Sketched Love / Lee Juyeon

1. Expression

[✏️]

Lunch time arrived.

The students walked to their seats of choice and stuffed their ravenous bellies right away. However, that wasn't the case for this one man who sat by himself.

He came to the cafeteria to draw rather than eat yet. Simply put, he isn't currently hungry, so it is acceptable for him to occupy himself with his sketchbook and pencil.

He noticed some girls staring at him; it wasn't the first time; they always did that during lunch. But then, who are we to blame those girls' behavior?

With his lean physique, he simply exudes too much charm, making those girls fall in love with him without any additional effort on his part.

He could feel their constant, intense gaze coming his way, so he moved to the other table, which was farther away from them than his previous position.

When he caught a glimpse of them returning to their seats with disappointment written all over their faces, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He knows too well that he's got the looks and he's not being narcissistic by that; he knows facts about himself. But then getting that kind of attention from girls just because of how he looks doesn't mean so much to him at all.

He's got the talent when it comes to drawing, and that's what he wants for others to notice. He'll definitely appreciate it more so much, if it ever occurs.

"Juyeon!" He looked up and saw his friends, Younghoon and Chanhee approaching him and he immediately smiled at the sight of them as they did the same to him. The moment they took their seats, they did a mental face-palm, seeing their friend doing what he always does. For them, seeing him draw from time to time tires the hell out of them. "Drawing again?"

Juyeon only nodded as a response, continuing his business right after while the two watched him boringly. He's almost finished and was about to show his artwork to them when Chanhee spoke. "Care to explain why you're into drawing again? Aren't you fed up yet with all that along studies?"

"Well, I'm into it because—"

"It's your way to express certain feelings you can't afford saying out loud." Younghoon butted in, finishing Juyeon's answer, with Chanhee sternly looking at him for doing so. "I memorized it well, didn't I? And you, what's with the face?"

"Why answer for him when you weren't even asked? As far as I know, I was talking to Juyeon, not you."

"Chill. As if he's gonna answer you differently this time. Who knows, Juyeon's eardrums might have been feeling sore with your repetitive question. Do some paraphrasing at least, will you?" Juyeon giggled at the sight of the two bickering then focused himself again on his work of art that he didn't notice them leaving so soon— something he didn't mind them doing because he's already used to it. The cycle repeats every single day they're at the cafeteria.

A few minutes passed and he can already feel the need to fill his stomach with food. And so, he closed with sketch pad, resting the pencil on it then standing up from his seat without noticing he bumped the table a little too hard. His pencil fell on the floor, Juyeon not realizing it as he's already on his way to the canteen lady, yet someone else did.

A girl approached the pencil and picked it up, seeing that the tip of it is broken, so she made use of her sharpener she took from the pocket of her jacket, then returned the sharpened pencil to where it laid before.

She left for a while and came back with a sticky note, containing a short message she had written in rush and placed it somewhere between the pages of the guy's sketch pad. As if nothing happened, she scurried back to her seat and continued her business.

Juyeon came back to his table and immediately caught something that's being sandwiched by the pages of his sketch pad— a sticky note. He let it slip from there with his thumb and index finger and read the message mentally as he sat down. "Please eat on time. Drawing can wait. ^_^"

He wondered for a while about what the message would like to imply, and then concluded that maybe someone noticed him prioritizing his hobby more than he should have with his health. His newly sharpened pencil also caught his attention because as far as he could remember, he didn't use his sharpener.

He scanned the cafeteria by his eyes for some good amount of time, in hopes of getting the gist of whoever left the sticky note.

With his eyes getting tired, he just let it go and just enjoyed his food. His gaze fell again on the sticky note and he subconsciously smiled. How thoughtful, he thought.

"Kira! Your cousin's still annoying the hell out of me. Scold him if you must! Just look at these... Do I look like a trash bin?!" Kira turned her head shocked, tearing away her focus from the guy at a slightly far distance, to see one of her classmates who lightly threw the folded papers she brought on the table.

The girl shook her head, amused at the sight before her, and then took one of those. She straightened it and started drawing an eye.

A loud sigh, one that's not audible enough for others to look her way, escaped her lips as she was so done being so talentless when it comes to drawing even the simplest things.

Even students from primary school wouldn't find it hard drawing an eye properly. The thought of being able to reach tertiary school while struggling to draw hit her hard and she can just mentally curse at herself.

She looked up and was about to speak to her classmate who was complaining a while ago, but to her surprise, she's already nowhere to be seen. Kira sighed for the nth time today and just crumpled the paper to throw it to the nearest trash bin.

For the last time today, she let her eyes focus on the guy who's smiling genuinely while drawing whatever, and she can't help but do the same before she left the cafeteria.

Indeed, it's the smile of those who rarely do so that makes your day better.

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@neomuberry : hello, fellow deobis! how's the first chapter? ><