Chapter 159: A Familiar Back View

Chapter 159: Chapter 159: A Familiar Back View

As soon as they stood still, Vivian leaned in and whispered seriously,

"Irene, you really need to pay attention to this Ellie! I’ve been watching for a while. She and Loren are chatting so happily. Their eye contact is so natural. Didn’t you notice? The way she looks at Loren doesn’t look like just a normal friend at all!"

Vivian’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word fell clearly into Irene’s ears.

She followed Vivian’s gaze and saw Loren pointing at an oil painting of interlacing light and shadow, talking softly with Ellie. Ellie listened intently, nodding and smiling from time to time, her posture intimate and natural. As the sunlight fell on them, it created an illusion of peaceful, quiet years.

A complex emotion flitted through Irene’s heart. She trusted Loren and remembered him mentioning this friend from New Zealand, but Vivian’s words and the scene she just saw still made her feel a bit uneasy.

It was like Lucky, whom she had neglected to care for, suddenly didn’t come to greet her with slippers in his mouth when she returned home one day. Not only that, he didn’t even listen to her calls, only caring about playing with the neighbor’s dog. This feeling wasn’t exactly anger, just a sort of unpleasantness from being ignored.

She took a deep breath, suppressed the stray thoughts in her mind, put on a smile again, and said to the approaching visitors, "Welcome to the exhibition. Please register here."

The flow of people in the exhibition hall gradually increased. The scent of turpentine grew softer as it was warmed by the body heat of more people, mingled with occasional low murmurs of admiration.

Irene stood back behind the registration desk. People came and went in the hall, and low whispers of praise came from in front of the paintings from time to time. Her gaze involuntarily drifted toward that familiar figure not far away.

She couldn’t help but shake her head, feeling a bit petty. It was just a female friend, and he just hadn’t reported to her before coming to the art exhibition with her. There was nothing to be so calculative about.

"Irene! Irene! Look over there!" Vivian suddenly nudged her gently with her elbow, her voice low but unable to hide her excitement, her eyes sparkling as she stared toward the west side of the hall. "My god, who is that? He’s way too handsome!"

Irene was lost in thought and only hummed subconsciously in response. She didn’t even have time to look away from the registration sheet, asking vaguely, "What?"

"A hunk! A top-tier one!" Vivian stood on her tiptoes impatiently, quietly pointing in that direction. "Look, look! The one standing in front of that oil painting, ’Basketball Court at Dusk’! His physique is amazing—broad shoulders and a narrow waist. You can see the muscle lines on his back even through his shirt. You can tell he works out regularly!"

She got more excited as she spoke, adding in a low voice, "It’s exactly the kind Edward has always wanted but couldn’t achieve! You remember, right? Edward complained in front of the mirror at the gym last time, saying he could never get those smooth yet powerful muscle lines. Well, today we finally see the real-life version!"

Irene finally managed to snap out of it and looked in the direction Vivian was pointing, but with people coming and going in the hall, a few visitors happened to block her view.

By the time she moved around the crowd, she only saw a back turning and walking away.

It was a particularly tall and upright young man, wearing a simple black slim-fit T-shirt and dark casual pants. His shoulders and back were broad and relaxed, the contours of his muscles clearly visible under the fabric. Every step he took was steady and powerful, exuding an inexplicable aura.

It was indeed as Vivian had said. His physique was perfect. The muscle lines weren’t exaggerated but were full of power. Just a view of his back was enough to make one imagine how handsome he looked from the front.

Irene’s gaze lingered on that back for a moment. A strange sense of familiarity rose in her heart, as if she had seen a similar build somewhere before, but she couldn’t recall it for the moment.

"How is it, how is it? Isn’t he incredible?" Vivian leaned over and pressed for an answer, her face full of anticipation.

"He’s even more handsome from the front! His features are as sharp as a sculpture, and his eyes are so deep. I only caught a glimpse just now, and my heart skipped a beat! Why didn’t you look sooner? You missed seeing his face by just a second!"

Irene frowned with a bit of annoyance. She had indeed been too distracted just now and actually missed a handsome guy.

She looked in that direction again, but the figure had already entered another section of the exhibition, obscured by paintings and the crowd, no longer visible.

"I didn’t see his face clearly, just his back," she said truthfully. The upright back replayed in her mind, the sense of familiarity growing stronger, yet she still couldn’t grasp a specific memory.

"Ah? What a pity!" Vivian stamped her foot, looking regretful. "He even glanced over at us just now. I thought you saw him. What department do you think he’s from? How come I’ve never seen him at school before? Could he be from another school?"

Irene shook her head. She involuntarily looked toward Loren and Ellie again. They had moved deep into the hall and were discussing an oil painting depicting a Forest of Light and Shadow. The sunlight streaming through the glass windows fell on them, maintaining that harmonious scene.

"Maybe we’ll run into him again later," Vivian continued to mutter, her eyes scanning around, trying to find the handsome guy again. "If I see him later, I’ll definitely call you right away. We can’t miss it again!"

Irene smiled and nodded, picking up the registration pen again, but she couldn’t focus. That tall, powerful back and that faint sense of familiarity were like a thin thread pulling at her thoughts, making her look back again and again—where exactly had she seen him?

The five-day art exhibition ended quickly. Aside from the small episode on the first day, the subsequent work was uneventful. Neither Loren nor that familiar figure appeared again.

Soon after, the second semester of junior year ended. Irene successfully earned her credits and no longer had to worry about delayed graduation. Almost immediately, she shifted all her focus back to the preparation for Pirates of the Caribbean.

The studio’s layout had long since been completely refreshed: the walls were covered with scene designs for the Black Pearl, a sample of Captain Jack’s costume hung on a rack next to thick stacks of actor profiles, and the pirate compass won at the charity auction sat on the desk, its needle still trembling slightly as if guiding the direction of the casting.

The night before the audition for the second male lead, Will Turner, it was already 11:00 PM, but the studio lights were blindingly bright.

Irene curled up in her large office chair. The audition list on the desk before her was luxurious—a string of names that would amaze any producer twenty years later. This was the "pleasant surprise" sent from all sides after she had "declared she was looking for a newcomer with both the physique and the spark."