Painting Clovers 11 Chapter 10

It was around 2pm when Lena woke up. It made my heart melt when the first word she uttered upon waking was my name. Lester called room service and the three of us ate our late lunches in our room. Lester was right, the ice did help with the swelling. After eating, we all went to the room she was painting earlier, it's the last room then Lena would be moving on to her 'major project', the hotel lobby.

The three of us stayed there late, getting as much as we can done. Lena is starting to relax, like telling me about her parents had lifted such a heavy weight from her heart, and I think it did.

That night when she went out to her balcony I was already waiting, she sat on her rails like she always does. I stood there waiting for her next move. Is she going to cry, smoke, smile? She just sat there looking down, and then she lifted her face and looked up at the moon. Then she got up and went back to her room.

I let out a breath and lay on my bed, thinking about the days left, not knowing how to even start deciding what to do.

==

"Hey." Lena was in the last room, finishing up her paintings. I placed her coffee on the bedside table and sat at the edge of the bed, content to just be here watching her.

"Hey." She smiled at me and continued with her work.

I tried not to think of the days passing but I couldn't help myself, somehow I feel like the days are moving fast on purpose. Like they're mocking me with the knowledge that I only have a few days here.

I got up and stood behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I smiled as she immediately relaxed at my touch and leaned in. I don't know what exactly Lena and I are, but I'm not complaining.

"What are you doing today?" she asked.

"Nothing, I'm gonna hang out with you here."

She turned to face me. "You can't do that. You can't just stay here the whole day. You have to go out too, to see places, to explore, take pictures."

"Yes I can. I've seen the places I want to see, explored where I wanted to, and I can always take pictures of you." As if to prove my point, I snapped a few pictures of her. She laughed and smacked me lightly in the arm but smiled at the camera anyway when I moved it away from me so I could take a picture of us.

"No. I'm serious though. You are going out. Explore the city, be a tourist." She lightly shove me towards the door.

"Do you not want me here?" I asked, feigning hurt.

"I don't." she answered smiling. "At least not today, or maybe just not this morning." She shove me again.

I sighed and moved to the door. I don't know what exactly is she planning, or thinking but I agreed with anyway. Whatever Lena wants, Lena gets. "Fine."

She gave me a big smile and moved to hug me. I wrapped my arms around her, inhaling her scent, vanilla and paint and lavender. With a big smile on my face I went back to our room.

Lester was nowhere to be found so I called him up to catch up. Lucky he was still in the lobby, I quickly went out to meet him.

Although being away from Lena sucked, I have to admit that I had a good day. Being out in the city is actually refreshing, it really is a beautiful place. So many flowers, all with vibrant colors, the people were also great, even the rain is beautiful once you take the time to appreciate it. I got a lot of pictures today, I can't wait to show Lena.

We got back to the hotel around 7pm, just in time for dinner. I texted Lena to meet us at the Hotel restaurant for dinner.

After dinner, Lena and I hang out in our balcony while Lester went out with some friends he made in the city. I kind of feel bad not spending more time with Lester, he was the one who invited me here after all, but hey, having limited time with Lena kind of changes things.

Lena was looking through the pictures I took earlier, she stopped at one image then raised my camera to show me. It's a picture of a clover. I was walking around town when I noticed the solitary clover in the middle of the road, it grew through a little crack on the concrete. It got my attention and I rushed to take a picture of it, almost getting run over in the process. I told her my little story and Lena was laughing as I tried to reenact my 'quick escape from death'.

"You wouldn't have gotten run over, that's a lucky clover." She got to the end of the gallery and she handed me back my camera?

"Lucky clover?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded, pulling at the chain that always hung around her neck. At the end of the chain is a pendant, a four leaf clover, it looks just like the one in the picture, except it's silver, and a pendant, but you know.

"The clover in your picture, it's a four leaf clover, a lucky clover. It grew in that tiny crack in the middle of the road without ever being run over otherwise it wouldn't have been there to this day. And you taking a picture of it, didn't get run over despite the fact that you so carelessly ran in the middle of a busy road during rush hour. It's lucky." She was playing with her necklace, lightly tossing it around and catching it.

"What about that one? Is it as lucky?" I grabbed the pendant as she tossed it again.

"Yeah. I mean, it used to be. I'm not so sure now, or actually, maybe it is."

"What do you mean?" I handed her the necklace and she clasped it around her neck again.

"Well, it was my dad's. His mom gave it to him, but it was his dad who gave it to his mom. It's actually kind of like an heirloom if you think about it. My granddad found it on the streets one day, on that same day he met my grand mom. So he said it's lucky, it gave him her. Then after some years, they built the very first LC Hotel, and it was a success, everything was going great for them, they were lucky. When my dad was born, his mom gave him the necklace and according to him it brought him luck. He had a great life, he met my mom, and then they had Liam. But then I came."

She took a deep breath before continuing, but this time her voice is sad. "I think that's when its luck ran out." She shrugged, forcing a smile as she looked at me. "My mom died, then years later my dad went next. I guess it was just all out of luck to give. My dad gave this to me the day I was born."

"I think you're wrong." My voice is a little forceful, and I struggled to control it. How could she think it run out of luck when she was born? "It's still lucky, extremely lucky actually. It's lucky that you lived even though you said it was a difficult pregnancy, there are a lot of times when both the mother and the child doesn't survive."

"Losing your mom doesn't really seem –"

"When you tried to kill yourself, you were lucky you didn't succeed." I didn't let her finish, she has to hear this. "It was also luck that you weren't in the same plane with your father." She flinched a little with the mention of her father but I couldn't stop. "And this might not be your luck, but I thank MY luck every day that I was lucky enough to have made it to the day when I first saw you out in the lobby arguing with one of the staffs for an extra week, and you totally extended past that by the way. I thank the universe for that first smile you gave me when you were out in your balcony. I thank the universe I met you Lena, it may not have been your luck. But I think I know that that clover is still giving out lucks when it allowed as to meet, it's just that it was giving ME luck."

Lena suddenly stood up and went inside the room, I followed behind her.

"I'm going."

"What? Come on, Lena." I tried to grab her hand but she pulled it away from me, running to the door.

"I'm sorry okay." I tried again but I was too late, she was already out and slamming the door in my face. I sighed and sat on the floor by the door, I've gotten used to her mood swings. Lena needs her time, it doesn't matter if she doesn't' want to see me tomorrow, I'll still be around.

Chapter end