pe·rim·e·ter

A line bounding or marking off an area.

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August 24 (Friday)

For once, Kyung Mi did not merely open her entrance door and enter into her house. No, for this time around, things were slightly different. The female blinked hesitantly, and with a scintilla of confidence, she then knocked on the wooden surface lightly. Her mother answered it with a small smile. At that, the spectacled girl nervously laughed.

“Hi mom,” she said slowly. “Meet my acquaintance Oh Sehun.” His arched brow beckoned her to replace her term for him. She rolled her eyes at that.

"I mean, friend,” corrected Kyung Mi as she saw both of their respective reactions.

Perhaps it would be recommendable to begin from the very start before such an occasional meet happened. It was a Friday, in which the quiet male was already habitually walking Kyung Mi home due to the lack of her usual companion, Gongchan, due to impending exams. It was the usual comfortable silence with random breaks when one caught her off-guard. Completely.

“Ah, Kyung Mi,” began Sehun carefully with the intention to catch her attention. He did. Once noticing that she was looking at him, the male continued.

“I think today would be a great day to visit your place,” he said blankly. Kyung Mi, in return, was at a loss for words. Why did he even suggest such a thing? They barely knew each other for a month. So why?

“It’s almost the weekend,” persisted Sehun with a nonchalant shrug. “Plus a certain someone left me to go on a racy night date.”

Her cheeks flushed evidently at his horrifying and untrue suggestion.

“That is not true, mister,” was what she said promptly as she gave him a glare through her lens. A small amused laugh escaped him, but not a word more did he even offer. Mollified, Kyung Mi uttered a few more things.

“And I am sorry for ditching you the other day,” she admitted softly. “It was really, really mean and irresponsible of me to do so.” Imperceptibly, the corners of his mouth tilted upwards.

“So to your house we go,” murmured Sehun. And so that was that. So here she was, introducing her companion to her mother which felt deathly embarrassing somehow. Luckily, however, her mother was reacting positively to it.

“Sehun!” exclaimed her mother kindly as she shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You haven’t been friends with my daughter for too long, have you?” A general monotonous voice addressed her question.

“It’s been pretty much two or three weeks, Mrs. Han,” responded Sehun quizzically. “I suppose that isn’t the definition of long, now is it.” His rather plain remark made Kyung Mi’s mother laugh.

“Alright, alright,” said Kyung Mi’s mother. “Come in now. Kyung Mi, feel free to show him the place okay?” A mild nod acknowledged her wise words. The spectacled girl scratched her nuque awkwardly as her eyes flickered to his.

“Welcome to the tour,” said Kyung Mi sheepishly, finding much fault in her verbalized sentence. He only showed a tinge of mirth without even a smile.

With slight difficulty, the female tried to give him a general overview of the place in which she called home.

“Some people might find this place to be small, but it’s quite fine for a house of four,” added Kyung Mi with a smile as she showed him the kitchen. Sehun nodded at her words, allowing her to patter around the other parts of the premise as he tailed after her. Then they went to a few more places and ended up subconsciously in her bedroom.

“Kyung Mi…?” asked Sehun with definite perplexity. It wasn’t like him to think of things but being landed into a situation like this without any warning was still questionable. Not like he wanted to be sick or something, of course. Questions were better than assumptions most of the time anyway.

She stared blankly at him.

“Yes?” asked Kyung Mi as she sat on the bed. He only sighed lightly at her troublesome innocence, but other than that, he carefully sat beside her. He blinked once before speaking.

“I’ve seen you drawing once or twice before,” began Sehun. “Since I’m at your place, I hope you don’t mind showing one or two to me. That is if you’re comfortable with it, of course.”

“Ah, yea,” agreed Kyung Mi with a small smile. “I don’t mind.” She proceeded to stand, and he figured that he would mimic her move since, well — to continue sitting on her bed was quite weird. The female brought a stool from one corner of her room and mindfully set it under a certain spot in the room. The attentive male noted her rather queer actions.

She stood on the stool and her fingers that were on the wooden ceiling trailed along the area to find the chink that would undo the cleverly concealed trapdoor. His eyes, they were quick to spot them and so, the supposedly insouciant male used his fingers to undo them. He was, after all, tall enough to actually stretch upwards and touch the ceiling. It caused a ropey ladder to fall downwards onto the ground. Kyung Mi, albeit first being immensely surprised, eventually smiled.

“Ooh,” she remarked plainly. “You’re an observant one, aren’t you?” His lackluster expression did not give anything away, but he was rather curious as to what she meant; whether it was a good or a bad thing. But words, they did not escape him at all for the time being. The male was quite sure that she was being rhetorical.

Kyung Mi beckoned him to ascend first, and so he complied. When he reached the place which he assumed to be the attic, he tried to descry the objects placed in it. They weren’t plenty, but they were sufficient. However, the darkness wasn’t helping him in his humble quest to merely lay his attention on the items.

“Sehun!” called out Kyung Mi from below. “Go on. I know it’s dark but it’ll be bright later on.” Her explanation was odd, but he did not question at all but decided to move on. The male had stopped climbing halfway, after all. So Sehun reached on top of the wooden ceiling — which now became their wooden flooring — and waited for his companion to arrive. She was a swift one, for she did not take long to appear.

“Come along,” said Kyung Mi with a tinge of excitement. The female ran across the floorboards that were covered with some foreign material while the other was remarkably wary, since he was not used to this setting. He took good care to not trip over anything of hers, in case that it was fragile or something. Kyung Mi’s fingers then took hold of a lighter and lit one nearby candle. The dark room was illuminated by the soft glow.

“Oh,” was all he could say. The place was set up for canvas painting, and it was somewhat unnerving that there were numerous mirrors staring back at him. She kept the lighter properly and then smiled.

“I know, I know,” chuckled Kyung Mi. “You’re wondering why I’m using candles instead of fluorescent lights or something.”

“Not really,” remarked Sehun. “Frankly, I just want to see the drawings.” She nearly scoffed at that.

“Then you’re different,” she wisecracked before going to the cupboard next to her art materials cupboard, and took out a few of her paintings. She neatly placed them on the floor, and proceeded to stand back so that he could see them clearly. He stared at them with great intensity, and Kyung Mi was quite worried at how he would respond. Had he overestimated her ability? That would be sad.

“… I would like to see you draw, Kyung Mi,” he requested lightly as he turned to look at her. And though his expression gave nothing away, his eyes surely gleamed with expectation. It made her relieved and glad.

“Sure,” said Kyung Mi as she nodded. She was quick to set up the easel and a plain canvas, getting out random paints to use. She took up the brush and stared at the canvas. During that brief period of time, Sehun casually loomed beside her. Upon realizing that he was there, Kyung Mi subconsciously passed the box of colours to him to hold. He was bewildered, but she had not noticed at all. For she had forgotten that he was not her best friend at all.

“Pass me the green please,” she requested as a sudden idea came upon her, causing her to grin widely. “I know what to paint now.”

He was not used to her apparent change at all, one that made others do her bidding or something. But he supposed that it was not really a tactful thing to deny her request when he was already holding it. So Sehun passed the green shade obediently, to which she used immediately with the softest of smiles. The male took the time to look at her, and wondered how she possessed that kind of joy in the simplest of things. The insouciant individual dearly wanted to know. It would prove to be a very useful detail for one like him. His eyes quietly flickered to their nearby reflection, depicting the queer situation that unfolded between them ever so assiduously. But as he watched her paint beautifully, a small smile crept upon his face in utter secrecy.

Looks like some things were better kept in the dark for the time being.