PART 9

I yawned into the night; my arms stretched high into the air. It was way past my usual bed time but I was still up, going through my scattered pieces of paper. I leaned my chin onto my palm and shut my eyes. My mouth moved subtly as I repeated the lesson.

It was a quarter past 3 in the morning and I wasn’t sure if I could go on anymore. My brain power was completely drained but here I am shoving empty words into my unreciprocated head.

“Just let it soak in.” I mumbled but it wasn’t.

“Aish !” I wasn’t usually like this. It was rare of me to not be able to get things into my head. I couldn’t really focus because my retarded mind wouldn’t quit wandering. It was getting ridiculous up to the point I was starting to get pissed off at myself. I had to memorize 30 pages of paper before next Monday but I haven’t even conquered 3 pages yet. Well it was my fault for always procrastinating until a few days before exam. 

“You can do this!” I chanted and took a gulp of the coffee that had already turned cold. I thought it could fight against my sleepiness but no. I didn’t even remember myself falling asleep.

-

It was the fifth time I’ve caught myself yawning and my eyes were already b with tears. But my willpower still led me through the whole period. It was probably the hope of seeing Taeyeon that actually kept me up.

“Tiffany you sure you don’t want to go home? You seem exhausted.” My teacher questioned from across the room and I peered around to realize I was the only student left.

“I’ll be fine.” I wasn’t even so sure of myself but oh well. My eyes glazed my unfinished painting of a pineapple and I glanced back at my teacher who was already packing his belongings.

“If you want. I have to leave now. Don’t forget to turn off the lights when you go.” He went for the door and opened it.

“Good night.” He said before closing the door behind him. It wasn’t my first time staying behind to finish off my work. Let’s just say leaving things unfinished is one of my pet peeves. I would just stay for an hour to complete it or just take it home with me. But today, I stared at my canvas and there was no way I’ll have the energy to pick it up all the way to my car.

I resumed what I was doing in silence and after 5 minutes, I noticed how my work was getting sloppier, and the paintbrush in my hand was magically gaining imaginary weight. Maybe I should just leave for home. I was too depleted of energy to care about my pet peeves. I placed my brush down and stared at the panting beside me. It had always been hung on the wall ever since I got here and I always look for comfort in it. It was messy. It was absolutely disastrous but phenomenally soothing to stare at. of blue, white and red were splattered on the rough canvas. It doesn’t really make any true image, just a speck of paint here and there. It was the kind that was auctioned for millions of dollars and I will never understand why. Maybe they all found it soothing to stare at too? I don’t know. All I know was that it was beautiful in a way, although I couldn’t place a finger on where it beauty lies. It’s like the many hideous parts join together to create a beauteous masterpiece.

I heard a faint knock on the door and my head whipped back to see Taeyeon standing outside of the room. My face broke into a smile and I tried my best to not smile too wide.

She slid the door open and stepped in. The first thing I noticed was her sneakers. This must be the first time I’m witnessing her without any heels on and that’s how I managed to notice how small she was. In fact, even a few centimeters shorter than me.

“Still here?” She coolly approached me and I could only nod. I brought my gaze to my pineapple and just stared at it. When I’m around her, it’s either I talk too much or just transform into a person who can’t speak. Every cell in my body was acting up, giving their huge reactions to the presence of Kim Taeyeon and hence, I was wide awake.

She came to stand near where I was sitting and I pressed my teeth onto my bottom lip to suppress my thoughts from dashing into a running spree. But of course, it was inevitable.

Irrational scenarios waltzed their glorious way into my head and I just accepted them in defeat.

With her fresh alluring scent, it was difficult to strain myself from just throwing myself at her and wrap my arms around her. I wanted to touch her face, her arms, her waist and her neck. I wanted to smell more of her scent and I wanted to server my head off for thinking these types of things.

She would slap the out of me and probably notify the police for ually harassing her. But her being so perfect and oozing with loveliness was only adding fuel to the fire. How can she be so calm? Right, she wasn’t the one having a massive crush.

“Pineapple?” She asked and awoken me from my imagination.

My head spun trying to make out what she was talking about and I nodded when my eyes landed on the canvas in front of me.

“A-ah pineapple. Yes pineapple.” I said and I was dying to cover the painting with my body and take it away from her sight. Her, a professional artist, seeing my crappy artwork was making me shy.

“It’s very cute.” She commented and I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad. People only say a drawing is cute when it’s super ridiculous and that was the only adjective they can use to describe it. Other adjectives were invalid.

“Thanks…” I trailed off. Awkward.

At a time like this, I turned my attention to the painting beside me and hoped to calm myself down. My eyes for the first time noticed a name written at the very bottom left corner and I read it.

“This is your work?” I asked in awe and she nodded in the most humble way.

“You’re amazing.” And hot as . Pretty as . Alluring as . Cute as . Bang-able as . Okay I should stop there. Where the hell did that last one come from?

“I’m not that amazing.” She replied almost immediately accompanied by a nervous chuckle. I took that chance to stare at her and our eyes locked for a millisecond before I instantly looked away. The temperature in my body was rising again.

