After Somin finally gets into a prestigious Art university, everything in her life turns upside down. What was once a secure plan to get closer to her boyfriend is now a mess. Her future is unknown, though already stained with heartache.
Will she p...
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Somin and Junu
When Somin came to the class, half of the students were already inside.
Shit, I'm not ready.
She sat next to Junu as always. The young boy was listening to his iPod and nervously looking around the room. The shy artist hated it when the class filled up with "others". Noticing Somin, he smiled and offered her one of his wireless earbuds.
"Do you need to calm down?" the boy softly asked, his honest chocolate eyes happy to see her, observing her reddened cheeks.
"Sure, I have to seriously cool down," she accepted the earbud.
A serene instrumental song filled Somin's ears, helping her to relax at last. Junu always listened to the most unusual pieces. This sadly melancholic piano almost made her cry. Closing her eyes for a moment and breathing quietly helped her forget about the upcoming presentation. They both leaned their heads on the wall behind them and got lost in the melodies.
Her heart slowed its pace. I don't want to open my eyes. Mr. Ha came on time like always and everybody huddled closer to the podium.
"Let's have a look at how creative you were last weekend." One by one the students presented their artworks.
Many of them were good, but they looked average to Somin.
...
Without realizing it, she unconsciously adopted Cholsu's perception of what is worth seeing. With that much drilling from him, she couldn't critique any other way.
More than a thousand times they went together to various exhibitions, and Somin always listened intrigued by his extensive monolog about composition, color theory, figure anatomy, the history behind each piece, and the overall feeling the artwork gave him. Cholsu may have been the worst boyfriend material one could find, but his passion for art was contagious. Somin learned how to dissect a painting in so many different ways, it was hard to not brutally judge the others, but most importantly herself. The unbelievable sculptor left her with the gift of dissatisfaction with everything she had done.
"Average."
"Pedestrian."
"Boring."
Rang in her ears while her light eyes analyzed the artwork, hearing the agitated voice commenting.
"Bad composition," or "One-dimensional. No decent color work here," and every so often, "Your hand is still shaky and it shows."
...
Somin focused again on the presentation and recognized that one "water effect" drawing from the bathroom.
What a cheap thrill, that's not art.
Everybody praising it made her angrier.
Hmpf. The water should be praised.
Junu presented silently, unexpectedly big pastel drawings.
