Painted Love | Hwang Hyunjin

1

I couldn't walk anymore in these ridiculous shoes, so I sat down on one of the benches in the room, sighing in relief. Today was the first day of an exhibition where a few of my paintings were displayed. I was practically forced to dress way out of my comfort zone and hang around the whole evening in a too-short black dress and silver heels. I looked at the wall opposite me, where one of my paintings hung. It wasn't something special, but the gallery manager loved it so much that he insisted it be included. It was a painting of some white flowers on a red background, and apparently, the brush strokes were incredible, even though I hadn't thought much about them while painting. I always just painted without considering the meaning, so I hated events like this where old people stared at my paintings and debated the significance of my choices.

Someone sat down beside me.

"That's a beautiful painting," he said. I turned to see a boy I recognized; he often attended these exhibitions but had never spoken to me before.

"You think so?" I asked, looking up at him. I had seen him around so often and was always mesmerized by his beauty. He smiled shyly.

"Yes. I really like it. I was thinking about buying it," he said. I smiled a little. I had already sold three other pictures today, and that would be the last one for the evening. He looked around.

"Maybe I should talk to the artist first. You don't happen to know which one of them did this, do you?" he asked. I smiled brighter.

"Actually, that's my painting," I answered. His eyes widened.

"Wow! I didn't know. I always saw you around but didn't realize you were one of the artists!"

"Why? Don't I give off artist energy?" I asked, amused.

"You do, but usually the artists here aren't so young and certainly not so beautiful," he said. I blushed slightly, causing him to smirk.

"Stop it!" I laughed, waving my hand at him. He laughed as well.

"Are you okay with me buying this from you?" he asked, slightly tilting his head.

"I sold it to the gallery; you'll have to talk to them," I said, "But I think I can talk them into giving you a discount."

"Oh, I don't want a discount. I'll pay as much as it's worth," he said, standing up. I giggled slightly.

"Still, let me talk to them. Maybe they can ship it out for free," I answered, gladly taking the hand he held out to me. He pulled me to my feet and looked down at my shoes.

"You girls are crazy. Aren't your feet hurting?" he asked, not taking his eyes off my shoes, which were way too high. Still, I was shorter than him.

"Oh, my feet are killing me, but I have another hour to walk around and talk to people," I said, smiling sheepishly. He held out his arm for me to hold onto while walking.

"Maybe I could help you out just a little," he suggested. I smiled and hooked my arm under his, gripping his biceps slightly for support.

"Thank you," I mumbled, feeling myself blush again as we made our way to the gallery manager.

"I'm Hyunjin, by the way," he finally said.

I smiled up at him as we walked slowly.

"Mui," was all I could say, because our eyes met and I got even more nervous than before.

***

"How will you get home?" Hyunjin asked. I looked at him as I lifted my left foot first to strip off my shoe, repeating the process with the right one.

"Walking... It's not far," I answered. Hyunjin had stayed until the end, talking to me the whole time. But for a change, he asked me about myself. Usually, people at these events just talked about the art or themselves, but Hyunjin was focused on me, asking not only about my art but also about how I got into painting and what else I did besides painting. I also learned a lot about him because I asked and really wanted to know. He told me he was in a band called Stray Kids, which I actually knew a few songs of, and that he loved to paint as well.

"Barefoot? Are you crazy?" he asked, shocked.

"I do that often! My purse just isn't big enough for a spare pair of shoes," I said and laughed. Hyunjin furrowed his brows.

"No. We're not doing this," he said, taking off his shoes.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused, as he pushed the shoes towards me.

"You wear my shoes. I'll walk you home," he answered.

"And what about you?" I asked, shocked.

"I at least have socks! Just wear them, please," he said. Realizing he was serious, I slid my feet into his shoes, which were way too big for me. Arguing wasn't going to lead anywhere; I had learned he was very stubborn in the last hour we talked. Hyunjin kneeled down and tied the laces a bit tighter.

"That should work," he said, standing back up and taking my heels from me.

"You're unbelievable," I laughed, taking his free hand.

"I'm trying my hardest to be a gentleman!" he laughed.

I rolled my eyes.

"You're such a flirt!" I complained, grinning. It wasn't a long walk to my apartment building, and soon we were standing in front of the door.

"Thanks for lending me your shoes," I said, slipping them off. They were so big that not even the shoelaces held them in place.

"No problem," Hyunjin said, putting them back on after handing me my shoes.

"I really liked tonight," I finally said, finding some courage. Hyunjin smiled shyly.

"I enjoyed it too. Maybe we could meet again sometime?" he asked, his ears turning red.

"I think I like that idea," I said, smiling back at him, feeling myself blush again. He ran his hands through his long black hair, pushing it out of his face.

"Maybe you could give me your phone number? I could text you," he asked, looking shyly down at his feet. I smiled a little brighter.

"Yes," I said, taking his phone and typing in my number. "See you?" I said, unlocking the door.

He nodded. "I'll text you," he promised, and I went inside. I quickly changed and got ready for bed when my phone vibrated.

"This is Hyunjin," an unknown number wrote. I had just saved his number when a second message came in. "You looked very pretty tonight."