ELYSIAN || enhypen.

Chapter 3

TUESDAY, 13 January

Nishimura Riki wasn't the brightest of students. But he was offered a scholarship years ago, by the previous headmaster, for his exceptionally beautiful painting skills. Watercolors, oil paintings, charcoal sketches: Riki made masterpieces, every single one of his works were unbelievable. Too exquisite to be made by the mere hands of a human.

He was a thoroughly admired person too. For his art, and for being art himself. Sometimes, Riki would allow himself to feed off of flattery when girls sang his praises, but he knew that they were just admirers. They come and they go. For that, he's never been in a relationship.

Riki found it hard to grasp the existence of love. He'd never seen it in his life. His childhood crushes never worked out, up until even now. Riki was used to pining over those he could not claim, but when feelings were reciprocated, he found it too hard to act on them. So, he vowed to live a lonely life. Peaceful and quiet. Drowned in colors and paints of his own choosing.

But before that, he saw the turmoil of his parent's crashing relationship. Not long after Riki was born, his parents separated, going about their own paths in life. Riki watched, years after years, his mother rinse and recycle boyfriends whom she was far too good for. Riki hated every single one of his mother's partners after his dad: they all stole his mother's attention from him.

Riki stared at his most recent art piece. A blank canvas. It was going to be one of his most thought out and intricate works. And it was going to be very hard to complete. Riki laid out a plan that he had been working on for months. He was going to create a hybrid painting. A mixture of all his favorite styles.

Romanticism, emotional and individualistic. Gothic, ornate and symbolic. Social realism, political and realistic. Neo-expressionism, raw and visceral. Rococo, extravagant and delicate.

With those, Riki had an impossible feat ahead of him.

"Why the fuck am I doing this again?" Riki groaned, letting his forehead meet the rough texture of the canvas.

A gentle patter of footsteps made Riki look up again. Someone else had joined him in the studio. He thought he'd reserved it for the first 3 hours of the afternoon. His eyes went to the big double doors.

A girl around his age, maybe a bit older, looked into the hollow room with a dazed expression. She must've not realised there was another presence in there with her. Riki noticed, and cleared his throat. He spun his chair around, so that he was fully facing the girl.

Riki got a proper view of her when her head turned around to the direction of his voice. A strip of light slithered its way to freedom through a nearby window, illuminating the right side of her face. Embers sparked from her eye, a rich hue of hazel and orange. Her dark skin was the color of autumn wheat stained oak-wood, and her undertones gushed like rich honey. Her hairs were clusters winding around themselves, descending down the girl's shoulders in thick, glossy and loose ringlets of raven black. Her lips were tightly drawn together, the smallest of frowns evident in her heart-shaped face.

"How can I help you?" Riki asked.

The girl exhaled sharply. "Do you perhaps know of a Nishimura Riki?"

"I am him."

The girl's eyes widened. She'd been caught by surprise. But a silken smile appeared on her face quickly. Complementary dimples appeared on each corner of her lips. She approached him, holding out her tanned hand. "Seraphina Huxley. Nice to meet you."

Riki shook her hands, nodding. But he was still confused as to who she was and what she wanted to do with him. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that name."