A week had passed since the very mysterious Jonghyun had come into the store. I scanned the empty walkways from my post behind the fabric cutting table and let out a long, exhausting sigh. There was no point of me being in work on a Sunday. All the ladies who usually shopped here took the day for worship and family. One or two unconventional women would come in, but other than that there was no reason for me to be here.

I sat down on the ground behind the counter and popped an earphone in, leaning against the cabinets, closing my eyes. I my hands into the pockets of my khakis, feeling something unfamiliar. I opened one eye and saw I had pulled out a paper. It was the note from the heart sticker display. I opened it and read it over and over.

See you later, my dazzling Jinki.

Who wrote this? Surely it couldn’t be.... no! Of course not Onew. Why would a boy be excited to see you? Much less that boy?

I examined the note again, noticing the neat handwriting. The sticky note had a blue geometric design running down the side. I rubbed my thumb over it, trying to recall if such a pattern was common among all sticky notes.

“You know I was sad you didn’t like the blues. Blue is one of my favorite colors,” a rich voice confessed behind me.

Startled, I shoved the note in my pocket, bolting up, leaning onto the counter, almost bumping noses with the owner of the voice.

“J-Jonghyun,” I stammered backing away from his nose, my eyes widening.

“Don’t seem too excited to see me,” he smiled, leaning further onto the counter.

“It’s not that! You scared me. What happened to a few days? It has been a week.”

“Awe, you missed me? I missed you too, sweetie. I’m sorry. Some things came up, but I won’t keep you waiting any longer. I’m here now,” he said with big, apologetic eyes.

“I didn’t miss you!” I snapped.

“Okay, sure. Do you wanna see my surprise for you?!”

“Oh, you were serious about that?”

“Of course I was! Do you wanna see it or not?”

I sighed, looking away from him wondering what to do. I knew nothing about this guy, but he already made it seem like we were friends. I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with such a thing, but when you look at him, he seems so pure and playful there couldn’t be anything wrong.

“Alright, what is it?” I finally replied, looking back at the blonde.

“Well you have to come with me. I couldn’t bring it.”

Before I could retaliate back, Jonghyun had pulled me around the table and was dragging me out the door. I looked back nervously to see if Violet was anywhere to be seen, but there was no sign of her.

Jonghyun led me to his car and waited until both of us were secure before he sped off. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should be nervous or not, but something inside of me trusted him, or, should I say, wanted to trust him.

We pulled into the parking lot of a building I was not familiar with. I peeked out the window and saw a sign that said gallery showing tonight 6 - 8. I glanced down at the radio clock and noticed it was well past 8.

“Jong-” I started, only to be interrupted Jonghyun putting a single finger on my lips.

“I know its past the showing time, but this is my showcase so we can go in still. Unless you don’t want to.”

He smiled at me, the car seemingly lighting up from his pearly white teeth. I just blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what was going on. Why would Jonghyun come to our small craft store if he was successful enough to have his own gallery showing?

We got out of the car and I followed closely behind Jonghyun inside. The interior was decorated in earth tones, various paintings hung under the spotlights aimed towards the walls. I admired each one, some causing confusion, some causing happiness, some causing no emotion at all. I noticed Jonghyun was carefully watching each of my reactions. When I was finally done looking at the last painting I turned to him, smiling.

“This was wonderful, I’m glad you showed me your work. I’ve never known such a good artist!” I cheered, patting his shoulder. I was shocked, however, when he grabbed my hand off his shoulder and held it, intertwining his fingers with mine.

“This isn’t the best part,” he whispered into my ear, leaning closer to me.

I swallowed hard, nervous at how close Jonghyun was to me. I felt small puffs of air on my ear as he breathed in and out. He slowly pulled his face right in front of mine and stared at me straight in the eyes.

“Are you ready?” he asked seriously.

“Y-yes?”

Jonghyun squeezed my hand and pulled me to a hallway I had not noticed before, partly because of the dim lighting. He pulled me along all the way to the other end, stopping me before we entered the new room. He turned around and grabbed my shoulders, looking at me before he pushed me into the room alone.

I blinked a moment to adjust my eyes to the bright light on the painting in the center of the room. It was all different shades of red including some whites and blacks. It looked like an abstract painting stitched together by random shapes making up a bigger picture, but upon closer examination, the shapes were a collage of scenes, all of which featured one man working or talking. There were so many miniature scenes grouped that, together, they made a large heart.

Over my shoulder, I heard Jonghyun walk into the room and stop at my side. We sat there staring at the painting for some time in silence. There was so much to take in it was incredible. He was certainly a talented man.

“It’s very pretty,” I whispered, scared my normal audible tone would cut the air too sharply.

“Do you know who that man is? The little man lifting those boxes, cutting that fabric, listening to his iPod?”

I thought for a moment, unsure of how to answer. Jonghyun and I surely didn’t have mutual friends or I would have seen him out at parties or university. I looked over at the blonde, but he was not looking back. His eyes were glued to the painting.

“No, no I don’t,” I replied, looking for some sort of response from Jonghyun’s face, but I didn’t see any emotions.

I looked back at the painting and tried to see who the man was. It appeared to be someone very familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt Jonghyun’s fingers wiggle their way back into my hand, distracting my attention from the man to our hands.

“It’s you, Onew,” he whispered.