Is this romantic or am I reading too much into it?
TL;DR - are the black Chinese characters just a phonetic translation of the artist's name ("Vincent"), or is there a deeper meaning? (yes, I know the red characters are Japanese katakana)
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Recently, I confessed to a colleague I've had a crush on at work named "Vincent". To be honest, I think he had a crush on me too. We worked together for about 3 years.
When it was his birthday (~2 weeks before my last day at work - was quitting my job), I gave him several heartfelt gifts including a Swiss Army knife. I told him that "in many cultures, gifting a knife is unlucky. It signifies cutting the bond between two people. I think I've made it obvious I've had a crush on you for a while. Because I'm leaving and don't know if I'm going to stay in the area... I'm going to cut our bond."
At my farewell party, he gave me several gifts, including this artwork that I asked him to make me a year ago. He finally got to it 🥹 I thought he forgot.
He told me there was an "Easter egg" (hidden/secret message) in the painting.
Google says 维开 can be a phonetic translation of his name. (EDIT: translation of his initials, "VK"? Maybe?)
But it also said the two characters might mean:
维 (Wéi) — "To hold on, to maintain, to tie together".
开 (Kāi) — "To open, to bloom, to start anew".
Am I being a hopeless romantic thinking he wants to preserve our bond, or is this just a clever way to write his name? 🥲