The Beauty, The Beast, and The Angel

VI

Word count: 1,500 words

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Chapter 6

The next week was used up going on various outings with Jiwon, and they were quite enjoyable from an unbiased perspective. We went on a romantic boat ride, we caught rabbits for sport, and I got to meet some of her friends.

She wasn't as fake as some of the women I'd met, but she did keep up a sort of facade in front of me. She always tried to seem happy with me, even if her smile was strained at times, and she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, even if she preferred to have others do the work for her.

I admitted that she was a respectable young lady, but we simply didn't fit. I wouldn't be happy with her, she was too dull, though she flirted with me at times. I was at fault as well, some days I didn't even try to talk with her, and I ignored her. She was someone I wouldn't despise being around, but I wouldn't marry her by choice.

It was currently seven in the morning, and I was getting dressed for breakfast. Yesterday was tiring, as I'd caught a cold, but Jiwon insisted on going out. I was feeling a bit better today, my throat only felt a bit sore.

I decided to stop by Yuki's room, just to see what he was doing currently. I knocked, and the door was quickly opened, to see a large piece of paper pinned up on the wall with a painting of flowers on it.

Large pink roses and orange poppies filled the paper, with small yellow and white flowers in the background. The colours were bright and vibrant, almost popping off of the page, with the paint laid on thickly. There were few fine lines, only shading that showed where the light fell, and the shape of the flower.

I reached to touch the flowers, but my hand was smacked away by the young man, who quickly reprimanded me, pointing to the glistening paint.

"It's still wet, don't touch."

"What's it for?" I mumbled, as he led me to the blank space above the wall.

"I want to paint it here, so the paper is the prototype, so I can figure out what flowers I want and what colours to use, then I'll paint something similar."

I nodded, still a bit confused as to why he would paint something so beautiful just to scrap it after he'd painted the wall.

I peered at the paints, examining the pigments sitting in small jars, the color staining the glass. Everything was organized by colour, except for the pieces of charcoal in disarray, strewn across the floor, staining it black.

"Would you like me to show you how to draw?" He asked carefully, removing the painted paper from the wall, then placing it on the ground, before pinning a new sheet to the wall, "breakfast starts nine, so we'll have three hours."

He passed me some charcoal with a tapered end, and instructed me to lightly shade the entire piece of paper.

"This is so you can shade more to make it darker, or erase to make it lighter. . ."

He showed me how to depict light falling on a figure, how you didn't need to draw the entire outline of an object, and the basic proportions of the face. I wanted to add colour when I was finished, but he assured me that it looked fine with just black. I'd drawn one of the servants around the palace, a woman with short hair who watered the plants once every week.

"You drew Lily?" Yuki asked, puzzled, as I told him that I'd seen someone watering the plants.

"She helps water whenever I forget to, she's a really nice girl," Yuki said fondly, as I felt slightly nauseous for a moment, but it disappeared.