"I have always been
The same story;
The same book,
You and I used
To read,
Back when we
Were 17.

You're still the
Melody, that
Keeps my heart going;
The colour that
Blooms my buds, growing.
You're the sunlight,
That keeps my night
Glowing,
Everytime, Every moment.

And we are still that
Silhouette,
Of Romeo and Juliet,
A photograph in my pocket,
I've been safeguarding;
Waiting for you,
To bring that painting."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

"You're again at it? Didn't I tell you to not mess with my paints?"

The young man brushed through the burgeoning garden of vibrant chrysanthemum and wild siberian lilies, which adorned the clear sky of the autumn like maple syrup on lucious pancakes.

His eyes fumed with aggravation as he watched the young maiden, in the middle of the bushes painting a canvas with dreamy oceanic hues of blue.

"Hush! Why are you always vexed? Can't you be nice for once? I'm painting." The maiden in her usual, crosshatched linen dress-frock, swished her paint brush on the canvas, captivating his eyes.

He was star lost, in her painting, in her beauty. She was like any other unmarried girl of the 1950s, but something different had him reserved only for herself.

Her hair was tied in a bun, caged by a crimson hair bandeau which he wanted to set free and let flow in the roaring breeze of the autumn.

Her painting portrayed the setting sun, under which, the flag of her nation, Taegeukgi, swayed with the rhythmic gale. At its foot layed the martyred soldiers.

Although they were officially an independent nation, the great war had flashed a nebulous ray of tragedy and fear in the hearts of the youth and old.

"Hmm... Done." She said. Her face had patches of the blue and black shades she used, yet her beaming smile appeared to be a lotus in a pond of mud.

"You like it?" She asked the young lad who was suddenly shaken from some alluring dream.

"Y-yeah, yeah, I do." He stumbled on his words as that annoyance on his face suddenly changed to admiration for the artistry, the hope she has and for the beauty she is.

The girl's smile grew as she heard the words he said. "You know, you'll have to join the war soon. And I want you to be that standing lieutenant."

"I hope so." He replied. The war had ordered all able bodied men of and above 18 years of age, to join the forces. He was a 25 year old lad, a few months from turning 26, the junior lieutenant.

"Don't just hope. Promise me, you'll be standing there saluting the flag." She pointed at the soldier's silhouette near the flag, among all the dead soldiers.

"And if I stand there, just how you want me, what will I get?" He raised an eyebrow, enclosing her in his caged arms, from the back.

"Aah! What you doing? You'll get paint on me." She punched his elbow.

"Mianhada..." His voice rang as a melody that keeps her from sleeping, that keeps her heart going.

"Okay," She rolled her eyes but burst into her temerarious laughter,"If you come back as the lieutenant general who won, I'll give you whatever you want."

His heart wanted to be bold and claim it's wishlist. His heart no more longed to be solivagant, and end this philius relationship. He was inebriated in her, passionate for her.

"I want to drown, deep in the trenches of passion and appreciation that your charcoal globes hold. I want you to trace me till we reach our own utopia, in the vast cosmic moana.

I want you to cherish me as much as I do and be my elucidation in the cascading veil of night." He rested his head on her shoulder.

"I want you to be my last painting. Good morning." She closed her eyes and let herself fall in his embrace.

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

"Good morning." I woke up with a scent of coffee lingering in my room. I scrunched my eyes and shielded them with my arm like an escutcheon. After a span of some heavily disconcerting moments, I opened my eyes and rubbed my face.

I was greeted by Y/n, standing next to my night stand with a tray of freshly baked bread and a cup of coffee.

"Good morning." I said as a smile crept up my lips when I saw her in a rabbit onesie, carrying her artist bag along with her.

"Antonella asked you to meet her in her room. I have work to finish, meet you later. Don't be late for classes." She smiled at me before hurrying out of the room. Something about that was so familiar yet so orphic.

I got out of my cozy duvet and dragged my feet to the bathroom. Stripped my clothes off, I let the water cleanse my mind. I had a new topic to draw today. My dreams serve as a source of inspiration to my art pieces.

The bubbly foam on my hair, melted down my back. It feels so great. I wrapped my towel around my body and quickly changed into a pair of denim jeans and green tees.

I opened the window and sat next to it, studying my portraits from yesterday, as I took sips of my coffee.

Antonella's face was the easiest for me, afterall I'm used to drawing her. On looking at the faces I drew, I noticed that Antonella's eyes were doe shaped like our mothers.

