“You are full of surprises,” I said as I grabbed the soft texture of the pale pink colored leotard, lifting it up slightly to take a better look at it through the factory light in the room, some shadows casting over the small thing.

“Please don’t laugh,” Krystal almost said in one go, her eyes casted down as if she was ashamed for something so… common. I could only shake my head by her weird behavior as I placed the clothing item back in the bag, only to notice the matching shoes and tights.

“Why would I laugh because you dance ballet?” I asked while giving her back the bag, her eyes still looking at the ground. I mean it’s not weird, but it’s just… Krystal is supposed to be a cheerleader and a ballet dancer? With such a monotone personality like hers, one would thought she only liked generally dull things.

 It took her a moment before she bothered answering this time.

“I don’t really know it’s just…” she started slowly, and seemingly thinking about something for a while. Luckily, her gaze drifts upwards again although she doesn’t meet my eyes. I simply sit there in silence as I wait for her to say something, but she doesn’t, so I decide to nudge her just a bit on the shoulder.

Krystal jumped a little by the action, seemingly very startled by my sudden move, but she regains her posture quickly enough with that God awful polite look on her face again. “I apologize for zoning out like that,” and here is Oxford again. “I just… haven’t really discussed it with anyone before.”

I give her a slight look, but I figure that it seriously was none of my business yet again as I shrugged. “Well, whatever,” I wanted to leave it at that, but as I glanced down at the simple dance attire, a sudden vision came into my mind as I could only smile by the idea.

“But you can wear that!” I exclaim and she must’ve been surprised by the sudden noise, although she was as always very quick to hide it. I could only smile as I pushed her bag further to her, and maybe she thought I had gone insane, but it didn’t matter because I hadn’t had a proper vision for what felt like years.

“Where is the restroom?” Krystal then asked, and I was about to give her the directions until I realized that it probably wasn’t at its cleanest state as of now (there are a bunch of male workers and only two females, and it does get really dirty from time to time) so the only thing I could think of was between these four walls.

“You can just change here,” I mentioned casually, although something made it seem everything but, as I went to adjust the canvas and get the items ready. Things stayed quiet for a moment, and I was about to look up to see if she had gotten changed until a harsh glare met my way.

“Don’t peep, ert!” Krystal exclaimed, pants off and shirt halfway ed as she threw a water bottle in my direction. I scoffed slightly, my eyebrows probably quirked up in amusement as she only seemed slightly annoyed and… flustered?

“Gosh whatever you have, I have to, don’t act as if I’m some hormone driven guy,” I retorted, thinking that Kai would be really jealous right now, so I’d have to mention that to him later.

I stayed quiet as I only glanced at her very, very slim legs and the small peek of her toned abdomen, covered in pale and fair skin that suddenly seemed very soft to the touch. I shook my thoughts away, no time to think of the stubborn girl’s body as I went back to grab a soft ended pencil from my jar of brushes and whatnot.

When she had finally gotten dressed, which took a while as she insisted on not having any help; I glanced up to look at her and could barely hide the slight smile on my face as I saw her slightly pouting face. Her eyes were looking straight ahead, the coldness seeping just a little away, the yellowing light giving her a softer, warmer glow than that ghostly pale complexion she usually seemed to have.

There wasn’t even anything special with what she wore; it was a very pale pink leotard, the ones the dancers usually practice in, with stockings and matching pink ballet shoes properly worn. She did look a bit different, as she had tied her hair up a little to showcase the sharp features of her face, the shape more evident than before.

She looked normal, like a girl ready to dance, but something about the way she stood and poised herself made her seem far more elegant than before. However, it wasn’t in that annoying, snobbish way I was used to seeing her, but rather as a sophisticated, talented dancer ready to awe anyone who would watch her.

I could hear somebody coughing. “So how do you want me to pose?” Krystal interrupted my wandering thoughts, something I’m glad she did, as I could only look at her with my throat slightly dry by the sight of her, for some apparent reason.

“Would you be more comfortable sitting or standing?” I asked, because despite whatever I thought I needed my model to be comfortable because this was going to take a while.

