The guide motions for everyone to be quiet and the chattering voices slowly stop. 

She starts speaking up in a louder voice so everyone can hear, “Here is one of Oh Sehun’s greatest piece of artwork. This is a fresco painting, a method of painting using wet plaster then it is printed onto the wall and it usually takes up to several days.”

“As you all know, Oh Sehun is a noble nationwide known artist in Ancient Greek, known best for his sculptures and paintings as they are used for offerings to the gods on special days. This piece is indeed one of the greatest, but it is also very mysterious as the background story is vaguely known.”

Ancient Greece, Year 1594,

It’s a bright morning and the streets around the landmark are crowded, people’s loud chattering and rapid sounds from the horses around. The bustling streets outside could be heard from within Sehun’s studio. Unlike everyone else who are going outdoors, Sehun stays inside, eyes scrutinizing his rough outline for the new sculpture he’ll make.

This year, Oh Sehun is finally 28 years old and he’s happy he’s still in the age of prosperity. He had started making art when he’s 11 years old, and since then on, he focuses himself solely on fine arts. 

Aside from art, he’s a pretty well-known man among everyone for he is blessed to have a handsome face. He has a blonde straight hair, and it’s been some time since he had his last cut so it’s all grown out. He has sharp brown eyes, a pretty high cheek bone,  a sharp and defined jawline, and he has a pale skin tone.

People compliment him by saying that he alone could be even more gorgeous than all the sculptures Sehun had ever made and he laughs it off. But they appreciate and respect him greatly for his works in art.

Sehun’s passion for art is undying as if there’s a fire within him. His passion doesn’t go unrecognizable as he becomes a nationwide known artist, noble and respected for his works. He’d gone far as to making a few sculptures and paintings of the gods as requested from the kingdom for either offerings or a private collection. 

His life had been about making art only. You could even say that he’s gifted with the talent of art, mastering in both painting and sculpture. His works had always been praised for the beauty and how realistic it is. Although as great as he is, a man being alone for the rest of his life in the eyes of the public is a shame. 

He dismissed it when being questioned by curious people, “I’m still in my young and ideal age. It hadn’t gone through my mind about the matter of settling in. I don’t even have anyone in mind, who could possibly be the one who I’ll spend the rest of my life with.”

People leaves it at that with their own conclusion that maybe, just maybe, Oh Sehun will be settling in with someone when the day comes. What they didn’t know is, in the back of Sehun’s mind, he has decided to dedicate his whole life to fine arts and his sole purpose of existence is to be remembered as a respected and influential artist of his time.

He’s always persistent with his works, so he thinks there shouldn’t be any difference with the sculpture he’ll make but admittedly, he’s agitated and feels the fatigue from the outline already.

This isn’t anywhere near to my vision, Sehun sighs in his seat.

Yixing snaps him out of his train of thoughts, “It’s a rare occurrence to see you worked up by the outlines alone.”

“I have a feeling this sculpture will be a special one, I want it to be perfect but it’s hard.”

“You always say the same thing, and your sculptures’ outcome is always a masterpiece, so don’t be so discouraged,” Yixing smiles at him, as he pats him on the back.

Yixing excuses himself to buy milk from the nearest market, he gives one last gentle squeeze on Sehun’s shoulder before he heads outside.

He looks back to the outline drawing of his sculpture, he’d drawn it to have an idealized figure of a man, with subtle abs, toned legs and a controlled expression for its face. 

But why do I feel something is missing and left out from this?

He weighs the choice on whether the sculpture should have a fabric draped over its body or just bare . His sculptures are usually bare so he decides to go on a different way and draws an outline of a fabric covering its ness.

The odd feeling he has is still gnawing at him and his mind couldn’t come up with a reason why it bothers him so much. He ignores the feeling and starts thinking about the sculpture’s face. He’s unsure if he should stay with the same style, but he just added a fabric covering its body, so he might as well try different styles.

On a separate lambskin, he draws an outline of a face, along with the hair, in which he decides it to be wavy and thick. He starts pondering about the features on his face.

