he paints with lies ❆ kookmin

7 • 일곱

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❁ཻུ۪۪⸙͎.'◦• ⊱›────── January 19th 2020

jimin

I was lucky to find Gyo at the door as I arrived, since he immediately let me in after I told him I was there to see Jungkook. He let me wait in the hallway, since he had to keep working.

As I had shrugged off my coat, I took a few curious steps to look around. The painting at the end of the hall stole my attention immediatley, just like it had the last time I saw it. I moved towards it, only to notice that it now looked flawless even up close. There were no longer anything disturbing the balance of the colors or the directions of the strokes. It was utterly and completely flawless. This was the original.

I stood there, immobile, simply gazing at the painting, loosing sense of time. My mind desperately tried to grasp the reason for everything that had happened since I stepped foot in the masquerade hall; the painting in front of me had changed or was one of two resembling pieces, Seokjin's painting had similar traits like the Jeons', Jungkook knew of this as well but had decided not to tell his parents.

I had so many clues already, but I could not seem to link any of them; there had to be a correlation, but I saw none. It was as if I frantically moved the matchstick over the surface of the matchbox to create friction, never seeing a spark. But, as soon as he opened the door, gasping silently, everything caught fire.

My lips curved at the edges before I looked over my shoulder, meeting his eyes. We were both aware of what had happened. In that moment I felt as if I could see right through him, finally, even though I still had made no sense of his motives for what he had done. But, perhaps I could get it out of him.

"I hadn't thought you'd do something so risky as touch Jin's painting, but I'm guessing you didn't know he was going to sell it?" I broke the silence, and Jungkook seemed to relax slightly. Perhaps he had imagined I would run to my father without talking to him, and now he was relieved I did not?

Honestly, I do not know what to do about the case. I need to know why he did this, before I decide. His true colours could not be as dark as they currently seemed, or I was not as good at reading body language as I had thought.

"I didn't. I didn't know; he just happened to be selling it that day," he heaved a sigh and closed the door. "I only knew that he was placing it in the gallery, and that people would see it. It's quite a famous painting, which is why I chose it."

Jungkook walked through the hallway with his hands in his front pockets. He was wearing a seemingly expensive suit, though his suit jacket was draped over his arm. His hair was styled perfectly, his stride calm and composed. He looked like he owned his own empire; something he soon actually would. The image did not fit at all. Why would he need to forge paintings? Why his parents'?

He stopped beside me, where I had followed him with my gaze. It fluttered in my chest at the sight of him, and I wondered if I was going crazy. I took a rigid breath, blinking once.

"Did you know that I can more or less read a person by watching them move? That I can understand them and their motives, over a simple discussion about the weather?" I asked as we explored each other's eyes. His expression was soft, alike mine.

"I could've guessed," he answered, as I had expected. It was his trademark after all; understanding me, because I let down my guard around him involuntarily.

"But you were a real trouble from the start, Jeon Jungkook. You are the first and only real mystery of mine." It came out more like a whisper.

"Yet no one ever understood me the way you do," he said with such a small smile, that so quickly faltered, that I wondered if I had only imagined it. "You didn't ask me why I committed forgery. Do you already know?"