somewhere only we know | huang renjun

019 | you could tell they loved one another.

!you could tell they loved one another.

"COME ON, WAKE UP. LET'S DO SOMETHING!" i was shaken awake by two hands at my shoulders roughly pulling my sleepy body back and forth. i opened my eyes and saw renjun peering down at me, already dressed like he had somewhere to go.

"we've been away for two days already and we haven't even done anything fun yet," the boy sulked as he got up from the bed. "we left the other motel so we're finally staying somewhere nice," he continued. "we're free, baby. don't you wanna make the most of that?"

"baby?" i repeated, slightly stunned. "that's new."

he turned around quickly to look back at me, almost apologetically. "you don't like it?" he asked, worry laced in his voice.

i let out a small snicker before reassuring him. "no, no, i do like it," i confessed, sending him a smile and a nod. he nodded back, letting out a sigh of subtle relief. "so," i spoke again to break the awkward silence, "what do you want to do?"

"on our way over here i think i saw a gallery not too far away, i think they have a free expo on?" renjun proposed. my eyes lit up, remembering i saw the gallery on our way here as well. i nodded and got untangled from the sheets, pulling myself up to get ready to leave.

a walk and a bus ride later, we arrived at the art gallery and headed inside. the building was big and had tall ceilings that were so high you could barely see them. there were about 30 other people around, all of whom were definitely older than us, dressed in expensive suits and dresses. the room was almost silent, everyone stood talking quietly to each other as if they were all in some kind of secret business.

"this all looks so fancy," i whispered to renjun, who walked beside me with a tight grip on my hand. "are you sure this is free?" i asked. renjun nodded and lifted his other hand to point to a sign ahead of us that read 'special free entry for concessions, september 16 - october 3rd'.

"look," he said, directing my eyes towards it. "the entrance must be up there, let's go see."

renjun eagerly guided me forward to the sign, which as he predicted, was printed above two large open doors with arrows pointing towards a showroom. we walked inside and were immediately met with grand paintings scattered along the walls, fit with sculptures planted in the center of the room and small cushioned benches in front of each artwork. i felt my jaw drop at the sight in awe of the art around us.

"woah," renjun whispered, pulling my arm in tighter as if to send my body pulses of excitement through his grip.

"it's beautiful," i commented, mirroring his admiration.

"like you," he responded cheesily, looking at me with an even cheesier grin. i simply rolled my eyes, unsure how to receive affection like that. i mean, i had never gotten it from anyone else before.

we walked over to the first painting, which was of a man lying naked on a tree branch, holding a large green leaf over his hips to hide any unwanted sights. renjun let out a small giggle and climbed onto the viewing bench, pulling himself into the same slanted position as the man in the painting and using our exhibition program as his leaf.

"am i doing it right? do i look like him?" renjun asked eagerly through broken laughter. i laughed back, nodding my head in agreement while cautiously looking around to see if anyone else had noticed.

"come on," i said, pulling him off the bench. "you're so embarrassing," i teased.

renjun scoffed. "you're just saying that because you can't copy one as well as i did," he challenged.

"oh really?" i squinted my eyes at him, before averting my gaze across the room to find a new work to imitate. my eyes landed on a marble sculpture right in the center of the room: it was a woman, who seemed to be some kind of damsel in distress. still holding onto renjun's wrist, i dragged him over to it before releasing him and bringing my arm up to my forehead and raising my eyebrows to mimic the statue behind me.

renjun started to clap slowly at my efforts, nodding his head in amusement. "bravo," he said, beginning to laugh again. his joy was interrupted by a snarky "ssh!"  from an old woman walking past us, who scowled as she walked by. renjun looked back at me with wide eyes, but still seemed unable to remove his grin. i dropped my pose and walked back over to him, grabbing a hold of his arm and finding a spot on his shoulder to rest my head as we walked around to see the other paintings.

about two rooms later, we came to a small, dimly lit sector with four black walls and only two spotlights to shine on the only painting inside. renjun and i were the only ones to walk inside, leaving the rest of the small crowd in the rooms behind us.

"we should recreate that one," he whispered while gazing at the painting, which showed young girl in the arms of a young boy, both attached at the lips, standing under an umbrella under a dark night sky. you could tell they loved one another; you could see it in the way he held her so close to him, as if someone was going to steal her away. i felt a rush of blood fill my cheeks, and before i could respond he pulled me along to stand in front of the painting and wrapped his arms around me. he peered around the room, and leaned down to the viewing bench beside us to pick up a walking cane someone had left behind, holding it up as if it were our umbrella.

i felt his breath melt into my skin before he leant into me, attaching our lips just as the two in the painting did theirs. he smiled into the kiss and i copied, letting him guide our movements while our lips danced together. a few moments later we pulled away again, and though the room was dark, i could just notice a light shade of pink form a beam across renjun's cheeks.

"what are you doing with my cane!" a frail, yet angry voice came from the doorway. we turned our heads to see a tall old man standing there, slouching against the door frame.

"oh, uh, we were just," renjun stuttered, quickly pulling it down from the air and stumbling towards the man. "i'm sorry, here," he apologised, holding the stick out to the man. the man took it from renjun's palms and cursed quietly under his breath, before turning and walking away with a scoff.

"what is with these old people!" renjun whispered in dismay across the room to me, once the man was gone. i giggled at renjun's obvious embarrassment and skipped towards him, taking his hand once more before we both walked out the room together. "we should probably get out of here before we get shunned by anyone else."