art exhibit//taekook

1

Students with prominent eye bags slowly flowed into the cafe carrying paint brushes, sketchbooks and laptops. I envied those with artistic talent, they had something worthy to do in their spare time, where as I just managed to find more reasons why I was wasting my time.

My tired eyes followed random strangers walking left and right across the window. I sighed as I looked down at the melting ice cubes in my empty glass which was originally full to the brim with iced coffee.

Today felt like it was going slowly already, even though it was only around 11am. I planned on going to see some of the exhibitions which were open at the art university across the street but I couldn't bring myself to enter yet. I felt so out of place; I didn't even have a passion for art. Yet, Namjoon had somehow persuaded me that students made pieces a hundred times more interesting than in those stupid modern art galleries. 

I finally mustered enough energy to slide off the stool as the caffeine kicked in. As soon as I payed, my feet led me out of the cafe. I couldn't handle looking at all those people perfectly content with their friends or quietly researching something in the corner.

I reached the counter inside the university.
"Uh, excuse me? Do I have to pay to look at the exhibitions?"
"No, they're all free." The girl behind the counter smiled blandly before returning to look at her computer screen as I walked away, digging my hands into my jean pockets. I followed the signs to look at some of the photography, the other sections not interesting me as much.

As I walked down the room, I realized how easily you could tell when it switched to a different student. Everyone had something in their photography that made them unique.

I stopped at a section which seemed to have a type of mood that I liked. All the pictures had something so human about them. Whether it was a photo captured when the model wasn't paying attention, or pictures of every day things made to look beautiful. But they all had little or no saturation on them, accentuating the difference in dark and light.

I sat down on one of the seats in the middle of the room, focusing on one of the pictures. They had taken a photo of themselves in the mirror, but their face... it seemed to express some sort of emotion. I don't know. I was surprised to see it was a boy. An older boy maybe, with messy hair. He seemed sophisticated. I stared at that for a long time.

He's good looking and talented. I hate him already. Time to search him on Instagram.

I didn't lie... I looked at the social media under his section and immediately scrolled through his page. His feed was mostly photography, but there was also pictures of him leading his normal day life, like a normal page.

I didn't follow him. I'd rather enjoy it in the moment and forget about it later when I left the exhibitions. It feels more special if you have to actually go somewhere to see something, right?  And who wants to be spammed with edgy photos on their Instagram anyway?

I realised I had furrowed my brows while thinking so I relaxed my face and took a deep breath in. Slowly, I stood up and walked away from that section, scanning past the other displays. As I reached the end I almost sighed in relief because it meant I got to walk back past that bit again. I was going crazy.

As I slowed down to take a last look at the pictures, I noticed someone looking at them close up with a camera around their neck. Could it be? Well... who cares anyway... 
I walked away, forcing my eyes away from the boy with messy hair and sophisticated clothes.