Seunghyun

“There’s the building” she’s pointing at the Fine Arts building. It’s been years. It has changed, but our memories in there will always be fresh in my mind. “I suddenly want to see our former classroom” the twinkle in her eyes are enticing. She’s not as awkward as she is, making it easier for me to move around. I run up the stairs. Up top, I looked down at her who is carefully climbing up, step by step, slowly but surely. “Yah! Can’t you go any faster?” I called out. Fili huffed, “My feet’s aching already” she complained. “Go barefoot then!” I called back. Unexpectedly, she listened to me. With a smile on her face and that ‘come-what-may’ attitude of hers, she slipped off her shoes and threw them at me. “Hold em’ for me please!” and I willingly carried it for her.

With her shoes in hand and her beside me, we headed to the floor where our classroom is. Upon seeing the chair she always sits on, she ran and sat on it. “How many times did I snooze off sitting in this chair?” she bit her inner cheek while thinking then giggled, “So many times I cannot even count”.

There’s a change in her and I prefer her like this. I don’t know if it’s the memories coming back or she’s just excited and grateful to be back. Either way, I’m happy to see her giggling, smiling and just being plain Fili, the one I know years ago.

“I still remember our classmate who sits in front of me. The one carrying so many pencils with him!” the memory hit her randomly. I chuckled “I heard he’s already an animator in Japan” I said, sharing what I know about that person. I still have connections to some of them and they sometimes give me updates about the others. She sighed “You guys are all successful”.

Isn’t she successful as well? I mean, aside from having THE Luigi Russo as a partner and being his subject to one of his most famous collection, I’m sure she’s done her own fair share of goodness in the arts as well.

“Jiwoo is now a curator. And can you believe that Soobin, Minjoon and Haeun are now well-known designers who just sculpted the newest trophies for three of the biggest award giving body in whole of Asia? As for Woojin, he teaches clay molding, to KIDS!” she sounds very amazed “That guy isn’t even fond of children!”

She’s not uptight anymore. She speaks freely now. It seems like this place changed her mood. I’m really with the Fili of the past.

“How about you? What have you been doing all these years?” I’m actually battling with myself if I should ask this question or not, and I did because I’m curious. She sighed and faced me fully, “Nothing. Luigi made me stop from working last year, saying that I don’t need to earn coz what he’s earning is more than enough for the two of us”. Of course, her man earns millions just for one painting and he has sold many. “But you know what? It gets boring the longer it goes. Most of the time we’re just in the house, especially last year when he decided to rest from art. We’ll go out once in a while, eat at a fancy restaurant…” the she snapped her fingers, “Which, by the way, is one of the two restaurants we only go to”. This made me laugh. I mean, if I were her I’m going to definitely be bored by eating the same food every time. “Also, when we go to galleries or he gets invited by universities around Europe, most of the time I’ll stay beside him. Not that he’s prohibiting me to go out on my own, but he’s not that focused when I’m not around. Maybe it’s an attachment thing”.

Or obsession.

Hearing all these from her, I feel like she’s letting me see her new world. I must say, I’m not impressed. Transferring from the chair at the last row beside her on the second row, “Aren’t you suffocated?” there’s a part in me that wants her to say ‘Yes, I am and I want to breathe’ because if I hear this from her, I’ll straightforwardly tell her to leave him and come back to me. I know, it’s so sneaky and bad of me.

Fili looked at me with a small smile on her face, then she shakes her head, “No. I’m not”

Is she? Really?

“Being with him all the time comforts me as well. It makes me feel like I’m not alone, a feeling I’ve never felt for some time after leaving….” She dropped her eyes from me to the ground, then at me again “You”

This got me more curious about everything that happened during that time. I know we’ll get there as the night deepens.

From the classroom, we continued touring the university. When we passed the open field where I co