You stepped inside the exhibition room just as Woohyun was about to begin his speech. You smiled, staring at him proudly as he delivered his speech, his hands waving around occasionally, gesturing at his art works. You briefly scanned the room. Various paintings and drawings in frames were hung up on the wall. The place was packed with various people from casually dressed curious young teenagers to tense and professional-looking business men and women dressed in neat and crisp office wear.

“And once again, thank you for coming, please look around and enjoy your time in this exhibition!” Woohyun ended his speech and you clapped along with the rest of the audience. He made his way down the stage, looking around, searching for something. His face lit up like a Christmas tree when his eyes caught yours, waving at you as he approached you.

He threw his arms around you, resting his chin on your shoulder. “You made it!”

You chuckled, patting his back. “I told you I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

He squeezed you briefly before pulling back. “So, what do you think?” He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the whole exhibition.

“It’s wonderful. You’re really getting famous and successful. I’m proud of you,” you praised with a nod. If you thought Woohyun’s smile couldn’t be brighter, he proved you wrong, as his smile widened and it was so wide you thought his face would split in half.

You laughed. “That happy?”

Woohyun slung an arm over your shoulder, pulling you close to him. “Of course, I just got my favorite art buddy’s approval. Hey, you have to come to the auction at the end of the week. Remember I told you I have something for you? Well, I’ll give it to you on the day of the auction, okay? So you must come.” He narrowed his eyes as he punctuated his statement by tapping your nose.

You batted his hand away. “Okay, I got it.”

Suddenly, you heard someone call your name. Both you and Woohyun turned around at the voice and you blinked when you saw Howon running towards you. “Howon?”

“Hey, why didn’t you tell me you were coming to the exhibition? I wanted to come with you!” Howon protested as he bent down, trying to catch his breath.

You bit your lower lip. “Sorry, but I thought you were going to meet up with Ms. Go today? You told me about it yesterday, remember? So, I thought since you had plans…” You trailed off. Howon looked up, blinking. “Oh. Well—Oh. Nam Woohyun,” he blurted stupidly, as if Woohyun just appeared out of nowhere when he had been standing beside you all along. Woohyun raised his eyebrow, his mouth frowning. You frowned. That was Woohyun’s typical  ‘I’m-not-impressed’ expression.

“Lee Howon,” Woohyun said, crossing his arms. Howon furrowed his eyebrows. “You know my name?”

Woohyun nodded towards you. “She told me a lot about you.” Howon’s eyes were back on you. “Ah, I see.”

For a moment there was an awkward, uncomfortable silence, as Woohyun stared Howon down and the latter tried to avoid Woohyun’s glare by pretending to look around. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. You knew Woohyun was aware of your feelings for Howon, and he was also aware that Howon was dating Ms. Go. To sum it all up, Woohyun was not happy with Howon. You thought that the whole thing was ridiculous. After all, who you were or weren't dating wasn't really any of Woohyun's business, though he begged to differ.

The silence was finally broken when a woman dressed in neat white shirt and a black pencil skirt approached Woohyun, a clear file filled with miscellaneous papers in her arms. Her black hair was tied up into a neat bun. “Woohyun, I need you to come with me, we need to see some people,” she said, her face devoid of any emotion, looking entirely professional.

Woohyun nodded, before looking at you apologetically. “I’m sorry, I need to go. See you later?”

You nodded. “It’s fine, I want to look around. See you.”

Woohyun smiled, tapping your cheek gently. “See you later.” He turned around as the professional-looking woman started talking to him in a hushed voice as they walked away.

“Ugh, finally. Let’s go look around.” Howon grabbed your wrist and started dragging you around. He looked around, and his face brightened up visibly when he spotted one, particular painting. “The tiger painting,” he breathed in awe. You chuckled and went along with him as he dragged you to see said painting.

Howon was obsessed with the tiger painting. It showed a tiger, eyes glinting maliciously as it emerged from between the group of trees in the middle of the jungle, stepping forwards towards the river in front of it. You had to agree that the painting was incredibly beautiful and detailed. The clear water of the river, the jungle, the trees and vines, the stripes on the tiger. In your mind, you could even see the painting come to life.

Howon stepped closer, his fingers grazing the protective glass. “I’m finally seeing it with my own eyes.”

You smiled, shaking your head as Howon kept gazing at the painting with wide eyes. “You’ve seen it already.”

Howon threw his arms up dramatically, rolling his eyes. “Through my laptop screen. It’s not the same.”

You chuckled again. “Well, I’ll leave you here to stare at the tiger painting, then.”

You turned to leave and you were a few steps ahead when you heard Howon calling your name, telling you to wait for him.

You grinned and kept walking as Howon caught up to you. "Hey, earlier... Woohyun didn't seem to like me that much. Did I do something wrong?"

You swallowed before shaking your head. "Nope, he was just being weird. He gets weird like that sometimes." It was a weak lie, and even though Howon didn't look very satisifed with the answer you gave him, to your relief he just decided to nod and brush it off.

Suddenly, you paused in your tracks as one particular artwork caught your eye. It was a pencil drawing of the skyscrapers in New York. Your eyes followed the jagged and smooth lines thoughtfully.

“Woah,” Howon murmured under his breath.

You nodded with a small smile. “New York… seems like a nice city.”

“Yeah,” Howon agreed, and from the corner of your eye you could see him nodding. “Maybe one day I’ll get to go to New York.”

Howon dragged you away once again, saying something about wanting to take a closer look at a painting of mountains he saw earlier, but your eyes lingered on the drawing of the skyscrapers.

“Maybe one day,” You whispered, before you tore your gaze away from the pencil drawing.