His mind is thinking of ideas, as he imagines its face, I think he should have hooded eyes but sharp, he’ll have a little bump on the bridge of his nose. What else? Maybe his lips will be thicker unlike my other sculptures, and a refined and sharp jawline.

He leans back to see the finished outline, and he admits, he’s satisfied with how it’ll probably look, but somewhere deep inside, he feels insecure on whether it’ll come out as he expects it to be.

The face of the sculpture will be different from his commonly carved sculptures. They usually have the same thin lips, wide doe eyes, and a sharp nose. They seem stoic because of the face, even though, Sehun always makes sure his sculptures are contrapposto.

With his self-confidence quivering in the bare minimum, he walks up hesitantly to the marble stone he prepared, both the outline drawings in his hand.

He grabs the tool by the nearest table and starts chiseling the outline of the sculpture onto the stone. He takes his time to make sure he carves the outline properly, as he glances to the drawing once in a while, to keep on track with the detail he’s currently chiseling.

When he’s done carving the outline, he starts chiseling from the top as he’s used to carving the part that is hardest to reach. He grabs the nearby stool, and climbs up, careful to balance himself on the wooden stool. 

Yixing comes in with a bottle of fresh cold milk when Sehun starts chiseling the top of the stone. “You’ve managed to come up with its features to your liking?”

“I did but you know I always have a tinge of a doubt with any of my creations.”

“It’ll come out beautiful, it always does. You’re said to have gifted hands of an extraordinary artist from the gods for a reason, Sehun.”

“I do hope my creations pleases the gods to no end,” Sehun mumbles, focusing on both chiseling and not hurting his hand.

Yixing smiles, he knows about Sehun’s insecurities and self-doubt of the gift he has, which leads him to overthink. He knows since he’s been friends with Sehun even before Sehun, as an artist, gets the recognition he deserves.

At these times, Yixing can only try to comfort him or let him be in his own space. The cold bottled milk in his hand reminds him of Sehun’s fond of it, so he searches for a cup and finds one, then he pours some into it.

Yixing calls Sehun out, the latter looking down to him and notices Yixing offering the cup of milk. He stops carving, moves a bit to sit on the stool, and when he takes the cup, he grins at Yixing and thanks him greatly.

They silently drink the milk from their own cups, and Yixing instinctively takes Sehun’s cup away, earning a sigh, “You realize I still have my feet and I can walk to put that away.”

“I noticed, but that sculpture won’t be done anytime soon if the creator doesn’t get back to it.”

Sehun huffs at him, standing up carefully on the stool. There’s no point of arguing with Yixing but he mutters a complain anyway, “It doesn’t even take an hour to put a cup away, Yixing.”

He hears the echo of his laugh in the far distance, implying that Yixing is walking away, probably to the fountain in the back of his studio. He goes back to chiseling the stone, carefully removing cobbles of chiseled stone away from him, it drops to the ground, creating a loud thump in the quiet studio.

This is going to be another long journey with my new sculpture, Sehun smiles, patting his own chest as a form of encouragement.

A month passes by quickly, and Sehun had spent all those times mostly on carving his sculpture. The head and neck are carved almost thoroughly that it’s visible from the front view, with the details roughly chiseled. He leaves it be and moves on to carving from the neck until its lower parts.

As per usual, he’s always too busy carving that he forgets his daily needs of food and drink. He thanks Yixing, every time he nudges Sehun out of his focus with a plate of food and a cup of water. It’s no longer a surprise to Yixing that Sehun forgets to eat and drink, the only times he stops carving is either because of his bladder or his sleeping time. Even his sleeping time is less frequent whenever he makes a sculpture.

He focuses on carving and chiseling the front view of the sculpture before moving on to the back view. He’s leaving the details roughly chiseled, he’ll soon get back to it and carve it even more precisely when he’s done with the sculpture’s overall figure.

He’s engulfed with positivity so far, the outcome of the first phase of his carving is good enough and he can’t wait to carve more.

