I flinched back at the strong smoke smell. I started coughing loudly.

"Dude are you okay?!?" He asked me, patting my back.

 "Don't call me dude!" I yelled trying to hold in my cough. "Why does your room smell like cigarettes?"

"I smoke duh." He said like it wasn't a big deal.

"Smoking is bad for you. And if you are gonna smoke, do it outside." I informed him. 

He shook his head 'no' and forced me in the room. I kept coughing and coughing. SLAP! "OWH!" I yelled in pain.

"Shut up, people who cough annoy me." He said.

"Not my fault." I said.

He pushed me against the desk as I yelped in more pain.

"Ok, let's start the project shall we?" He asked like nothing happened.

I slowly nodded as he gt out a pen and paper.

"So first let's start with a rough draft. Like the teacher said." He said.

"What are we gonna draw first?" I asked.

"Hmmm..." He hummed tapping his chin.

"How about a basic nature scene?" I told him.

"Really? Too boring." He said.

"Ok what about space, you know, the stars, sun, planets..." I said.

"That's probably more boring. Uncreative. Too basic." He said.

"Well that is all I got." I said.

"You are too boring. Can't you think of something fun, creative, anything other than normal and basic for once?!?" He half yelled. "You yourself is too boring my friend."

"Sorry but I was made to act this way." I said.

"Nobody is made to act or have a personality they can't control. You are the one that changes yourself, Minhee." He corrected me.

"Well then I don't want to change. I am happy being normal cause it is safe and I have nothing to worry about. Nothing is ever too hard when you are average." I said.

"But that isn't fun!" He scolded. "Don't you want fun? Do you like fun? Creativity? Challenges? Anything other than nothing. Being in your own comfort zone and staying in there forever doesn't sound like you can be successful forever. Step outside the box for once. So tell me the truth, do you actually feel like you have done enough now? Like you have reached what you wanted? If you haven't it's probably because you limited yourself to doing only the easier things. Life isn't all about easy." He finished scolding me and stood silent waiting for my response.

All I could do right now is replay everything he just said. Is he right? Was I wrong this whole time?

"You're unbelievable. How about we draw half and half of the world. One side could be dark, evil, and basically hell. Another side can be bright, happy, you know..." He explained.

"That's creative?" I asked amused.

"It's way better than your idea." He stated