𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈𝗈 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁 - 𝖼.𝖻

★☆ ! >﹏< 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗗 !

my first classes of the day had been great. even if everyone's pity was a little choking, i had been good so far. that was until i entered the art class. before, i had never really paid any attention to who was in my class.

when i entered class, there weren't that many students there yet. i took a seat near the window and rested my backpack on the floor. i was about to plug in my earbuds when i felt a slight tap on my shoulder. with a frown, i turned around hoping it wasn't another autograph or selfie request from a freshman.

but when i completely turned around, it wasn't a freshman.

in a way, he looked very different. it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to his facial features. the beating of my heart through my ears made me apprehensive. i thought the whole class would be able to hear it due to the loud thud.

"h-hueningkai?"

like it was an automatic reflex, his genuine smile, that i had missed so much, appeared.

"hey, soyeon!"

i didn't try to hide my stunned expression. things with hueningkai, well, they were complicated. first of all, the last time i had been around hueningkai i had almost been raped. second of all, beomgyu was now my boyfriend, and if he saw hueningkai anywhere near me, he wouldn't sit back nicely. beomgyu could have beaten him to death in the mountains if i hadn't interfered. even just thinking about the whole incident, which felt like decades ago, made me feel chilly.

"soyeon," he grabbed both of my hands in his and looked deep into my eyes. "you have no idea how much i worried!"

almost rudely, i immediately snatched my hands away from his and gave him a stare. the look on hueningkai's face almost made me regret it. his eyes clouded with confusion and his bright smile dropped to a straight, dull line.

there was an awkward pause between us both. thank god the art teacher walked through the door to interrupt it.

like in all my previous classes, the teacher introduced me to the class. although it was clearly the end of the year, all my teachers had made it seem as if it was the beginning. however, my art teacher seemed to understand me better than all of the previous teachers I had had so far. he saw through my eyes that this was completely unnecessary since i had had class with all of the students surrounding me.

after he finished wrapping up my intro, he moved on to our week's project.

"alright, class. this week's assessment is going to be a research assessment."

the entire class plastered faces of different degrees of boredom. some even made a groan of boredom.

"alright. settle down. i know this is an art class, but one thing you should know that in college it's not all about drawing, blending, and painting. you also learn about art's culture and evolution."

our teacher's explanation made the students even more bored.

"now, you will be researching a very famous piece. that is the mona lisa. and let me clear this up now, there is to be no partner or group work. this is completely individual. there is a reason for that. the reason is that in the end, you will have to draw the mona lisa yourself, and the best replication will win a grand prize."

this project seemed exciting and stressful at the same time. i was so glad he had brought up the partner rule. somehow, i had a feeling hueningkai would have wanted for us to be paired.

the bell rang. i immediately tried to make it out of the room before hueningkai caught up to me, but that was clearly impossible since his seat was right behind mine.