Hansol’s group of friends is made up of some very interesting people.

Jihoon was a pessimist. His only response to Seokmin and Soonyoung’s plans was a short, two-lettered word called ‘No’. He was not being negative, he said. “I honestly just wanted us to live a long life outside of prison” was often his response to Seokmin and Soonyoung’s whining. Some say that he got it from his elder brother Yoongi, a recent graduate from their high school. However, there were still spots of pink and yellow in his somewhat bleak persona. Hansol remembered the time he called Jihoon at twelve midnight, in tears and highly stressed out because for some reason he was unable to memorize the facts needed for an AP Physics test that was nine hours away. The older boy had ran to his house in a record time of ten minutes despite living in a completely different neighborhood, panting and heaving while telling him that everything was going to be alright and offered to help him study. Jihoon also gave the cutest eye-smiles, Seokmin always cooed before Jihoon smacked the back of his head with his Music Theory notes. Jihoon wanted to become a producer.

Soonyoung was a boy made for the stage. Just like how Hansol could not live without rapping, Soonyoung lived and breathed the art of dance. He was the leader and choreographer for Jam Jam, their school’s award winning dance crew. He was no doubt talented, as he not only was able to create choreographies out of simple movements (he had created the intro of a song just by watching Hansol picking up a piece of tissue), but also had the voice blessed by angels. However, if there was one thing Soonyoung could not do, it was rap. During freshman year, he had begged Hansol to teach him how to rap in order to impress an upperclassman he had a crush on. The younger complied, but instantly realized that he was committing a huge mistake when Soonyoung’s saliva covered a higher percentage of his face than his lavender scented moisturizer. After the forty-five minutes of constant accidental spitting, Soonyoung realized that he was not rapper material and called it quits. It was a week later when Soonyoung was convinced that Seokmin was his soulmate, and wanted to impress him instead. Soonyoung wanted to study modern dance at a prestigious performing arts school.

Seokmin shone the brightest out of all of them. He was the human embodiment of the sun, and always had that warm yellow aura surrounding him wherever he went. He had that internal joy that people would fight wars over, one that was fully independent of the outside world. The warm yellow that surrounded Seokmin was accompanied by a light pink, reminding Hansol of the roses his father used to buy for his mother before flower prices started to rise. During their freshman literature class, while studying I Capture the Castle, amidst of everyone’s blank faces as the teacher droned on and on about the analysis, Seokmin was the only one in tears throughout the entire lesson (which was quite expected of him, given that he cried himself to sleep after watching The Fault in Our Stars). And Hansol, being “emotionally paired” with him, cried together with Seokmin (well actually, he cried laughing). Seokmin loves Soonyoung and that has stayed the same throughout the years, and changing times did nothing to waver the affection he had for the dancer.  Seokmin was a wonderful singer and wanted to study music at a performing arts school.

No matter how distinguished their personalities were from each other, that could never write out the fact that they were all lovers of the non-examinable school subject called gossip.

-

“I’m not kidding you, I really saw Mr. Kim and Mr. Jeon at the cinema on Saturday!” Soonyoung whispered across the paint adorned table, pointing a blue paintbrush in Jihoon’s direction.

“You are a man of misplaced information, Kwon. And besides, wasn’t Mr Jeon at school that day?” Jihoon argued, not looking up from his drawing.

“It was in the evening, Hoon. Those Literature extension classes ended at three last Saturday” Soonyoung rebutted, turning to Seokmin, “isn’t that right Seokminnie?” The singer smiled and nodded, eyes never leaving his beloved dancer.

Hansol, who sat opposite Seokmin and Soonyoung could feel the love radiating off the happy couple. He gulped, in an attempt to keep his lunch down. He really did not want to see the mystery meat he spent 20 minutes swallowing surface up and onto his drawing of the moon.

-

The bell rang, and Hansol and his gang made their way to Mr.Yoon’s class. Their journey, to the ever so exciting biology lab was however paused by a certain art teacher calling out their names.

“Yes, Mr. Kim?” Soonyoung asked politely, his mind flashing all sorts of red signs indicating the possibility of the art teacher listening to their conversations about his date with the Humanities head of department.

“Are any of you boys free after school?” The tan male asked, whilst putting away sheets of lesson plans.

The four of them gulped.

Seokmin and Soonyoung shook their heads, being occupied with auditions.

Jihoon was already busy enough with his Music Theory classes.

