꒰ SENSES ✔️ ꒱ - CHANGKI ˎˊ˗

1. sight

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

~~~

EDITED - 23 APR 2020

~~~

The park was filled with the sound of kids' laughter that Changkyun was trying to ignore. He was too busy sitting by the river and trying to focus on drawing what was on the other side of it. He usually went out to draw with his best friend, but this time she wasn't available, so he had to go by himself, because he was too bored at home.

He had forgotten his headphones and he had to deal with people all alone, which was a complete nightmare. Sometimes someone would stop behind him and watch him draw, making Changkyun really nervous, but other times people were actually starting conversations with him and he had to be as polite as possible even if he had to answer the same questions over and over again (sometimes to the same person).

Once again Changkyun heard someone stopping behind him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was just hoping he didn't have to answer any questions this time. The previous person that had talked to him didn't stop asking questions for around 30 minutes, so he felt exhausted.

If no one talked to him, he would just pretend they're not there and draw as if there's no tension weighing on his shoulders.

"Isn't this a bit lower?" The other bent down, pointing at one of the houses Changkyun had drawn. At first the only thing he saw was a boy's face that was too close to his own, but then the stranger moved and let him see it himself.

"What?" Changkyun looked at the houses, squinting a bit, then he compared them to his drawing. "You're right... Thanks," he mumbled while trying to fix it nervously.

"You're welcome."

The other male decided to sit next to him and continued watching. If Changkyun had to be honest he felt kind of annoyed because the other didn't even ask if he could sit there, he just did. He glanced over at him with the corner of his eye. The first thought that passed his mind was that the stranger was quite attractive, but under his hat he could see strands of pink hair and Changkyun found it kind of weird since he was a boy. If he tried ignoring the pink, the stranger looked really decent.

"I'm not bothering you, right?" The stranger made sure to ask.

From what Changkyun saw (or heard) so far, he understood that the other was genuinely polite and he just didn't have the heart to tell him that he was, in fact, slightly bothered by his presence. "You can stay as long as you want to," Changkyun responded with a half-assed smile.

"I'm Kihyun, by the way," the stranger introduced himself, obviously trying his best to start a conversation of any kind.

"Changkyun," the ashy blond haired male mumbled, looking at the other again. "Are you also an artist?"

Kihyun hummed, tilting his head to the side, almost as if he didn't know the correct answer to the question. "I was before but I gave up because I realized it wasn't my thing."

Without saying anything, Changkyun put his masonite board on Kihyun's lap. He took a blank paperboard and a pencil, handing them to the other. After that he used his own folder as a board and continued drawing quietly.

At first Kihyun felt quite unsure and even a bit confused, but eventually he started drawing, too.

--

"Are there always this many people just walking to you and asking the same questions over and over again?" Kihyun whispered after a person like that had just walked away.

"You don't even know how often," Changkyun rolled his eyes, expressing how annoyed he felt by that. "But there's no way to be all alone without anyone bothering you, so you just put up with it."

"It's really annoying," Kihyun pouted, looking over at Changkyun's drawing. He impulsively stretched his arm and drew a sun with a smiley face on the other's paper.

"Why?" Changkyun raised an eyebrow.

"It's better that way," Kihyun smiled warmly.

Changkyun glanced at Kihyun's drawing, suddenly feeling his jaw drop. "Are you really sure that art isn't your thing, because I definitely am not."

"I'm sure."

Kihyun continued drawing, feeling embarrassed because of Changkyun's reaction. He was well aware that his drawing wasn't anything that special, but the other couldn't stop praising him for his talent.

For a while Changkyun was pretending that he was looking at Kihyun's drawing, but he was actually looking at Kihyun. When the other glanced at him, Changkyun was quick to fix his gaze on the drawing, not getting caught.

At some point the other took his hat off to fix his hair and put it back on. His hair was indeed pink - a really bright shade on top of that. But Changkyun was already thinking about how it suited him.

As if he was slowly starting to realize how a boy's hair being pink didn't matter at all as long as he looked good or at least felt good about himself in that color. And Kihyun looked absolutely stunning.

Changkyun shook his head, waving off his thoughts, and continued drawing as if he hadn't been staring at the other for almost twenty minutes.

Neither of them realized for how long they had been drawing until Kihyun noticed that the sun was setting, causing the buildings to reflect the sun's vibrant orange lightning.

The pink haired boy carefully returned the masonite board to Changkyun, hinting that not only he himself, but the other had to go home, too.

Changkyun put all of the supplies in his folder and got up, stretching. Kihyun frowned a bit as he heard the sounds the boy's bones made because of the long amount of time he hadn't gotten up, but then his own bones made the exactly same popping sounds just from getting up.

They started heading in the same direction until their ways had to part.

And if Changkyun had to be completely honest, he wanted to suggest walking Kihyun home just so he was with him longer.

But he found that thought of his quite weird and it just wasn't right, so he didn't say anything.

"Will I see you again?" Kihyun asked with a little bit of hope in his voice.

"I will be around the same place tomorrow," Changkyun smiled. "If you're not busy you can join me, perhaps?"

"I'm not sure about tomorrow..."

Suddenly Changkyun took out a piece of paperboard that he ripped out and a pencil from his folder and wrote his phone number. He handed the paper to Kihyun afterwards. "Give me a call whenever you're free."

A wide smile curved on Kihyun's lips as he nodded excitedly and put the paper in his pocket.

The two boys bid their goodbyes and headed back to their homes.