Viv blinked a few times.

Mas had just said that he couldn't see her anymore. She realized he was looking at her with pity and detachment.

Viv rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. "This voice you use right now," Viv waved her hands between them, "your whole 'I'm a thoughtful Japanese painter' act... Do you practice it?"

"Mas, you met me, you could tell I was into you, and you could tell I was vulnerable. And now, now you're gonna tell me that you've had a change of conscience? After all, I did for you? You knew I was married when we fucked in your studio."

Mas replied, in his soft voice, "I don't feel good about that."

Viv felt herself toggling between anger, despair, and panic, over and over, in an accelerating loop.

And for a fraction of a second, Viv desperately wanted to win him back. Then she felt disgusted with that part of herself.

The two stood outside her car in a parking lot on a hot sunny day. They had met at a cafe. He had been avoiding her for so long, and when he finally contacted her and said he wanted to meet, she felt so much elation. It was finally going to be the end of this grey numbness she had been in for so long.

The grey numbness was gone. Now it was all pitch black fear. Like being in a cave, alone, with no light.

Mas replied back through his teeth. "You've been fucking around behind your husband's back with others before me. You won't leave him because you don't want to lose his money, but you're so unhappy because he ignores you, so what other choice do you have, right?"

His words missed the mark, but Viv realized how she really had been living this double life for years now. That part was true.

"I would have done anything for you if you asked. I would have sold my soul for you, and you knew it! Do you feel any shame taking advantage of somebody? Or is it like I deserve to be treated like trash?"

"Mas, I told the owner I'd let him list my Judith Greene pieces if he gave you a show in his gallery and promoted you."

Now, he was shocked. His exhibition breakthrough was only because he had the right backers. He wasn't a genius but people were talking about how he was.

"My fucking Judith Greene pieces. My absolute favorite pieces."

She saw in her mind the old series of green paintings that she had in her office. People said It was the best example of Viv's uncanny ability to discover the next big thing before anything else.

When she sold it, it was worth more than the value of her house. More than fifty times what she had paid twelve years ago.

But it was nout about the money. When Viv met Judith at the tiny community gallery so long ago, they were kindred spirits. Viv collected everything she could from Judith for the next several years. Now maybe because Judith Greene was dead it was OK for the community to admit she really was a genius, and now the investors were snatching up her stuff from her early fans that didn't know anything about how much money that this stuff was about to be worth.

And then Viv cashed it all out to help the man she thought was also her kindred spirit. She figured Judy would understand.

But he had been wearing a disguise. He had pretended to care as she unlocked her heart and poured out all her secrets and fears and fantasies. She felt like a stupid animal, like a bird that mistook its mirror reflection as an other bird.

She looked at him and saw nearly a stranger now. "At what point did you realize if you played with my heart, I'd do anything for you? You fucked me, and I paid you for it by launching your career."

He was still so silent. She went on. "What's it like, pretending to be so into somebody? Do you know when you're doing it, or is it just instinct to use people so it feels natural when it happens?

Viv looked down at her watch. It was time to go.