant pink pumps.

Indigo gestured to the colorfully illustrated paintings hung on massive white walls of The Meraki Gallery, "We came to support you. I know it's your first time featuring this brand of artwork." She brushed her eyes across the canvases and perplexity clouded her features. "These aren't abstract."

"I lied." Hazel bluntly put it with a subtle shrug. "Abstract isn't your thing nor anyone else with the last name Clark. Too artsy."

Tate and Indigo shared a look then he asked, "Why?"

"Because..." Hazel started, then glanced over her shoulder at the gallery she founded two years ago. It didn't always have a crowd of elegantly dressed people fluttering around and chatting enthusiastically about the magnificent work adorning the walls. But tonight it was and that was because of one person. "Um...the artist is um....Felix Wang."

Indigo took a step back and Tate let out a heavy breath, "I had to." Hazel continued. "His artwork generates enough capital and prestige to...you're a business woman you understand."

Indigo nodded. She understood that keeping a business afloat was an arduous task riddled with copious hours worked that didn't reap monetary gain and thankless duties that many didn't know about, like being a window cleaner and a paper pusher. You had to wear all the hats from receptionist to accountant.

"It's not eight yet," Tate said reading his watch. "We can still go to the candle-making class."

Indigo shook her head, eyeing the fading sun behind them. "By the time we get on forty-five, it'll be nine." She shrugged. "We're already here. We're adults. We can coexist in the same space. There's no animosity between us. We all agreed to the terms of the adoption."

"We did." Tate echoed. "If you want to stay then we'll stay. If that's fine with you." He shifted his sight to Hazel.

"Be my guest." Hazel gestured to the space behind her.

Tate took Indigo's hand and led them away from the doorway to a sparsely occupied area. The hum of conversations surrounded them as instrumental R&B lightly played. Indigo's eyes were on the canvas but her mind was time-traveling.

Adoption was something they entertained when she had a miscarriage after they tried getting pregnant for a year. But not too seriously. Not until Abigail Sequin asked her to be her child's guardian being that she didn't have family. A foster kid that aged out of the system, Indigo took her under her wings and gave her, her first job. A job she worked until she graduated from community college. Studying to be a respiratory therapist, she knew childbirth was life-threatening. Indigo never thought the worst would happen but it was and she fulfilled her promise. Unbeknownst to Indigo when the judge approved the adoption, she was pregnant.

"The Errors of Youth by Felix Wang. The only son of second-generation Korean-American parents hails Hawaii but calls California home," Tate read from the tri-fold pamphlet he swiped from a table.

Indigo clung to his arm tighter trying to steal some of his warmth, now regretting handing her coat over to the coat check-girl. "He went to UCLA then dropped out after two years to travel North America..." She gazed at the painting of a black-haired boy with tan skin playing a string instrument while he sat on the back porch of a ranch house. "...With just a backpack and his father's station wagon, which he also slept in."

"Where is..." Tate flipped over the pamphlet quickly reading over the twelve font words. "I don't see that."

She held up her phone, "Google."

He narrowed his eyes peering down at her, "Should we talk to him."

"Maybe." She nodded still gazing at the artwork. "I don't know." She gestured to the portrait. "It looks so real. You can feel the emotions. Sadness. Regret." She rambled with chattering teeth.

"Do you want my coat?" He asked beginning to take it off.

Indigo shook her head, "No. I want mine." She folded her arms closer to her body. The cool air streaming from the vents was arctic to her dermis. She knew her need to crunch on ice was a symptom of the deficiency that plagued her but not she was feeling it. "Where are you going?"

Tate's footsteps didn't stop as he spoke over his shoulder, "Going to get your coat."

"Thank you." She shouted out getting a sneer and a turned-up nose from a couple that tried to be too sophisticated.

She turned back to the artwork as the hum of jovial conversation hit her back. She was taken by the painting. She wondered what caused the boy to shed a tear that set on his blushing cheek. She wondered what the instrument the boy was playing. She'd only seen it in those subtitled Asian movies she used to rent from Blockbuster when she was younger.

"A Grandson's Regret." A deep, easy voice sounded from behind her.

Indigo jumped, startled by the voice in a space that was vacant seconds ago. "Felix." She took in the sight of him in an all-black suit, no tie and his dress shirt unbuttoned just enough to show a sliver of the tawny skin at the bottom of his neck.

"This is awkward." He flashed a tightlipped smile. "Didn't know my baby's mom would be a fan.." He shifted his midnight eyes over the clusters of well-dressed people. "

"Don't call me that." She set her eyes back on the artwork. "We didn't know you were the signature artist for the week."

"So, if you knew you wouldn't have come" He let out a low sigh. "How is she?"

"You said you didn't want to know anything about her. You wanted a closed adoption." She eyed him, his features matching the boy's in the portrait. "Are you sure you want the answer to that question?

"You really like this one, don't you?" He slipped his hands into his pant pockets. "You've been standing here for quite some time."

"Yeah." Indigo draped her ponytail back over her shoulder. "I'm trying to figure out the name of that instrument?" She pointed to it. "I know it ain't a guitar."

He nodded. "It's a gayageum."

She mimicked his pronunciation of the foreign word.

"It was my great-grandmother's but my grandmother taught me the art. She told me she didn't want me to grow up ignorant of our culture." He lowered his head slightly with a sniff.

She toyed with her wedding band and the glimmer from the diamond caught his eye. "I'm guessing you forgot."

"What?" He settled his dazed eyes back on her.

"How to play." She pointed to the painting. "You forgot how to play."

He nodded without vigor, "Yes." He ran his hand over his stiff black tresses. "She left it to me in her will and I've been trying to teach myself how to play."

"Is this the biggest error of your youth?"

"Not even close." His eyes stilled on the painting but his mind was miles away. "But you already know that."

She saw the hurt and shame cloaking his face. Her hand fell on his forearm, her motherly instincts kicking in. "She's doing—." The events from earlier formulated in her mind. "Good. She's good."

"That's great." He glanced down at her hand. "Do you think—"

His words stopped as a heavy cloth fell on her shoulders. She could feel the energy shift around her. A coldness clung to her bones as warmth permeated her skin.

"Felix." Tate simply uttered, free of emotion. "Congratulations. You've accomplished what you planned to do."

Felix peered at him for a moment then let his gaze slip to Indigo. A slight smile curved his pink lips as if a clever thought sparked in his mind then he returned his eyes to Tate and said, "Almost. But I will." 

What do you think the next phase of 'date night' is?

Who is Felix Wang and was he flirting with Indigo or just being friendly?