The next morning, Hye Mi woke up extra early to get ready. It was going to be a great day today, and she knew it. After wearing on her favourite pink dress, she brushed her long silky hair and grabbed her backpack before ticking off her calendar and walking out the door.

After a 2 month break, today was the day that her art class was finally starting again. Painting was Hye Mi’s escape from the reality world. It allowed her to go wherever she wanted and it was a way for her to get her mind clear.

Hye Mi took the bus to her school, she counted 5 stops before hopping off in front of a small building. “I missed this place,” she smiled as she walked in.

As soon as Hye Mi stepped into her classroom, she heard the laughing and chatting voices of her classmates as they stood in groups and talked to their teacher. One student noticed her and waved, “Its Hye Mi!”

“Hello!” Hye Mi waved and ran over enthusiastically.

“Are you guys ready for a new semester?” Their second art teacher, Mrs Eunjoo, asked with a warm smile.

“Deh!” The students responded in giggles.

Around 15 minutes later, class started and everyone went to their bench. Hye Mi set up her easel and canvas as they waited for their teacher to arrive. Her attention turned to the empty bench next to her. Is someone late today? Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway and Hye Mi watched as her main art teacher walked in.

“Good morning students, I hope you enjoyed your holidays,” Miss Kim smiled as she put down her art box. “This semester, we have a new student joining us. He is a doctor at Seoul Hospital. Come in, Wu Fan.”

Hye Mi blinked when she heard ‘Seoul Hospital’. It can’t be him, right? A few seconds later the door opened again and in stepped a tall figure. Hye Mi gasped and covered as she watched him walk to the front of the class where Miss Kim was standing.

“Hello,” Kris said as he stared at all the other students in his class, “My name is Wu Yi Fan, but you can call me Kris.”

“Welcome to Rainbow’s Art Studio~” The students chorused and clapped.

“Alright, Kris. You can work on that bench there next to Hye Mi,” Miss Kim told him as she pulled out a folder from her bag.

Kris looked at where Miss Kim nodded and found a familiar face blinking at him. His eyes widened when he realised it was the very girl he saw last night. Slowly, he walked up to her and settled down on his new bench.

“Doctor Wu?” Hye Mi squeaked.

Kris stared at her, “Yes?” He couldn’t believe how many times he had bumped into her.

“You’re the new student?!” She asked with round eyes. Kris nodded and she tilted her head, “But you don’t seem interested in art…”

Kris sighed and stared at the empty canvas in front of him, his fingers brushed pass the soft yet strong material. It was true that Kris was never interested in art, but he was curious about how it had the ability to change people’s ways of thinking. His mother used to love art; he remembered watching her stand there for hours painting. From the way she gently dabs the paintbrush on the palette to the way paints on the canvas, he remembered watching every single detail without blinking. He remembered the time when they were sitting in the garden. His mother had told him that painting pictures give you the ability to picture what you want you happen, it allowed you to create scenarios that have no chance of happening in real life.

“Hello…? Doctor Wu?” A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Y-Yes?” Kris blinked at Hye Mi.

“The lesson started a while ago,” Hye Mi giggled, “Were you day dreaming?”

Kris coughed and kept quiet, causing Hye Mi to giggle even more.

“Now, I want you to paint your interpretation of the sunset,” Miss Kim said as she walked down the room. “Use your imagination to paint how you think the sunshine look or should look.”

Hye Mi pursed her lips as she started pouring paint onto her palette. Kris watched with amazing eyes as she dipped in it with her paintbrush and started painting away. He stared at his own empty palette and gulped.

About 30 minutes later, Hye Mi’s painting looked close to complete. The warm colours of red, pink and orange filled the page as she used light blue to fill up the gaps around the sun. Smiling, she put down her palette and paintbrush to stare at her work. Her attention turned towards Kris and when she saw his canvas, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Kris was about to add green to his painting when he heard a tinkling laugh and turned around. When he realised Hye Mi was laughing at him, he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and tried to cover up his messy painting. Hye Mi realised his discomfort and immediately stopped laughing.

She walked over to his bench and stared at his blobs of random colours. Kris felt his heart stop as she studied his painting, for some reason he didn’t like the thought of her thinking bad of him. “Hmm…” Hye Mi tapped her chin as she bit her lip, “Your painting are nice, and you do have a good image too…” Kris sighed in relief and she chuckled, “I think you should use warmer colours, sunsets look better with bright colours.”

Kris stare at all the dark purple and black on his canvas and nodded, “O-Okay… Thanks…” He dipped his paintbrush in pink paint and was about to paint on the canvas when Hye Mi suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Not in the middle, silly!” Hye Mi giggled and shook her head, “Isn’t your sun going to be there?”

“Oh, yeah…” Kris nodded awkwardly.

Hye Mi moved his hand to the left and nodded, “Paint there.”

Kris nodded and started painting while Hye Mi watched him. By the time class ended, Kris ended up with a pretty decent painting of the sunset. Hye Mi had stayed beside him the whole time, giving him advice and telling him if he made any mistakes.

“Well, class was sure fun today!” Hye Mi beamed as they were cleaning up.

“Mhm,” Kris nodded. He had to admit finishing that sunset really did make him happy. He finally understood what his mum meant by finding your source of happiness through painting.

“I can’t wait to next lesson,” Hye Mi grinned as she put away her paint brushes.

 Kris watched as she carefully used the paper towel to dry the paintbrushes and couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, me too.

“Hmm… So what made you want to take art lessons?” Hye Mi asked.

Kris bit his tongue, “Umm… I don’t really know.”

Hye Mi smiled, “I seriously thought doctors were really busy.”

“They are,” Kris nodded, “But we do have free time too.”

“That’s good,” Hye Mi nodded, “It’s not good working too much.”

“Are you ready to go now?” Kris asked after they were done.

Hye Mi nodded, “Just let me get my bag.” Kris waited as she scrambled to her cupboard and took out her backpack.

“Do you… want a lift?” Kris asked as they walked down the corridor.

Hye Mi thought for a moment before shaking her head, “Nope! I’m planning to go over to the café to help ahjumma! It’s pretty close so I’ll just walk.”

“Well then, my car is on the right,” Kris jabbed his thumb to the right as they went out of the building.

“And I’m going left,” Hye Mi smiled. “Good bye, Doctor Wu.”

Kris slightly frowned, “You know… You can always call me Kris.”

Hye Mi’s eyes widened, “But Doctor Wu-”

“We’re pretty much classmates out of the hospital,” Kris cut her off. “Doctor Wu sounds so stiff.”

“So you’re a doctor… That doesn’t like being called a doctor?” Hye Mi asked, amused.

Kris stayed quiet and looked away, cause Hye Mi to laugh. “Arasso arasso, Kris.” She said after things went quiet.

Kris smiled, satisfied with her calling him by his name. “Sounds much better,” he smiled.

“Well, I better get going now before its peak hour,” Hye Mi said as she shook her head. “Bye bye!”

Kris waved and walked the other direction. Hye Mi watched as he turned to the car park and smiled. For some reason, she liked calling him Kris too.