Amber followed the beautiful young woman, stumbling over obstacles, entranced. She walked into the marketplace. Amber pushed past the crowd, but soon lost her. “Where’d she go?” he asked himself, scratching his head. He went on to find her, not paying attention to his surroundings and tripped over a table. The man sitting at the table spilled his drink all over himself.

              “Ya!” the man shouted.

    Amber was still out of it and continued walking. Suddenly, the man grabbed onto his uniform. “You, are you gonna pay for my drink??” he said.

Amber shook his head and finally snapped out of it. “N-ne?”

“Pay for my drink, kid!”

Amber patted at his sleeves and pockets. No money. He looked at the man. “Let me go first so I can check my pouch.”

As soon as the man let go, Amber made a run for it.

“Ya!!” the man screamed.

Amber looked back and saw the man running after him, along with his two friends. “Crap,” he thought. He ran and ran, turning tight corners to lose the men. Then he ended up in a little fabric shop. He hid beside the door, underneath some cloth. Some of his materials spilled out of his bag. He held his breath when he heard the men nearby. After what seemed like forever, someone cleared their throat.

“Would you mind getting up?”

Amber looked down. He had been standing on the cloth the woman was using. Amber, still holding his breath, quickly picked up his materials and stood up. He brushed some dirt off himself and looked up at the source of a soft voice. It was her. “Dangsin!” he shouted, pointing at her.

“Do you know me?” she asked, while folding some cloth.

He cleared his throat and without thinking, said, “You’re… Beautiful.”

She smiled and walked further into the shop. “I get that a lot.”

Amber followed her in, pushing past the layers of hung fabric. Each layer revealing more of the young woman. He pushed past the last layer and was finally face-to-face with her. She stood in front of a window. The sun made her face glow. Amber leaned against the table. “Do you usually get that a lot from handsome men?” he smirked. “I think I’m the first.” She smiled again.

“What do you want?”

“I came here following a scent, and indeed there is a flower,” he replied.

“Who has ever heard of a butterfly that shamelessly tramples on a flower?”

“It is natural for a butterfly to settle upon a flower.”

“It is not a flower anyone can settle upon.”

Amber scoffs. “Playing hard to get?”

This time, she smiled with her eyes. That caught Amber’s attention.

“You didn’t really tell me what you want,” she looked down at his bag full of painting materials. “Hwagong.”

“I want to paint you. All of you. Come into my painting.”

“‘Come into your painting’?” she asked and stopped folding the cloth. “Why me?”

“Geunyang…”

Before he could say anymore, the men from earlier ran back his way. He ducked under the table and put his index finger up to his mouth, telling her to be quiet. She looked out the window and slyly smiled. “Jeogiyo~” she called out. Amber jumped up and pushed her against the wall. He peered out the window. Nobody was there. She started snickering.

“W-woow,” he said. “You are a flower full of thorns! A poisonous flower!” As he walked out, she watched him and smiled.

Amber made his way back to the stream. His hyung waved and ran to him. “Ya! Where did run off to?”

“Nowhere.” he mumbled.

He plopped down by the stream and scratched his head. “What am I going to draw now?” he thought to himself. It was almost sundown. He closed his eyes. “Think…”

The first thing that came to his mind was… That young woman. He could still see all of the details. From her hair acessories, to her makeup, and down to her shoes. But it wasn’t enough. There were no feelings. No spirit. Nothing to translate into a painting. No story. “Yet,” he thought, grinning. He looked over to Henry. “Hyung!” he whispered.

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