“Sitting, if you’re going to take a while,” Krystal replied simply like she was reading my mind. She then casually sat down on the concrete floor, her back leaning on the brick wall in a relaxed posture. My eyes scanned the slim frame of her body, trying to figure the best way for her to pose to showcase the best parts of her.

“Move so your back is facing the window,” I instructed slowly, the shadows casting a bit of darkness on her face. “Prop your legs upwards, and place your right hand on the backside of your thigh,” I continued to tell her what to do, and as she did what she was told the image that I had imagined seemed to unfold right in front of me.

“Good,” I praised her lightly, watching the sunlight drift from the window and towards her figure. “And place your left hand lightly on your knee, a little further down… yes, right there,” I kept on saying as I was almost sure I had got it.

“Can I ask you one thing though?” Krystal softly asked, almost as if she whispered a question where she was afraid of the answer, like a small child. I could only nod slightly, as her gaze moved towards me, albeit I was mostly hidden behind the canvas I could of course still see her if I moved my head a little.

“I don’t want my face to be in the painting,” she mentioned and I looked over at her, a sheepish smile on her face. “Not to be rude and I know it’s not really going to be showcased, but if it ever does I don’t want anyone to know that the model is me,” Krystal continued and I wondered where the sudden shyness came from, knowing well that this painting wouldn’t become anything huge, but I only complied to her request.

“Let your hair down, so it covers your face, and focus on your feet,” I said softly, and waited patiently as she did what I asked her to do, before she placed the hairband somewhere away and returned to her previous position, her face now unrecognizable and hidden through her long locks of hair.

My eyes scanned her figure, and everything seemed to be right, although I felt that something was still missing. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, but I didn’t want to spend too long thinking of it as I started sketching the outlines of her figure and the bare setting around her.

Things went quiet yet again as we could only hear the soft of the pencil in my hands, and the outside world waking up and getting started from the slightly ajar window. The shop is luckily closed on Sunday’s, so I knew we wouldn’t be disturbed until much later, and besides I kind of enjoyed the silence. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable, it was just there.

Still, I felt my curiosity grow towards the model in front of me, wondering why she acted like she did, and how she was as a person. Things that shouldn’t really bother me, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it as time ticked by.

“So why don’t you want your face to be shown?” I asked after a while, working on perfecting the sketch of her arms as my gaze drifted from Krystal and to the canvas again. I couldn’t see her face because her dark hair was in the way, but I had a feeling she seemed to be in her own thoughts.

“Some people wouldn’t enjoy that,” she replied simply, something odd to her voice while she mentioned it.

“Well these people must have poor character,” I mentioned absentmindedly, not really understanding why anyone wouldn’t want to, because honestly speaking she is a beautiful girl, if that was appropriate to say.

If I were to be completely honest, she had that kind of beauty that was easy on the eyes; where it wouldn’t seem as much by a quick glance, but something about her made her prettier the more you looked at her.

Krystal let out a small scoff by that, almost as if it was stupid of me to say something like that, and I guess it was in a way. My eyes darted from the drawing on the canvas and rather to focus on the girl sitting there, my hands doing their best to duplicate what I saw to become the picture in front of me.

“Fair warning,” she suddenly said; her voice clearer than before. “I have to be somewhere next Sunday, my appointment is scheduled at twelve,” Krystal shared and I could only nod, figuring that would be okay. “We can start after that if you want?” I mentioned, but she only slightly shook her head in response, making me look at her oddly.

“I will attend at ten, and if it’s urgent I can come back again as I do not have anything else planned,” she replied and I nodded, figuring it made sense as I stood there.

Then the silence went on for a moment as I erased the parts I wasn’t too satisfied with, thinking that this sketch had to be perfect enough before I started to paint over it.

“Do you have a ballet class then? If you do then that is fine, nothing to be ashamed of,” I continued, lightly smiling by the way she moved her head to look at me, but she quickly realized she couldn’t before she snapped her gaze back to the ground. I wanted to say it was okay to move slightly, but before I could she started speaking.

“Ara, I…” Krystal began to speak, on her way to tell me about something that oddly enough seemed kind of important judging by her voice.