A few month passes by, and its abdomen is more visible and prominent. Sehun makes sure to carve in a subtle detail for its abs. He still has the outline drawing pinned on the wall, and he doesn’t forget to carve the detail of the fabric draping from its shoulder until its thigh.

He carves a part of its arms, as he decided that he wants the sculpture to lean to its right, with the right arm bent onto the support he’ll carve later. His sculpture will have an edge of cockiness and he’s sure the posture he visioned defines the word cocky.

What he finds odd again, is he feels very positive about the finished outcome of the sculpture, there’s no doubt or insecurities of never being good enough.

This positivity in me is too much that it’s odd having no doubts, it’s equally nice and terrifying.

Yixing is still with him in the studio, taking care of Sehun’s needs for food and drink, and helping Sehun clean the piling cobbles of chiseled stones away so that it doesn’t harm him or the stool he’s sitting on.

Sehun feels like he owes Yixing a great debt for always taking care of him—and the studio—. He’ promises to himself to repay Yixing when he’s done with the sculpture he’s currently making.

The sculpture itself comes out beautiful and because of it, Sehun’s proud that he decided to try a different style. All he thinks about in his mind is, it will be perfect, it must be perfect, Oh Sehun. You can do it.

Another few months passes by, and Sehun had finished carving the front view of its lower parts. Its thighs are toned and he applies the contrapposto onto its right leg. 

He always shows the key point he values to his sculptures, which is naturalism and he’s satisfied with how the posture isn’t stiff but at the same time, oozes the cockiness and seductiveness of a man.

Sehun gets off the stool and takes the time to step back and marvel his progress on the sculpture. When Yixing comes up beside him, he slings his arm around his shoulder as his eyes gaze on the sculpture, his lips forming into a wide smile.

“It’s beautiful already, Sehun, you’re truly gifted with an outstanding talent,” Yixing sighs in content.

“Give yourself some credit, you helped a lot around here and making sure I still have my daily needs of nutritions and sleep.”

“It’s nothing really, compared to what you’re making right here. Your works are truly a masterpiece,” Yixing takes slow steps and touches the carved part of the sculpture.

Something ignites inside Sehun when he sees Yixing’s hand running along the rough surface of the sculpture, but he’s not sure what it’s about.

It could just be my giddiness and pride of the sculpture…

The back side of the sculpture is halfway done after a few more months. Sehun is impressed at how realistic the sculpture is, but then again, he’s always impressed by the works of his own hands. 

He chiseled the backside of its head until its chest. He adds in the details of its hair, and somehow his hand works its way to carving its shoulders broader than usual. If his sculpture is a real life man, he’s definitely a fine and great-looking man.

Sehun sometimes wonders if this sculpture could be a figment of someone in his mind, whether it's from his dreams, his past life, or the people he passed by in the streets. 

He dismisses it as one of his wandering thoughts. He takes a few steps back to see the progress and when he sees how it looks, he grins as he wipes away the sweat beads forming on his temple by the heat from outside.

He looks at its face and there it is again, something igniting within him, followed by an urge to caress the surface of its face. He’s honestly curious to what is igniting in him, so he comes up to the sculpture, “It won’t hurt to run my hands over it.”

He steps on the base of it and realizes that he made the sculpture as tall as he is. He scrutinizes its facial features, he hasn’t yet carved more of the details, but its eyes are somewhat piercing into anyone who looks at it.

There’s a little quirk on the corner of its lips, something of a smug smirk. He raises his hands to its face, and touches it softly, marveling the beauty of it. The surface is still rigid, he hasn’t polished it yet because it’s the last step in the process of making sculptures.

Something about the sculpture mesmerizes him, and he doesn’t know if it’s a good sign or a bad sign. It might be a good sign because then, everybody else will feel the same or even more heightened than he is.

Yixing comes into the studio and sees Sehun inspecting the sculpture, he shakes his head, “Are you enchanted by its charms?”

