Chapter Text
Surrender is just a word
Until you try it out
And see how hard it is to hurt
With someone else around
He says I love you and it completely blindsides her.
Dan-ah had no idea what to expect from Yeong-hwa’s painting. She saw and approved the initial sketch, of course, and Yeong-hwa sent her photo updates throughout the coloring process, but she had been around enough artists to know that the initial sketches and ideas rarely end up being the finished product. There was also a part of her that expected a blank canvas, for this entire thing to be another prank painting revelation. Although she was certain he had learned his lesson about deceiving her, Dan-ah would never put it past him.
She knew one thing for sure. She wasn’t expecting this: a vivid, spectacular, and breathtaking painting, depicting a frank, blatant, and unconcealed love confession.
When she realized she had been silently staring at the painting the entire time, she cleared her throat and hoped that her voice wouldn’t betray the multitude of emotions running through her veins. “It’s very… noisy.”
“You hear noises?” he asks, and if she wasn’t completely flustered over his painting, she would’ve rolled her eyes. Fondly, of course. There was something about him that had her doing things in a fond manner, and she wasn’t completely sure what to feel about it. “Has technology advanced that much?”
“You’re still too young to hide it,” she explains. “Students tend to vividly reflect their feelings or disposition in their drawings.”
“You must have met many students then.” He smirks and looks away just in time to avoid the exasperated scowl she sends in his direction.
“It’s just a theory,” she retorts, but even his cheekiness wasn’t enough to quench the curiosity building up inside her. “This is just screaming ‘I love you.’”
It wasn’t exactly a question, because even a random passerby can take a glance at his painting and be able to tell that Yeong-hwa had poured his heart out into every brush stroke until the colors were screaming the message he was trying to convey. And so even when it shouldn’t have, his words take the breath right out of her lungs.
“I love you, Ms. Seo,” Yeong-hwa says.
It takes everything in her to not react, to show him that his words meant nothing to her, but he was right when he said it was impossible to control what the heart wanted, because she couldn’t help the way her heart is beating wildly against her chest.
Slowly, she looks up to meet his gaze. His eyes, the same ones that could somehow see through the walls she put up around herself and the same ones that are slowly convincing her to let her guard down even for a little bit, were intensely gleaming like his painting.
Yeong-hwa smiles at her, and although it melts her heart, she panics.
Was he expecting her to say it back? Was he expecting this to become like those romantic movie scenes with the characters gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes and confess their undying love for each other? Why was he still smiling at her? He should stop before she makes another mistake and sends him into tears again, even though his intense gaze is telling her he wouldn’t completely oppose to her making a mistake this time. Just… what the hell is happening?
Thankfully, before she can formulate a response or even attempt to get her thoughts in order, he speaks again. “You’re right. That’s what I felt while working on this piece.”
Dan-ah chuckles, lightly biting the inside of her cheek, and decides to change the topic before her mind explodes. “’Piece’? Don’t artists usually say ‘work’?” It’s not her most impressive maneuver technique, but it does the trick, much to her relief.
“I want to call this one a piece. But then again, it should only be called so after I die. Until then, this is just a work of mine,” he responds, moving to stand beside her.
Yeong-hwa has a satisfied look on his face while studying his own work, and it has Dan-ah feeling a sense of pride towards him as well. If he were this good at his young age, she knows his talent and skill would be much more refined in the future.
There’s a lot of potential stored within him, and it makes her proud. She finds herself wanting to witness his growth not just as a person, but as an artist, and she ignores the voice in her head telling her it was never going to happen. Maybe, just this once, time would be on her side.
“I’d love to see your piece,” Dan-ah says in a soft voice.
It’s not ‘I love you,’ because the thought of completely giving him her heart when there are still too many variables out of her control terrifies her, but it’s her way of saying that if she were given the chance, she would spend a thousand lifetimes with him.