chapter 16
Never too late
Kyuhyun opened the door to the basement. A gush of chilled wind welcomed him. He sighed and entered leaving the door behind him left open.
Changmin had gone to work while nabyul was busy in chores. Kyuhyun was bored out of his mind.
‘This rest thing is not quite fun when I’m alone. Maybe I should start work again?’ he wondered. But for now, he decided to just explore the house more. And there he was, in the basement ‘exploring’.
It was not semi-underground so there was a fair share of sunlight coming from the windows that lit the room perfectly in the daytime. Kyuhyun smiled. There were sketches and paintings everywhere in the room. Some hanged on the wall, some lying around but most had white sheets covering them. If kyuhyun wasn’t careful enough, he would have knocked down quite a few.
This was nabyul’s place. Every sketch, every painting she ever made was stored here. Kyuhyun picked up a drawing pad from a desk that went unnoticed at first, in the piles of paintings.
Opening it, his smile grew. The sketch on the first page was of a tree. It was nabyul’s first drawing and it showed. Going through it, a simple sketch caught his eyes; a sketch of his hands.
*flashback*
“NABI! KYUKYU!!!HURRY UP!!!” shouted the fourteen-year old changmin.
“We’re coming. God! Do you have to shout?” kyuhyun grunted.
“If it makes you annoyed THEN YES!!!” changmin screamed extra hard this time.
“I CAN DO IT TOO, YOU KNOW!” kyuhyun did not back down.
“Stop it you two, people are looking.” Nabyul shot the two a glare.
“Kyuhyun was being a grumpy-.” Changmin reasoned. “And changmin was being just plain annoying.”
“Stop it this once. I mean it.” nabyul commanded which was enough to get the two to stop.
The three gathered just outside the school gate. “Now, what did jang saem say to you?” nabyul turned and eyed changmin.
“Honestly, I’ve reached the point where I don’t even know what she said.” Changmin answered. “Hmmm maybe I should tell appa this time.”
Changmin’s eyes widened “yah! It’s nothing serious. I just have to clean the classroom for the next week.”
“That’s what you get for sleeping through a test.” Kyuhyun sang. “And we are not helping you this time.” He added.
Changmin give out a sly smirk. “You seriously think I can’t talk you guys into helping me?”
Before they could start bickering, nabyul tore the two apart. “Let’s just go, oppas.”
“Nabi sits with me.” Changmin exclaimed pulling her to his bicycle. “No, she sits with me.” Kyuhyun chimed in; pulling on to the poor girl’s other arm.
“Stop it you two. I will choose who I will sit with.” Nabyul screeched. “And I choose…kyu oppa.” She stated and turned to changmin. “mehrong~!”
“Hey, why not me?” changmin complained.
“Well considering last time what happened, I think I’m the safe choice.” Kyuhyun stated.
“Last time? It was a simple mistake.” Changmin exclaimed. “Mistake? You dumped her and after a whole mile you realized she wasn’t there.” The latter answered.
Nabyul looked at changmin with a pout who had a troubled expression on his face that soon changed into an angel like smile. Working on his lady charms he put an arm around nabyul. “that’s because my nabi was so light I didn’t notice the weight I lost.”
“Pull your stupid charms on other girls. My nabi won’t fall for it.” kyuhyun said pulling the girl away. “ugh, let’s just go guys.” She said brushing kyuhyun off.
~~~~
“The weather is nice today.” Kyuhyun commented sitting on a rock.
The three drove off to the outskirts of town, with land after land of beautiful nature. They always came here after school for nabyul, who liked to draw and paint sceneries, and the two boys would relax in the fresh air.
“Yeah! Spring is the best. Too many things for nabyul to draw.” Changmin chimed. “Hey, what are you drawing now?” he said pulling her sketch book.
“Hey!” nabyul protested and tried to get it back but changmin was too tall for her.
“Hands? You’re drawing hands?” changmin looked at her with a confused look.
Nabyul took that chance and pulled her sketch book out of his hands. “They are kyuhyun oppa’s hands.” She answered with a pout.
“My hands? You were drawing my hands all this time?” kyuhyun give her a playful expression.
“Not to boast off your already high ego, but you do have beautiful hands.” Nabyul acknowledged.
“DRAW MY HANDS! DRAW MY HANDS!” changmin insisted while pushing and blocking her whole face with his precious hands.
“I would but they aren’t pretty enough.” Nabyul pushed his hands away.
“At least they are prettier than your face.” He said.
“YAH!” nabyul started hitting him with the sketch book she was holding. Kyuhyun laughed in a corner while changmin tried to block himself but doing that he lost his balance and fell right into a pile of mud. A second later he came out with mud all over his clothes.
“Nabi-ah, do you want a hug?” he asked with a sly smirk.
“No!” nabyul said with a nervous laugh. Changmin turned to kyuhyun.
“kyukyu?”
“Don’t even dare.” Kyuhyun ordered.
“Too late.” And the latter lunged forward.
*End of Flashback*
“What are you doing here?” nabyul’s voice forced kyuhyun out of his thoughts.
“When did you come?” He asked turning around to face her. “Just now.” She replied.
“What is this?” she took the sketch book off of his hold. A smile grew on her face while looking at the drawing as the similar memory flushed her mind.
“You liked my hands that mush?” kyuhyun asked with a playful expression. Nabyul nodded. “Well, they were beautiful.”
“Were? And they aren’t now?” he asked with a pout, pulling his hands up for nabyul to see.
“They still are…beautiful” nabyul smiled.
Kyuhyun relaxed his arms back to his sides. “Why?”
“Why what?” nabyul asked.
“Why did you give up drawing?” he asked with a serious expression. “I didn’t give up. I still draw and paint.” nabyul reasoned.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “In your basement? You were going to make a future out of it. What happened?” he asked as his brows furrowed. Seeing her give up on her dream made kyuhyun mad. He knew nabyul and his nabyul wanted to be an artist since the longest time. He would do anything for her to act up on her dream again.
Nabyul gazed at him. “I just lost my inspiration.”
“Oh yeah? What is your inspiration?” kyuhyun rolled his eyes.
Nabyul shifted her eyes to the sketch of his hands with an unreadable expression.
“My motivation, my reason to draw, it all went away the day you give me that cold look.”
Kyuhyun’s gaze turned down. He was confused why she said that but he was more pained at the memory.
“Because my inspiration…was you, Cho kyuhyun.” She finished, locking her eyes with his.
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