He stays still on the base, eyes trailing to its face and not even shaken by Yixing’s sudden remark, “You can say so. It’s beautiful and I believe everyone else will say the same when they see this.”

“It’s nice that you’ve overcome your doubts for this sculpture. I’m proud of you for that.”

I don’t even have the slightest doubts, I feel satisfied, and oddly so, obsessed even?

“Hey Sehun,” Yixing walks closer to Sehun, tapping his back, “you should take a step back or you’ll hurt your eyes from inspecting it too close.”

Sehun keeps still as if he’s stuck to his place, his gaze doesn’t waver to anywhere else than the sculpture. He mumbles, almost like a whisper, “It's so beautiful and realistic.”

“It is, but you really need to step back, Sehun, be careful on the base of it.”

“I figured I should give it a name, Yixing,” Sehun’s voice almost sounds like he’s in a trance.

A confusion settles in Yixing, his brows arching, “That was sudden. What do you have in mind for its name?”

“I’m thinking of naming it Kai, what do you think?”

“That’s an interesting name for a sculpture. Is there a reason behind it?”

“Kai is a resolute conjunction word and the sculpture’s face and posture exerts on resolute so it relates well.”

“Fair enough. It’s a simple and direct name, so I think it’ll be good,” Yixing’s voice trails, as he stares at Sehun in confusion, because never in his life, he’d ever seen Sehun so entranced and mesmerized by his own sculpture.

He walks up to the sculpture and runs his hand to its unfinished arm, and Sehun looks over at him in a beat, his gaze sharp as if he’s scolding Yixing. He realizes a bit too late, but when he does, he’s taken aback by the piercing gaze.

There’s something different with Sehun, he’s sure of it. He’s never stared like that by Sehun for touching his sculptures but he just did a moment ago. His eyes looked mad and even leaning close to possessive? 

Yixing stares back at Sehun with wide eyes, until he manages to find his voice back, “Sehun, are you feeling well?”

Sehun snaps out of his lingering gaze on Yixing, shaking his head, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” What just came into me?

Yixing seems hesitant, but he manages to ask in a wavering voice, “You were staring at me for touching it. Has something gotten into you?”
Sehun sighs, of course, Yixing notices, he practically stared at him judgingly as if he committed a crime by touching it. There’s no use in lying to him and he knows him too well.

“I honestly don’t know. There’s this feeling and it’s igniting constantly, and when I saw your hands over it, I completely lost it, I felt furious and I don’t even have the right to feel that.”

Sehun shifts his gaze downwards, his voice trembling because he had never felt like this before to a sculpture. He marvels it but he’s never furious. Ever.

“I don’t know why you felt furious but be careful. You might not know what will happen if you feel it again.”

The thing is, Yixing, I don’t know if I can ever tame this igniting feeling.

Sehun finishes the overall figure after a total of eight months, and he simply thought he’s gone mad. He always finds himself staring and touching the sculpture, his mind telling him to do that. 

Whenever he takes a step back to admire the sculpture, his heart beats a tad faster than usual and he doesn’t know if it’s an adrenaline, but how does one get an adrenaline from looking at a sculpture? Is it even adrenaline?

Sehun is once again staring at it and there goes his heart, beating erratically, “Kai, what have you done to me?”

“Sehun, are you okay?” Another voice chimes in, and Sehun looks to where the voice is. Yixing is walking towards him slowly, he looks somewhat terrified and it saddens Sehun to see Yixing terrified of him.

Sehun’s hand comes up to mess his hair, “This is driving me mad, I don’t know why this is happening to me.”

“What is happening to you?”

“Please don’t look at me like that,” Sehun sits on the nearest wooden stool, it hurts to see his only friend looking at him like he’s a mad man.

I probably have turned into a mad man…

Yixing has a sympathy look on his face, and he crouches down near Sehun, “Do tell me?”

Sehun sighs, he’s going to regret this but at least it’s Yixing. He confesses, his voice a whisper out of shame, “I think I have feelings for Kai.”

Yixing is surprised by it, eyes widening. He didn’t expect a sculpture causing a madness in Sehun, “Kai? You mean the sculpture?”

