dancing with a stranger

IX

"I HAVE NOTHING" hyunjin complained out loud, to no one exactly. he had been wrecking his brain for inspiration for the absolute longest time but still, to no avail. he remembered what jeongin said, about going to places to gain inspiration. 

he wanted to call jaerim to ask her out. wait, that sounded a lot like a date. to gain inspiration, more like it. 

"hey hyunjin, whats up" jaerim said from the other side of the line. she sounded like she was busy doing something. 

"oh, are you busy? if you're busy its okay" hyunjin rushed through his words. why was he getting nervous? 

"no no i was just doing laundry" 

"do you want to go to the museum with me? i need to get some inspiration. maybe we can think of something together for the back story?" hyunjin suggested. he though of the museum on the spot. god, it really sounds like a date. 

"sure! i can meet you at the train station in about an hour?" 

"okay see you" hyunjin put his phone down and breathed out. he didn't realise he was holding his breath. the boy got ready for the outing. 

---

when jaerim got off her train, she saw hyunjin leaning against a wall scrolling through his phone. she was earlier than the stated time, which meant that hyunjin was even earlier. 

"did you wait long?" jaerim took her earphones out and packed them into her bag.

hyunjin shook his head. "i just got here. lets get the admission tickets before the line grows even longer". 

there were three different levels in the museum. in these levels, there were different sectors that introduced different themes. they chose to go to the second level which held themes such as youth, memory and grief. the two figured this level resonated more with them at the moment. 

they entered the 'youth' room. there were paintings, sculptures, different forms of art. 

"gosh, i forgot how much i loved looking at art pieces. no two pieces look remotely the same and they all have their own backstory behind them" jaerim was looking at an oil painting depicting a child in school. 

hyunjin walked around the room. he wasn't an art looker. he didn't enjoy looking at art pieces with meanings behind them. ironic, coming from a dancer. he walked around restlessly, tagging behind jaerim when he grew bored. 

"lets go to the next theme?" jaerim noticed hyunjin's behaviour. she noted down some prompts in her phone to use ideas. 

hyunjin agreed and they both made their way to the 'memory' room.  it looked starkly different from the other room. this one was messier. some parts were darker and some were lighter. 

"wow this is a visual explosion" hyunjin spoke under his breath. he walked over to the darker portion of the room, while jaerim gravitated to the lighter parts. 

one artwork immediately caught her attention. it was a water colour painting of twins, each holding the hand of a parent. the painting was filled with pastel colours and jaerim couldn't help but smile at the sight. but with the lightness and positive meaning behind the work, she thought about her own parents. her yearning for their approval and their absence. 

"must be nice" she muttered under her breath. her mood was instantly put out. she looked around for hyunjin, not moving from her spot infront of the painting. there he was, looking at a medium sized sculpture of what looked to be a father and his son, dancing. she thought the boy dancing resembled hyunjin a lot and wanted to take a picture of the scene. however, hyunjin's face wasn't one filled with happy memories, as intended from the art piece. it was filled with a look of grief.