Luhan woke up the following morning with a horribly stiff neck. The moment he gained consciousness, he felt the muscles at the back of his head clench and hold in pain, and breathed out reluctantly in an attempt to alleviate the uncomfortable sensation.

‘Snap…’

He muttered, reaching for the area, and wrapped his fingers around the nape of his neck, squeezing it gently. With his free hand, he pinched his eyes; the gold light he’d fallen asleep with beside him now glaring him in the face as he slumped into the couch with his shoulder digging into the cushion beneath.

He pushed away the blank-screened laptop and his glasses that had long fallen off, crawling off the couch while wincing occasionally. He’d fallen asleep in sweatpants and a woollen pullover that was slightly damp between his shoulders with sticky sweat. It was an awfully uncomfortable sensation, and paired with the horrid pain in his neck, Luhan dragged himself into the kitchen with as much enthusiasm as dead weight.

He leaned forward against the cold granite top of the kitchen counter and sipped from a glass of water slowly. He stared into the backyard pines and watched as a cold grey cloud of air swirled overhead with threatening rainfall. The tall trees swayed and creaked in the accompanying wind and a tiny tornado of leaves whipped past the dry lawn at the foot of the dark forest.

The water along with some stretching and massaging helped ease the pain in his neck, and now able to concentrate on other things, Luhan began listing the possible activities for the day. These things comprised of: writing, sketching, photography, nothing—

‘Hm?’

Luhan absently mumbled, frowning as he leaned towards the window at the sight of something gleaming dully from within the dark forest for a split second. He craned his neck to get a better view of it but quickly reared back in fear of straining the area again.

‘Huh,’ he scoffed, reaching for the refrigerator on his right. ‘Probably nothing.’

Courtesy of Luhan’s strict schedule at the entertainment company, he’d risen earlier than he would have liked. He imagined his body would completely shut down for the night and perhaps he’d wake up at an atrociously late hour of the afternoon, but by 8 AM, he was already up. It was later than his usual 6 AM rush out of bed to breakfast and practice, but Luhan nevertheless grumbled at his inability to so easily break the habit.

He gobbled the sweet pudding he snapped out of the remaining pack of five and relished the sugary morning treat. Apart from strict sleeping schedules, Luhan was also on a strict green diet. He couldn’t even remember the last time he indulged in sweet things let alone fatty foods for breakfast and savoured the pudding as he walked out onto the back porch, breathing in the cool, fresh air.

It was cold, but the coolness was oddly refreshing. Today would be just one of the following few days he’d have to himself. No stress, no worries, no heavy schedules, no shows, no preparations, just nothing. And even the thought made Luhan tingle with excitement.

After spending a satisfying 30 minutes in the shower relishing in the hot, steaming water (that took the tap a good bit of running to churn out), Luhan headed for the back porch again; this time with a handful of snacks and past-time equipment. He was dressed as casually as possible, with the exception of a large fleece blanket he kept over his shoulders like a poncho as he pulled up a chair from the porch into the grassy expanse out back.

He kept a sketchpad in his lap and after a moment of observing the thick, heavily shadowed wall of forest ahead, Luhan began sketching carefully into the blank page. Drawing – similarly to writing – was something he found cathartic. It wasn’t something he was terribly good at or often indulged in, but it was nonetheless an interest of his.

His mind wandered to all sorts of things as he concentrated into the sketchpad, but for the most part, Luhan felt at ease… which was something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. All the worries about things to go about doing within the next few minutes, or shows to attend within the next few hours, or people to meet within the next few days were now nonexistent.

A cold gust of air streaked past his cheeks and Luhan tore his eyes away from the canvas; now filled with scratchy grey ; and massaged the fleshy area under his thumb. The strain on his dominant hand from continuously sketching had finally surfaced, and he leaned back in his chair for a moment, taking in his surroundings as he relaxed.

If not for the fact that he’d just woken up an hour or so ago, Luhan was positive he’d have fallen asleep right then and there.

He looked back into the page he’d been working on relentlessly for the past few minutes and admired the applied, taking in every shape and every detail he managed to capture onto the canvas with his searching eyes: the proportions, the uneven yet natural composition, the negatives and positives, the cross-hatching in shaded areas, the geometric amidst the organics—

‘What the…’

Luhan squinted for a moment into the drawing and stared at the square plane lodged between thickets of forest at the very bottom of his canvas. The area stuck out like a sore thumb now that he’d noticed it, and bewildered at the fact that he hadn’t picked it up any earlier, Luhan raised his head and stared into the forest with wide, questioning eyes.

After a moment of staring up and down into the page repeatedly, Luhan had finally n