“Yes. I don’t know what kind of feeling but my heart keeps on beating whenever I stare at it. It’s like an attraction even though it shouldn’t be.”

“Are you attracted with Kai?”

“Is this called an attraction?” Sehun sounds depressed, and Yixing is overcome with sadness, because Sehun is never depressed, he had lived his life as a noble artist in a lively and joyous spirit.

“Sehun, you might not be in the right mind, so how about taking a well rest?”

“I might be a mess now, but that doesn’t excuse me from finishing it,” Sehun stands up abruptly, sighing as he dusts off his pants.

Yixing stands up along, as he grabs Sehun’s wrist and pulls him into an embrace. He whispers, “Be well and take care of yourself. Don’t mind it too much.”

He pulls back and sees Sehun smiling at him weakly, before nodding and walking back to the sculpture, grabbing the tool he left on the table and climbs up the stool. He starts chiseling it again, carving the details, in a rather gloomy mood as he keeps his silence.

What Yixing doesn’t notice, is that Sehun sheds a tear, then it keeps on coming and he could only bare to keep a silence, though he feels a painful wrench inside him and it’s agonizing, torturing him in the worst possible way. A slow painful torture.

A month passes by and he finishes carving the details and polishing the sculpture. He wanders occasionally if Kai could get any more attractive and beautiful. 

There’s just something about him that is so enchanting, but by the end of the day, the realization of how wrong this is dawns on him.

Not about the reason he feels the attraction, but the truth that he indeed had fallen for a sculpture. His very own sculpture, as he named it Kai. He had come to terms with his feelings and admits his attraction, there’s no longer a reason to deny it.

It had been a rough month, and he felt every inch of pain inside of him. Why is he struck with such bad luck? Why does it have to be him? Is this the foreboding of my existence to become an artist? All these questions come into his mind and he’d always find his eyes full of tears, before he couldn’t hold it any longer, and he sobs and cries in agony.

“Had I not impressed the gods? Had I not fulfill the gift thou bestowed upon me? Had this been a curse thou bestowed along with a gift of talented hands?” Sehun asks in midst of his sobs, looking up. 

He stands up from sitting on the floor, he finds his feet climbing on the base of the sculpture, his hand reaching up to caress Kai’s face.

“But it is not your fault dear Kai, for I had been the one who created you and had been madly fallen over your beauty, the creation of my own gifted hands,” his hands reaches up to touch its hair, and finding it to be of hard material, when it should’ve been soft, like any human hair.

He’s not even human, and I’ve acknowledged him as one. If this is a curse, then I shall no longer have this gift. 

I only seek for happiness when I had fulfilled the purpose of this gift, but instead, I’m filled with pain and agony from the only one that I could've spend the rest of my life with. From Kai, the sculpture.

Sehun’s tears wouldn’t stop streaming down his cheeks, as he hugs the sculpture, feeling the coldness of it and the hardness of the marble stone material.

He doesn’t care anymore, he hugs it tightly, silently wishing that he could’ve met someone like Kai so that he wouldn’t have gone through such pain. His tears continuously flowing, his vision is all blurry and the pain inside his chest is weighing him down and he couldn’t take it, but he has to.

His sobs are loud and echoing across the silent studio, and he hears the door banging open, as someone he expected, Yixing, comes barging in to find Sehun clinging onto the sculpture tightly. 

His tear stricken face exhausted, his chest is heaving uncontrollably, and he looks so frail and weak that Yixing is afraid, with one slightest touch, Sehun could shatter into pieces.

Yixing approaches him, careful not to scare him, and his hand comes up to rub Sehun’s back gently, he’s uttering, “Sehun, it’s okay to cry but please come down. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Sehun comes down from the base mindlessly, he doesn’t have the power to argue or even nod. He crashes his knees onto the floor, sending Yixing in shock before he hurries to sit beside Sehun.

“Sehun, you’re so pale. Do you want me to get you water or food?” 

