Your Love Is But a Dream

Chapter 5

It was already dark out when Clara got home. She went to her art studio to look around. After all, her paintings for her university admission were still incomplete. Clara had just arrived at the door when she saw a housekeeper rearranging the interior and cleaning the space.

Clara's easel, which originally sat next to the window, had vanished. In its place was an expensive imported piano.

There were no traces of her art and paint supplies. They were replaced with Ivy's music scores and other belongings. "Where are my paintings?" Clara asked the housekeeper, her voice trembling.

Those art pieces weren't just her prized possessions. Among them was one specific painting-the last thing her mother had painted before dying. Clara's parents perished on their way back from the countryside. They had gone there to look for inspiration for Clara's mother's paintings. Clara's grandmother blamed these paintings as the reason for Clara's father's death. So, she burned all of Clara's mother's art pieces.

One painting survived because Clara lunged into the flames and burned her hands to save it. It was the last thing she had of her mother's.

Clara cherished the painting a lot. Even Wren wouldn't dare touch it back then. However, it was missing now.

The housekeeper bore a nervous expression after seeing that Clara was on the verge of tears. She was unsure how to respond when someone spoke up from behind, "You're back, Clara."

Ivy held a score sheet and smilingly entered the room. She only snapped out of her smugness after realizing Clara was crying. Right away, she put on an apologetic front.

She said, "Sorry for hogging your studio. Wren told me this room's spacious and has the best lighting, so it's the perfect place to be my piano room. He's allowed me to move into this room to practice for my upcoming piano competition." Clara stepped closer to Ivy. "Where are my paintings?"

"Oh, those paintings?" Ivy smiled sweetly. "Wren said they weren't important and told me to do whatever I pleased with them. So, I asked the housekeepers to throw them away." Clara's eyes widened in disbelief, and her entire body trembled. Wren knew how important that painting was to her. However, he allowed Ivy to get rid of it to make her happy. "Are you alright, Clara?" Ivy asked.

Clara's head snapped upward just then. She grabbed Ivy's outreached hand. Her eyes reddened as she loudly questioned, "Where have you thrown my paintings? Give them back!" "You're hurting me, Clara." Ivy frowned due to the pain and deliberately said, "They're in the outdoor bins. There's no telling if the garbage truck has already cleared the bins..." Clara shoved Ivy away before running outside at once.

It was drizzling outdoors, but Clara dared not delay things any longer. She dug through each garbage bin one after the other. Finally, she found the discarded paintings in a bin near the villa. Unfortunately, all the paintings were destroyed. The oil pigments had bled all over the place.

her and Wren looked the worst. Her face got smeared with black paint. It was like someone had taken their anger out on her, and her face was unrecognizable in the

the bin and looked around until she found her mother's painting. Luckily, it sat beneath all the other paintings and was safe from the rain. It only had a slight stain from the other bleeding pigments. Now that Clara had found what she lost, she hugged it tightly as she walked home in the rain. Her humiliation at that moment couldn't compare to the anger

studio, she saw Wren hugging Ivy with concern. He softly spoke while trying to

saw Clara, he coldly stated, "Get

frame of the painting as she tensely entered the

felt bad for Clara when she saw the latter was drenched. She was about to speak up

rang out, "I'm the one who let Ivy move into the art studio. You can take any grievances

one thing I had left of my mom!" Clara stared straight at Wren with reddened eyes. She refused to let the matter slide as she asked, "Were you

like Ivy knew about it. You shouldn't blame her! Apologize to Ivy at once, and I can pretend

when I've done nothing wrong?" Clara snapped. Her entire body trembled as she stared with disappointment at

Wren's face darkened.

to cry as she wiped her eyes. "Carlisle, Ivy has already gotten injured twice, even though we've just announced our kids' marriage. Do Clara and Katrina not want us here? How about Ivy and I move out instead?" "Nonsense! I'd like to see who would dare kick you two out while I'm here!" Carlisle held Shirley's hand,

lecture Katrina without caring about her feelings. He snapped, "Look at how you've raised your niece! She's remorseless!

and Shirley at once, or I'll withdraw

her husband of over ten years, her face devoid of color. She had always known about Carlisle's partialness toward Shirley. Yet, she never imagined Carlisle would threaten her with the company because of

that moment, she felt ridiculous for fighting hard

in Clara as she took in Katrina's pale expression.

It wasn't on purpose. Please forgive her." Ivy stepped up to play the good girl role after feeling satisfied with how things had progressed. "You're much more considerate than Clara," Carlisle praised Ivy before

to say something, but Katrina gave a comforting pat on Clara's hand to stop her. Then, Katrina left the

and Clara remained in

anymore, Clara. I might actually get mad at you

"I love this piano room, Wren. It's just... the elderflower tree outside the window smells too overpowering. I don't like it. Can I