Picture Perfect | k.th

Chapter 23

Sohee POV

"Huh...I'm going to be honest, that's not what I thought you were hiding from me," Haru said nonchalantly.

Jun had a more perplexed expression, "Sohee...I was making a joke that one time! I was not legit about that."

I fiddled with my coffee cup, unable to properly gauge and process their reactions. It didn't help that my boss was staring me down.

"I only have fifteen minutes to talk about this, so if you have questions, ask now, be shocked later," I sighed.

"Wait a minute, let me just do a recap of what's going on. So...Taehyung...the alleged model that randomly joined our class was actually not a model. In fact he's not a real person. That painting you analyzed one day was actually painted on an enchanted canvas and after you touched it, he turned into a real person. And then you went on this wild goose chase to get him all these legal documents and managed to get him into our school. Then you find out there are six others like him and contact their mysterious creator to have them meet. You also become this guy's student for some reason. Then he convinces them to go back into a collective painting to find peace only for it to be a trap for him to get rid of them by dripping black paint on the canvas. And now you're worried that Taehyung is going to try something stupid because this guy threatened you during your art history trip. And so you want to do something equally as stupid? Did I get it all?" Haru recited.

I chuckled awkwardly, "More or less. Do you...believe me?"

Haru shrugged, "This story is too much for even you to come up with, babe. Also, I knew something was wacky with that painting because I remember helping you bring it to our dorm with the pretty man on it. Then the next day the canvas is in a really conspicuous spot completely blank. I didn't really know what happened, but I knew something was up with it when the painting went blank and then he just showed up out of nowhere."

"I believe you...I just don't want to," Jun shook his head in disbelief.

Haru rolled her eyes, "Ignore him. Sohee, I believe you. I really do. I just wish you would've told us awhile ago. We thought you were pulling away because of him. And we were so worried. You were already ditching us to go on your secret missions and then he disappears and you're like a walking corpse. We're your best friends, Sohee. We want to be there for you." She reached out and held my hand in hers, offering a kind smile.

I squeezed her hand, "I know. And I'm sorry. I know it was wrong of me to keep you both out of the loop. You were only worried and wanted to help. But I hope you can understand that it didn't feel like my secret to tell. Their painting identity was a sore subject for them. They felt incredibly dehumanized and ostracized their whole life so I didn't want to put them on blast as if they were a circus act."

Haru nodded, "That's fair. Just let us in a little more next time, okay?"

I smiled, "Of course." My gaze flickered to my boss who was angrily pointing at their watch. I still had ten minutes left but of course they were going to police me to the last second.

Jun who had seemed to calm down began to rationally assess the situation. "So can you get pregnant by him? Like will you have painting babies? Is it even biologically possible, I mean he's realistically created from dyed chemicals." Correction. He was asking the questions he was most curious about.

I stared at him slack-jawed, absolutely appalled by what I had just heard. Sometimes he was the most reasonable of us, and other times he asked questions like this.

Haru smacked him on the shoulder, "Anyway, I think the more important question is why tell us now? What stupid plan have you come up with to counter Taehyung's stupid plan."