Sehun glances at him, his lips tries forming words but he’s unable to. He’d exhausted himself that he’s too weak to do anything. Yixing takes it as a form of ‘Yes’ so he rushes to the back side of the studio.

He gets back a minute later with two cups of water and a loaf of bread on a tray and he serves it to Sehun, urging him to drink the water first. He motions for Sehun to eat the bread but he refuses.

“You need to eat the bread, Sehun.”

In a croaked voice, Sehun answers back, “I don’t need it. I just needed water.”

“But you have to, you can barely move.”

Sehun shakes his head, his eyes droopy and swollen, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.”

He looks soulless and he can barely lift his head up, but he doesn’t want Yixing to worry? Yixing grits his teeth in annoyance, “How can I not worry about you when you’re like this?”

“I brought this upon myself. I don’t want you to get into this complication.”

“Well the moment I decided to be your friend, is the moment I’ll stay beside you no matter the complication you’re going through, Sehun. You should know that by now.”

“But for this matter, I don’t think you should stay by my side, Yixing.”

“You’re not pushing me away, Sehun. Even if you’ve gone mad, I’ll stay beside you.”

“But Yixing—,“ Yixing cuts in shortly, “That’s enough, Sehun. You can keep defying me, but I stay to my ground and that is being your friend.”

Sehun stops arguing and he still has his gaze to the floor, tears start forming in his eyes again, he mutters grimly, “Why is this happening to me? Is this a curse for having a gift?”

“It’s not a curse, Sehun.”
“Then what is this? This attraction,” Sehun’s arms flailing weakly, and his tears are threatening to fall.

“My knowledge limits me from explaining but it’s not a curse and it’s not your fault, I’m sure of that.”

“Is there a way to lift this pain away? I can’t hold on any longer, Yixing. Should I kill myself?”

“Sehun, killing yourself is not a solution, you can’t stop fighting. I propose, that you destroy the sculpture.”

“Destroying the work I’ve been dedicating my time and effort to? That’s not wise of you, Yixing.”

“But that work is driving you mad.”

Sehun sneers weakly, “I might be, but I no longer care, Yixing. It’s my fate that I’ve fallen over Kai.”

“Sehun, Kai is just a sculpture. You’re not in love, this could just be an obsession.”

“An obsession doesn’t go as far as having the delusion of spending the rest of my life with him while still accepting the fact that Kai is a sculpture.”

Yixing’s mouth is shut over the confession Sehun just said, he realizes inside his mind that obsession could go far beyond unhealthy but being in love is different. 

He can see that it wrecks Sehun, not because Sehun couldn’t have him but because Kai is a sculpture and he’d accepted it, and that’s called being in love.

Yixing in a breath, before massaging one of Sehun’s shoulders, “You do know tomorrow is Aphrodite’s festival day?”

Sehun nods weakly, he looks up at Yixing expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

“It’s been some time since you’ve ever gone out, so how about going to Aphrodite’s altar tomorrow? A breath of fresh air might help.”

Sehun contemplates it for a while, then he agrees to do so. Yixing offers him the bread again and he accepts it willingly, biting into it slowly. He plans in mind of what he’ll do tomorrow.

The next day comes by fast, it’s morning and Sehun had taken a shower and wore his formal clothes that he’d usually wear to certain occasions. The festival is a certain occasion so he guesses it’ll fit for him to wear it.

He wears a white chiton, a belt with silver lining’s fastened on his waist, and he wears a himation with a light blue color, and it has gold in its borders. He has on simple slippers and jewelry in a form of brooches and pins.

He hugs and waves good bye to Kai and Yixing also waves him good bye and for him to have a great time. He goes out and sees people crowding the streets and there are red-colored decorations and hearts hanging from pillars to pillars.

There are people throwing rose petals in the air and Sehun finds himself smiling, it’s a relief being able to smile because he doesn’t remember the last time he can smile this sincere.

He passes by a few people who acknowledges and greets him, and he greets back politely. He moves on to Aphrodite’s altar, he has a bouquet of flowers in hand and a basket of apples in another hand.

