✔︎𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 || 𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧

2. The rooftop boy

"Jeongin, I swear to God, if you keep moving, I'm not going to finish this," I said, my voice filled with frustration.

The brown-haired boy looked at me with a pout, sitting back in his chair.

"I'm sorry, it's just that this is taking forever!"

"I'm almost done, I just need to add a few more details," I replied as my brush gently touched the canvas once again.

It was a rainy afternoon, and the only sound in my messy bedroom was the soft patter of rain against the window. I glanced at him one more time, studying every detail as I carefully painted another brown strand of hair.

I didn't like to admit it, but I was quite nervous. I loved art, more than anything else in my life, and Jeongin knew that. We had known each other since we were probably five or six, and he had watched me improve day by day. Yet, until then, I had only drawn landscapes, animals, or portraits of models and actors. I had never painted a portrait of someone I actually knew in real life. So when Jeongin asked me, with his puppy-dog eyes, to paint him, I couldn't say no, but I was terrified.

And now, here I was, trying my best to add details upon details to make the portrait look good. Eventually, my work came to an end. I set down my brush and examined the canvas closely, biting my lower lip anxiously.

"Okay, I'm done," I said, finally deciding there was nothing more I could do to improve the painting.

Jeongin's face lit up with a huge smile. "Really? Let me see!"

I gulped as I turned the canvas around, letting him see the work I had spent hours on.

Jeongin's mouth fell open as he stared at the painting, his eyes dreamy as he absorbed every brushstroke. Looking back now, the painting was actually beautiful, but at the time, I was worried it wouldn't be good enough for him.

"Y/n... this is incredible," he said, leaning in closer with a smile full of enthusiasm. "You're the most talented person I've ever met!"

"It's not that great..." I muttered, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"What are you talking about? It looks exactly like me!"

I rolled my eyes, unsure if he was saying that because he genuinely liked it or just to be nice.

"Can I keep it? Can I please, please, please keep it?" he begged, giving me those puppy-dog eyes again.

I smiled lightly as I watched his excitement. "Of course you can."

Jeongin gasped in delight and pulled me into a hug. "Thank you! You really are my best friend!"

Yeah.

I really was.

__☕︎__

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, slowly opening my tired eyes. Another dream. It had been months since old memories started haunting me in my sleep, memories of my old city and friends.

I lay in bed for a few minutes, processing the dream. I really didn't want to go to school. I didn't even want to get out of bed. All I wanted to do was dream, over and over, running through all my old memories. They were the only things I had left.

But I knew I couldn't skip my second day of school, even though the thought of wasting another day in that miserable building made me sick. I dragged my tired body out of bed, praying that I would survive the new nightmare I had woken up to.

The entire day, I did nothing but pretend to listen to my new teachers' lessons and avoid the attention of my new classmates. It wasn't that they were rude or unfriendly; it was just that making new friends felt like it would take me even further away from my old ones. It made me feel like a traitor. But little did I know that avoiding my classmates would make me seem rude in their eyes.