Paint Me A Rainbow (JJ Project)

Orange

Jinyoung had always lived his live in grayscale. There were literally no colors in his life. He could never understand how people could feel anything from colors, like how pink was sweet, blue was calming, yellow was joyful. Because he could never see it. Because all he could see was black, white, and every shades of gray between them just like watching television in early 19th century.

While every other kids was afraid of the dark, light scared kid Jinyoung so much because it hurt him. Under the daylight, he couldn’t even see anything. He always confined himself inside his room, thick curtain closed with only the company of the dim light that illuminated the space. He was a loner, decided to isolate himself from the annoyingly childish classmates who always questioned him for wearing sunglasses everywhere, even inside the class, and mocked him for saying apple was black. His world only consisted of the stories written in the form of blank ink on white pages, constructing a concrete wall around himself until Jackson and Wonpil built a door after the became classmates at highschool and brought others in, all of them fitting themselves in the small space. Still, he kept it dark, because he still hated the sun and colors as much as he yearned for it.

People said colors were beautiful. He knew the colors of common objects, he knew now that apple was red, the sky was blue, his little cactus was green, all those things. He could even recognize some colors based on the depth of their shade in his eyes. However, he wanted to know why people thought they were beautiful, he wanted to feel it. So he tried to learn. Everytime he found any colors described in the books he tried to imagine it, but he just didn’t get it. He couldn’t feel it. At one point he just gave up, and resigned himself in his boring monochrome world. And that was why he laughed when Jaebum asking him permission to let the only thing he could never get acquainted with out of him.

“You really have a way with your words. You must be popular with girls, I can understand them. Even I feel my heart flutter a little bit. You can just ask without trying to flatter me if you need anything, okay? What do you want me to do? Wash the dishes?”

A grin slowly broke on Jaebum’s face as he pushed his dirty dishes to Jinyoung, “Who am I to refuse if you insist?”

“Just as I thought, you’re so easy to see. Alright, I’ll do it,” Jinyoung grumbled playfully, gathering all the dirty dishes and brought it to the sink. He tried to ignore the slight disappointment gnawing his heart.

Well, maybe in one remote room at the corner of his heart, the hope for someday understanding the colors was still lit, though dim.

--

Jinyoung walked through the corridor, eyes fixed to the floor beside the quick glances he took from every doors he passed by. He felt out of place, wandering around in the department he didn’t belong to. He felt sticking out like a sore thumb, looking way too nervous and fidgety. If not for Jaebum, he would never step a foot into this place. What business would a literature student like him have at the art department?

But it wasn’t the time to think about that, he needed to find Jaebum as soon as possible. He cursed under his breath. Where the heck was the studio Jaebum was in? Why were there so many room here? Only after fifteen minutes that was felt like an hour did he let a breath of relief, finding the room Mark, who turned out to be in the same department as Jaebum, mentioned when he asked where his roommate possibly be. He quickly went in. However, when he took a step inside, he couldn’t move an inch from where he was standing, forgetting the reason why he needed he was here.

There were a few people other than Jaebum, each sitting in front of their own easel, just like him. Yet without having to look around, Jinyoung’s eyes fell by themself on Jaebum’s figure beside the window, like being drawn by a magnet. The sunshine should’ve made it hard to recognize his face, yet he still knew it was him. Maybe it was because the light wasn’t too strong since the window didn’t face the sun, but he could see his face, gleaming from the daylight that fell on it. However, what took his breath away was his gaze, and the aura surrounding him.