When he arrives at the altar, his eyes roam around the crowd and he realizes a lot of them are with their mates, looking very much in love and probably have offerings for their love to last forever. Sehun is there for a different reason, since his supposedly mate isn’t even human and the grief is there again in his heart. He climbs up the stairs of the altar and gets closer to the statue of Aphrodite. He sends his prayers to Aphrodite, then he puts his offerings near the statue. 

“May golden Aphrodite, whose gift it is to bring us together in love and compassion, I give thou these offerings. I praise thou for thy gifts, and of hope, I ask thou for a favor, that I shall have a mate who would have the living likeness of Kai, my sculpture.”

He bows down for some time, then he leaves as he sends his gratitude to Aphrodite. He tries having a light heart along with his way back to his studio. A few people stop him on his way, to show their appreciation towards his works and Sehun thanks them sincerely before excusing himself.

He enters the studio to see it empty, Kai is still there in the middle of the space. He sees a note written on a small piece of lamb skin, it says that Yixing will be out for the next two days. 

He grabs a nearby stool and puts it near Kai, as he sits on it. He doesn’t know why, but he starts a conversation with the sculpture. 

“So I made an offering to goddess Aphrodite today, I hope I can find someone just like you, Kai. You won’t be able to hear this, but I hope you know that you’re irreplaceable to me, you’re beautiful and stunning, I like you just the way you are even if it doesn’t let us together,” Sehun smiles sarcastically, the thought of his unfortunate fate passes by in his mind for a fleeting moment.

“I still haven’t decided whether I should put you out on public or take you in as my private works. To think of it, I’d like to keep you on my own, Kai.”

He sends his gaze on the space and to the walls of his studio, the walls are white without a different color on it. An idea pops into mind of what he’ll do, “Maybe I should make a fresco painting of you onto one of the walls in the studio so then when the time comes, they’ll know about you.”

He goes to his shelf in the far end of the room and grabs a plaster. He makes sure that he gets water onto the plaster so that it’ll be wet and he can paint on it. There’s an image in mind of what he’ll paint of Kai, so after he grabs a bucket of water, he pours it onto another medium and puts his plaster on top of it.

He waits for a while before he pours out the water and leaves the plaster, then he starts sketching the composition with an underlayer pigment which later will not be visible after he’ll apply more pigments onto it. 

He spends the rest of the hours of the day with painting on the plaster, making sure that it’s a simple but a memorable fresco painting he’ll ever make because it’ll be the only one for Kai. 

He finishes when the day had turned dark as it’s night time already. Sehun takes a peek outside from his window and sees dark clouds forming in the air, probably a sign that it’ll rain. Just as he said it, droplets of rain start pouring as it starts growing heavy.

Rain is a good fortune in a god’s festival day, this must be a blessing from goddess Aphrodite herself.

He goes back to his painting and after he’s sure he’s finished with it, he grabs the nearest stool and climbs up to it, seeing it from above, and he grins, satisfied with the painting he had made. 

He had painted Kai as if he’s a real human being, he has a burgundy colored chiton and a head piece of gold leaves on top of his wavy brown hair. Kai is sitting on a stool, his arm bends on one of his knees, and his chin is propped on his hand as he gazes straight ahead lazily. 

Even in the painting, Sehun thinks Kai looks dashingly beautiful and breath-taking. If Kai were a human, he would be able to see his ethereal beauty in human form. He would be able to reach out for his hand and intertwine their fingers.

He would be able to gaze straight into Kai’s eyes and Kai would look back at him, equally gazing at him. He would be able to feel the softness of Kai’s hair and most importantly, he could hug him and he would feel the warmth radiating off of Kai.

Sehun is struck with the reality that even though he had asked a favor to goddess Aphrodite, there’s a bigger possibility of it not coming true. He has to accept the fate that he fell in love with a sculpture and spends the rest of his life in misery.