And that leaves Hansol, alone, the only one with an empty after school timetable.

.

-

Hansol fumbled with his paintbrush as he observed the group of actors congregated in the centre of the stage. They chatted animatedly, about almost everything under the sun. He heard snippets of conversations regarding level-wide essay assignment, about the budding romances seen behind book shelves and under tables, about asses and legs.

The gap separating “almost” and “everything” under the sun were the discussions about their characters and script.

Hansol huffed, figuring that they were just like him, present only for the extra credits being in a school play offered.

Hansol was about to return to mixing his tin of purple paint when his eyes caught sight of a tuff of reddish-brown hair sitting alone by the side of the stage. He was quiet, a stark contrast to the bustling conversations occurring nearby. Legs crosses and back propped up against the wall, the brown-haired boy’s pink lips moved wordlessly as his eyes scanned through the page. His cheeks were a rosy colour, reminding Hansol of those precious moments during a sunset. He was serene, his round face showing minimal signs of stress as he memorized the words of the script.

Brown-haired boy looked up, and Hansol’s breath was stolen away.

-

Hansol was given the duty of painting the backdrop, capturing the moments before a sunset on the white canvas. It was for a scene made for a heartbroken man, and Hansol wanted to express melancholy with the prettiest and palest colours. He was going to paint the white canvas with the lightest shade of blue, with the palest tones of peach and lavender swirled together, creating a messy effect that made the painting seem more natural. Hints of azure and white dots of clouds will be added to the painting, creating an invisible effect that gave it more life.

It is going to be beautiful.

-

The sunset took second place the moment the brown-haired boy stood on stage, and Hansol dropped everything just to see him act. It was a breakup scene, a moment of escape for a girl who wanted to leave and a heartbreaking moment for the boy who wanted her stay. The red-haired girl playing opposite brown-haired boy was not very impressive; the tired in her voice was not tinged with the sadness and exasperation that was expected of her character. It was monotonous, the fatigue in her voice reminding Hansol of the essay on obesity due next Wednesday. Brown-haired boy was on an another level; he speech was rushed and filled with wanting, desperate to get the girl to love him back, to not leave him alone heartbroken in front of a beautiful sunset. There was a moment when he slowed down, hands rummaging through his hair, as he whispered in a broken voice, “If it makes you happy, then go”.

The girl walked away, and Hansol wanted to take her place as brown-haired boy’s lover instead.

-

Rehearsals ended at 5pm, with the tired-looking drama teacher clasping his hands together, announcing that everyone did a great job with false hope and encouragement adorning his voice. The flurry of activity started again, with the actors resuming their conversations as they went backstage to retrieve their bags. It took fifteen minutes, but soon everyone was cleared out of the auditorium, leaving Hansol to work on his piece with peace (pun not intended) and quiet.

It took another thirty minutes before Hansol heard the sound of footsteps emerging from backstage. In a paranoid state of mind, he grabbed a nearby paintbrush with clammy hands, breathing softly but deeply to ease his pounding heart. Good job Hansol, he thought, a ing paintbrush to protect yourself against a maniac. He shuddered as he thought of himself rolling up to his own funeral painted in the palest and prettiest shades of pink and purple.

Or he could stab the intruder with a paintbrush. That would be ing sick.

The sound of the footsteps grew closer and closer and, and so did the impending feeling of doom. His grip around the paintbrush grew tighter, till his paint adorned knuckles paled. He raised his arm in a defensive position, ready to be the first to strike when-

“Whoa, are you alright?” he looked up, and most definitely did not think that intruders came in the form of adorable brown-haired boys with rosy lips.

Hansol slowly put down his arm and settled the once raised paintbrush on the floor. He felt heat radiating of his face, and silently hoped that the wooden stage would open up and engulf him. Instead, he nodded and in a soft voice stuttered, “I..I’m fine.”

Brown-haired boy’s face broke into a gentle smile as he pointed to the empty space beside Hansol, “Can I sit here?” Hansol, still feeling embarrassed, nodded silently as he scooted over.

“Do you need any help?” brown-eyed boy asked, his brown eyes glistening. They were made up of lighter and darker hues of brown, with specks of amber. His brown hair carried hints of crimson and maroon, contributing to the reddish effect.

Hansol swallowed thickly, and handed the boy a paintbrush.

-

“I’m Seungkwan, by the way.”

“I’m Hansol”