Jimin-ssi had softer monolids and Y/n had almond shaped ones. All of them had soft features.

The only thing that felt like salt in sugar in my peace, was the incomplete faces of the two kids. I couldn't remember their eye shapes.

Antonella broke my trance before I could learn their faces. I tend to forget the faces I see in my dreams and my sketch book was full of such incomplete drawings.

It bugs me whenever I'm unable to finish an art piece, not because of lack of time or supplies, but because I totally got that deleted from the storage of brain.

I took a piece of the lemon favoured bread and pondered on how the kids looked like when a tapping sound on my door alerted me of the presence of a third person.

"Come in." I spoke with bread in my mouth.

"Hey, it's me, Jimin. Antonella said that you're getting late for classes. So if you're ready, I'll drop you off." He was wearing a pale blue shirt with dark teal battalion stripes, paired with black slacks. He had a white overcoat to complement his counsellor look.

"Yeah, I'm ready. We can leave." I got up from my desk and picked up my backpack, which I had prepared the night before.

We climbed down the stairs and found Antonella arranging documents, probably presentation sheets. She spotted me and waved at me. She was busy and instead of wasting any more remaining time, I found myself sitting next to Jimin in his SUV.

He started the engine, and the tires rolled through the streets of Gangnam. It was 8:30 and all institutions start at 9:20, so the streets were pretty much empty.

"It takes 35 minutes to reach your University, if you're wondering why we left so early." Said Jimin, pulling the gear and taking the a right turn.

"Oh! And Antonella? How will she be on time?" I asked, remembering that Antonella is generally the most on time person.

"She'll drive their too but since she's in her final years, her class starts at 10:00." Jimin smiled at me and I nodded my head like a kid who just discovered the reason why the sky appears blue, aka, the Rayleigh Scattering Phenomenon.

The rest of the ride was quiet because I was too awkward to speak with a psychiatrist. He gave some strict tutor vibes and made me appear tiny next to him due to my shy and timid personality.

We had reached SNU exactly at the time he predicted, thanks to the less traffic. I picked my bag and got down the car, as if I was trying to run for my life.

"Have a nice day!" Jimin waved at me and his squinted eye smile caught my attention. I waved back at him and he drove away leaving me standing infront of the huge campus.

Seoul National University is one of the world's most recognised and highly reputable University whose acceptance test is the hardest to pass in the whole Asia.

It's like the Harvard University of Asia. And here I stand, in the Gwanak Campus on Art and Culture.

The area was itself a marvelous view, enthralling me towards its beauty. The mob of students, running to get to their classes feels so home, like those school days when mum would be running with my dad's sister, and push her to the school bus.

I let a chuckle and tried looking for my classroom. I looked around all the buildings, one for dance, one for Pansori, one for Creative Visualisation and one for some wood crafting.

I didn't know they had so many streams under arts.

I walked past the crowd of students outside the modelling school, who had gathered up for some photoshoot. Maybe this is what Antonella was working on.

I stopped near a long queue, catching up my breath. I have been exploring the campus for almost 10 minutes. Thankfully, we reached earlier than the class timings that I was able to look around.

With only 5 minutes in my hands, I ran through the crowd to reach the white building, studded with tinted glass windows and labelled as "Korean University of Arts and Crafts."

I made a quick entry and was escorted to the class by the receptionist as I was the last to enter the building.

I bowed to her and entered the class. The room had several canvases, fixed infront of a number of stools, with a mesh rack to put one's supplies. Most of the seats were already filled so I silently trotted to the farthest stool, near the window and settled my stuff on the tray beside.

There were many students, and with a higher number of females. I don't tell people, but I'm very awkward with most women. I don't have a definite reason, but I do.

The teacher hadn't entered the class yet, so I fancied my usual job, studying faces. I took out my sketch book and started sketching the faces I was able to register in my head when I felt a knock on my shoulder.

"Yes? Oh! Y/n-ssi. You needed anything?" I turned to face the person to realise it as Antonella's roommate.

"Yeah, not exactly. This seat is mine so..."

"Oh! I'll just get up. I'm so sorry. I apologise." I said, getting up from the seat.

She blocked me with her hand. "It's okay. I'll take the seat next to you." She sat on the one next to mine and took out her stuff.

I was again seated on my stool and had refocused my jar of thoughts, called the mind, on to the sketch book, forgetting the reality, I'm never abreast of.

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

Hey Rosairises
A shorter chapter than usual but I hope you like it.
I need a lot of time to completely frame this and not make it anything similar to waiting alone.

Thank you for holding onto.