I watched her intently as I saw her walked to a chair and pulled it next to me. She plopped herself down and a sheepish smile grazed her lips. Is she trying to kill me? What is she doing? Why is she staying in a room with only the two of us? Why is she not going home?

I was starting to panic. I sat like a stone on my chair and did nothing.

“Go on. Pretend I’m not here and continue your work.” She grinned and my heartbeat got into a messed up bundle. Pretend like she’s not here? That was easy for her to say. How can I ignore my ultimate crush when she was just a meter away from me? Not knowing what to do, I picked up my brush and resumed what I was doing. This was beyond eccentric but to be frank, I didn’t want to go home just yet. I painted over the completed part again and again since my concentration was nowhere to be found. From the corner of my eyes, I felt her watching me.

“Can I take a picture of you?” She fished out her phone and I went delirious.

“A picture of…me?” Is she planning to upload me onto her Facebook account? But I didn’t have any make up or anything and my eye bags were planning to hit the floor. How can she ask to take a photo at such situation? Can she not see how horrendous I look right now? I look like a ing avocado, with plastic surgery gone wrong. Ok fine I was exaggerating but you get my point? No? Oh whatever.

“It’s alright if you don’t want me to.” She must’ve seen my reluctance. She placed her phone back into her pocket and ripped out a piece of paper and a pencil from her purse. She keeps those kinds of materials with her? True artist right there.

“What are you doing?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. I hope she doesn’t think I ask too much.

“Feeding my boredom.” She replied and made rough sketches on her paper. She was too far away from me for me to see what she was drawing.

“Don’t mind me, just continue.” She said and drew. Her movements were quick and clean, and it seemed like she doesn’t make any mistakes since I never saw her using an eraser.

“Why are you not going home?” Holy my talkative side was intruding again.

“I’m used to being the last one to leave.”

“Oh my gosh am I holding you here? I’m sorry I should get going then.”

She dropped down her things and looked at me.

“No it’s ok. Just take your time because I’m not so thrilled to go home either.” She explained and I calmed down. I was itching to know what she was drawing so I fired another question.

“What are you drawing?”

“Just random doodling.” She laughed and my insides went gooey and bubbly. I want her so bad. Oh my gosh. It was unbearable.

“Can I see?”

“I see you’re turning quite curious again.” I immediately shut my mouth at that statement. Stupid me. I poured myself into my funny-looking pineapple. And then I noticed something that was just unreal. So far, nothing bad happened. Was this for real? Woah.

“So what made you register here?” She ripped through the silence and I knew I couldn’t answer that truthfully. She would freak out if I do so.

“I was just interested in learning.” That was partially true.

“Is that so?”

“Yes…” Why was she asking me all these things?  A drop of sweat rolled down my temple and I salute myself for sweating in an air-conditioned room.

“Do you still like me?” That question literally came out of nowhere and my eyes widened. How was I supposed to answer to that question? I guess Taehyung really got his bluntness from his sister.

I blushed furiously and I opened my mouth to only close again. For ’s sake how did she expect me to answer this without dropping dead on the spot?

Her intent stare was seriously aggravating the situation.

“Uh…yes?” I squeaked and I stood up abruptly, taking my phone and bag.

“I have to go.” I said in the fastest speed and half-ran out of the room. I didn’t want to get rejected again nor see her expression that would only let me down.

“How can she ask me that?!” My voice was frantic and high.

“How could she?!” I covered my face with my hands as I couldn’t get over my indirect confession earlier.

-

The following days for me were hectic. I was forced to skip a class at art’s academy due to the loads of paper that needed to be memorized by me. My heart hurt from not being able to see Taeyeon but there was no time to mourn over that. I was certain I would fail this semester’s exam.

“Why does it not go in?” I screamed frustratingly at the papers and notes. None of the information was going in. Well not literally none. It was going in, just in a snail-pace. It was Sunday and for some reason, I missed Taeyeon dearly even if I only skipped the Friday class.

I banged my head with my hand and kicked Taeyeon out of my mind. She was a threat to me right now. One dose of Kim Taeyeon and my mind will surely shut down. But little did I know that I will receive more than just one simple dose when she texted me.

“I must be hallucinating.” I rubbed my eyes at the text that was glowing on my lockscreen. It was a text from Taeyeon and my eyeballs almost popped out when I read the text.

Good luck for your exam and don’t work yourself out.

How in the world did she know I’m having an exam? I didn’t want to reply, because I know I’ll never get off my phone but my fingers disobeyed me. With a stomach full of butterflies, I typed back a reply enthusiastically.

“What should I type?” I deleted the message that I wrote.

“I can’t believe she just sent me a text!”

I typed something then deleted it again. Then I settled with something at last.

Hi! How did you know I was having an exam? And thank you I will try my best!

I clicked send and waited for a reply but she was active 5 minutes ago and never appeared active again. Nonetheless, I was having a huge grin on my face and my heart was jumping in glee. I got back to studying but now, I meant it when I say none gets through to my brain. A certain 27 year-old kept appearing everywhere in my mind. Maybe it was ok to fail just this one exam…

-

 I hope Tiffany can pass lmao. 

Thank you for reading. Please notify me if there's any mistakes. =D