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; kim jieun's pov
i sighed for the umpteenth time that day, as i put down the painting of the stars and sky.
a knock was heard on my door, i turn to see siwon leaning on the doorway, arms crossed, clearly not pleased with what i am doing.
"so, my mother called you?" i guessed.
"well obviously she had to, you have not attended your lectures for the past three days. you can't just avoid him forever." he cut straight to the point.
tears were already forming. "it is just that, it pains me to see someone who just left us without warning living their life so happily without knowing the damage they had caused us."
siwon snatched away the painting that i was holding, this time of the moon. "why do you even keep memories that make you very miserable jieun?"
he sat on my bed, placing the painting just beside him as he admires it. he chuckled, "you know it was weird how he'd paint you literally the whole solar system when he actually wanted to be just a dancer?" i agreed, accompanying siwon as i sat beside him.
"well, i remember when i found his talent of painting and i just urged him to paint me a masterpiece then he gave me this." i handed him this one of the beautiful stars.
the reason why hyukjae painted all these was because i had a dream when i was in high school. in the first year, i randomly got this motivation to be a astronaut and visit the moon someday. it was when i had a lot of interest in it.
i told hyukjae without much care, but he actually gifted me a painting, 4 days after. hard work was shown on his body as he had dark eye circles that made him look like a spirit.
siwon looked at his watch. "its 7.25am, there is still time before your first lecture. do you wanna go?" i nodded, which made siwon breath freely.
he went out of my room and i changed to clothes that would not make me look so depressed and tired. i put on a bright red oversized shirt, paired it with white shorts and made my way out.
when we reached, "hey siwon!" a guy approached us, making me feel overwhelmed.
siwon introduced me to choi minho, whom he recently met in one of his lectures. as they both chatted, i laughed as they both resembled each other's increasing passion. we parted ways as they had to discuss on a project.
i make my way to the lecture theater. on the way, i stumbled upon the art room.
i felt very nostalgic of my high school's art room, so i went in as it seemed vacant.
to my surprise, it wasn't as someone was painting. i could recognise who it was, just from his back view.
"hyukjae?" he turned back in surprise, making him drop his paintbrush onto his shirt.
"yikes, i'm sorry!" i went to the sink, wet some tissues and handed it over to him. coincidentally, as he was taking it his fingers brushed mine gently which made my heart skipped a beat. i coughed, trying to make myself calm down.
i sneaked over his shoulder, which reveals a drawing of the wide blue sky. a smile naturally crept on my face, as it showcased his talents of painting.
i began walking towards the painting, "are you even allowed to use this art room though?"
"well, this is actually an abandoned art room, they have a newly rennovated one at the next block. so i decided to use this." i nodded.
i started to feel playful. "aren't you scared of ghosts?" i spoke slowly, "what if-" i got cut off as the slam of the window could be heard.
i immediately jumped onto hyukjae's arms, feeling terrified. i finally realised what the heck i was doing. "it was just the wind jieun." i could hear him almost bursting out into laughter.
i gulped, i wanted to repel away from him, till he stopped me. he stopped me with his arms that wrapped around my body. "stay like this, for a while. please."
i gave in. "do you remember when you used to paint for me hyukjae?"
"of course i do."
"what happened to your dream of being a dancer? you said you'd definitely want me and siwon to attend your first ever performance."
he sighed, let go of me, "i dropped the dream."
"why?"
"that would never happen anyways, my father would never accept it. he'd just want me to take over his company."
that was what triggered me. lee hyukjae really changed. last time, he'd never ever want to give up on his dream of dancing, and never even wanted to speak of his own father. he just wasn't the old hyukjae i was used to.
it was as though he was a different person.
"why did you leave us?"
his eyes widened at my straight forwardness. i broke down into tears, quickly wiping them but more still came out.
"jieun, please."
he wanted to embrace me, thinking it'd help me calm down. but lets be honest, it'd just make me more angry and sad.
"its okay, i do not deserve to know why anyways. maybe it was because of me. because i was the worst friend ever."
i sniffed, grabbed my bag and left the art room. outside, siwon was just there gazing onto me as soon as i went out.
"y-you still have not went to your lecture?" my voice cracked.
"kim jieun. come here." yet again, he engulfed me into a warm hug with his broad shoulders that really makes me safe.