However, before she could the door of the room opened up and in walked an all too familiar figure that I had forgotten and cursed at for the fact that he came in that moment.

“Hey, Kai,” I greeted as casually as I could, refraining from any nickname for the sake of being nice and not embarrassing him. Although I was slightly annoyed by his timing, there wasn’t anything I could do about it now, as he only let out a small smile. Besides, I was the one who told him to be here around this time, damn precise as always.

“I invited him over,” I informed Krystal, not really having the imagination to make up a reason for why, because I figured that they’d have more of a conversation together then I would. The said girl only made a sound of understanding, not moving too much as if she’d mess up the sketch I was making.

I was simply drawing the outlines, but being the perfectionist I am, it took longer than expected as some parts just didn’t come out as I wanted.

A good couple of minutes had gone as Kai was now sitting on the arm of the sofa, having a conversation with Krystal that I didn’t bother pay much attention to as I was still trying to perfect the outlines of her body. It shouldn’t really be a hard task because, it’s just a body, but I had actually never painted a person before as I was more of a landscape type of person.

When I drifted my gaze to take another look of Krystal though, I had to chuckle by how awkward that positon must be as she’s probably answering a question Kai just asked her. She thought she couldn’t move her head too much, so she had to stay like that and I thought she would have a problem sitting still, but she seemed oddly used to it.

“I have two older sisters,” was the first thing I bothered to hear from Kai’s mouth, the conversation still going. “And they like using me as an experiment doll, hence the hair,” he mentioned while gesturing to the bleached top of his head. I tried to hide a snort as I went back to focusing on drawing again, the sketch soon done.

 “What about you?” he then proceeded to ask, and I wanted to praise him for actually holding a conversation with her and not making it awkward. As mentioned, despite his looks, Kai has always been a generally awkward person towards others, especially girls, so I’m glad he had manned up.

It seemed to be going well for their part, although I felt a bit ignored as I just stood there, but I figured that it wasn’t my goal to get to know Krystal.

Wow, why did that made me feel a bit disappointed?

 “Technically, I have an older sister,” the girl of my sudden thoughts mentioned, and I found myself paying extra attention after that reply. “Technically?” Kai answered for me, and I quickly stole a glance at his direction to see his slightly confused, yet listening, expression.

“It’s a long story, but I haven’t seen her in a while,” she concluded, and I’m glad Kai didn’t bother with prying anymore or else I would smack him with something, although I didn’t know why I thought like that.

I couldn’t deny though, I wondered what was up with her sister and her absence. Is she dead?

No, even if she were I bet Krystal would at least sound sad about it. She couldn’t be that heartless. Maybe she’s studying and they can’t meet up often? Maybe she’s busy with work and has moved out? There could be many reasons for that, but I wouldn’t know unless I asked.

If one of those reasons were true, then I understood her, because I know stuff like that is very tough. I remembered the day I got left behind, but that was for another time.

Before I could even dwell into that subject of that person, they started to talk about something else.

“So you dance?” Kai kept on asking, and I wanted to retort a sarcastic answer to that because idiot what do you think she’s wearing? A swimsuit? But as usual I kept shut, this was their conversation and I wasn’t going to be a part of it.

“Yes,” she responded simply, and then she added something that didn’t just surprise Kai. “You guys should come and watch someday,” Krystal offered and albeit having that same tone, nothing excited added to it, it was odd just hearing her mentioning something like that.

But why did the inside of my stomach flutter by her inviting me as well?

“That would be awesome; I’m a dancer too,” Kai mentioned as casually as he could, although he obviously wanted to impress her. I couldn’t blame him, although I had a feeling it would take more than that. “Although Ara can’t dance to save her life; she’s got two left feet.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh before giving him a glare, where he only chuckled. It was all friendly teasing, and it was true that I was a bad dancer, but for some reason I didn’t want him to say that in front of her. Not that I wanted to care about what Krystal thought because I wasn’t going to dance in front of her anyway, but still…

My mind couldn’t explain what that feeling was, but I didn’t like it.

And I didn’t like the fact that Krystal didn’t mention or talk to me at all after that.