off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ fifteen

Lost in his thoughts, stuck on his last conversation with Haewon, Hao had nearly missed the sharp knock on the door of the Zhang mansion. He quickly walked towards the entrance hall, fairly sure he wasn’t waiting on any guest. Much to his surprise, when he opened the door, he came face to face with Hanbin. Hao felt his stress levels rise, hoping he hadn’t made a blunder yet again.

"Oh, hey, um, were we supposed to hang out?" he hesitantly spoke up, guilty he kept on forgetting everything that didn’t have to do with the girl he loved.

Surprisingly, Hanbin shook his head. "I'm actually here to see Yanmei."

Hao's jaw dropped, as he tried to look for any hint that he was joking. There was none. "Uh— You're...What?"

"I'm actually modeling for her," he explained as he walked inside the house, making himself comfortable. He'd been here a thousand times after all. "She asked me to help her with one of her assignments."

No words came out of Hao's mouth as he slowly shut the door. Yanmei was always doing those things behind his back, wasn’t she? Surely she could've found anyone else to model for her, but no, it had to be Hanbin. Even after he'd given her a warning not to mess with him, she'd invited him to model for her. Frustration was gnawing at his stomach, but Hao stayed impassible. He would have a talk with her later.

Unlike when he was usually in Hanbin's company, Hao stayed silent, as he led him to Yanmei's art studio. It had been a while since he'd even gone near there. Long gone were the times when she would ask to draw him. The art studio was a very small room, much smaller than the music room, stuffed at the end of a corridor. It used to be nothing but a storeroom, but Yanmei had immediately noticed how much light it received during the day.

He pushed the door open, once again without knocking. He knew it annoyed her. That's really why he did it.

Hearing the two men enter the room, Yanmei turned away from her desk. Her eyes immediately connected with her brother's, and at the sight of his disapproving frown, she responded with a smirk.

"Welcome to my studio, Hanbin. You can sit here," she said, as she pointed to a stool she'd placed in the middle of the room.

Hanbin obliged and sat down. His eyes drifted between the twins, feeling the tension in the air, so thick he could cut it with a knife. Hao was the first to relent, as he whispered a quick goodbye before leaving the room, shutting the door a bit too loud behind him. Yanmei heaved a long sigh as she moved back to her desk. Her eyes darted to Hanbin, who had his lips shyly pinched together as he observed the studio.

"Wow, there's a lot of good light in here."

Yanmei nodded fervently, plopping down on her chair. "Right. I had to beg my parents to get this room for myself. It's small, but it's exactly what I need." She then grabbed her sketchbook, and opened it to a blank page. "Can you take your jacket off?"

Hanbin blinked slowly, before realizing he was still wearing it. "Ah, yes, sorry, I forgot to put it away." He quickly removed it, laying it on a nearby rack.

Amused by his awkward behavior, Yanmei couldn’t help but chuckle. "No need to be so worried. This is the only article of clothing I'll ask you to take off."

In response, Hanbin simply chuckled nervously, not sure what to reply. This was very much a first for him. Irang had drawn him from time to time, but it wasn’t nearly as serious as this was. Sitting there in front of her, just the two of them in this small room, Hanbin felt small. And the way her eyes were carefully examining his face wasn’t helping either. Feeling stress numb his fingers, he pulled at his collar.

"So, I told you the assignment was about greek deities. I thought about it for a while...Portraying you as one of those super handsome greek gods felt a bit too boring to me."