Sehun doesn’t realize that tears start forming again in his eyes until his vision blurs and a tear streams down his cheek. He climbs off the stool and he feels his whole body is drained of energy. He walks slowly to the sculpture and his chest is heaving, his hand clenched.

Instinctively, his feet climbs up the base of it and he’s now standing inches away from Kai. His tears are streaming down already and he stares at Kai’s face, only to see a face of a sculpture staring back at him.

His arm reaches up to his shoulders and he hugs him tightly. He ignores the cold feeling from the marble stone and continues to hug him, as he sobs quietly. 

He hears a faint sound of lightning from outside, but he no longer cares as he succumbs to his feelings of despair. In a choked voice, he whispers, “Why do I have to be so unfortunate? Why is that when I love someone, it is you? A sculpture, a lifeless and soulless thing, one that won’t love me back whatsoever.”

He keeps quiet and sobs into the cold shoulder of the sculpture, his tears start dampening his favorite chiton. He notices that the candles around starts flickering but he chooses to ignore and shuts his eyes, as he stops crying and he’s left with the trembling of his shoulder and his drying cheeks.

Suddenly, there’s a loud sound of lightning, seemingly a lightning had just struck the studio and it resonates through the room. It sends Sehun surprised as he opens his eyes, to see the studio getting dimmer.

He sees the candles blown away one by one as if a strong wind had caused it even though his studio is a closed space. His eyes focus on the last candle until it blows away also and he’s left in a pitch black room.

His hug tightens around Kai’s shoulders as he feels fear inside of him, of having to spend the rest of the night without any lighting. The thoughts running in his head is thinking of possible ways he can do to light up one of the candles.

In the midst of his thoughts, he hears a very faint whisper of a voice, “It is done.” 

There’s no one in the studio except for him, the voice could just be inside his head. Unless someone had broken into his studio when the studio had gone pitch black. The assumption leads back to Sehun searching for ideas to light up one of the candles.

He fails to notice that there’s a growing warmth radiating to him. His thoughts are running with ideas in which none can lead him to light up a candle because he’ll need to find a match but he puts it on the shelf, far back in the room.

All the thoughts leave his head when he feels a breath fans over his cheek. He stays put in his place, unable to move because whose breath was that? It’s not possible for that to be the wind. 

His arms are still around Kai’s shoulder, then he starts noticing the heat radiating and he can feel a very smooth surface from the part of his skin that is touching with the sculpture.

He leans back, eyes squinting in the darkness, trying to make out the sculpture’s face but he sees nothing, the sculpture stays still. He disregards the breath fanning on his cheek but then something unexpected happens. He feels a rising to the sculpture’s chest as if he’s breathing. 

Sehun looks down to its chest and he feels like his eyes are lying but he could see in the darkness that its chest is heaving. He lets out a scream when he feels a pair of arms encircling around his waist.

As if it’s a work of god, all of the candles suddenly lights up and the studio is now brighter. 

Sehun’s wide eyes look back to Kai’s face and he sees another pair of brown orbs staring back at him. As if this incident couldn’t surprise Sehun anymore, his gaze falls to Kai’s lips and he sees that it’s smiling. His lips are smiling and his eyes are looking at me.

He can feel the arms on his waist tightens and there’s no space left between them. Sehun still couldn’t find any words to speak of, his mouth slightly gaping. Then he sees Kai grinning widely at him, his eyes now crescent-moon shaped and there’s a dimple on his cheek.

If this is a dream, this is such a horrible dream for making me witness Kai as a human.

One of Sehun’s hand comes up to his cheek as he slaps it a couple of times, trying to wake himself up if this was a dream, but it isn’t working. Kai is still grinning at him and he’s staring at him fondly.

Sehun wants to speak up, he wants to ask tons of question, he wants to know if this is real if this is actually happening to him right now. His willpower can only make him stutter, “Kai?”

He doesn’t expect an answer but Kai replies back, his voice somewhat sultry and soothing, “Oh Sehun.”

Kai’s eyes are even more beautiful when he stares at it now, it’s as if those eyes are capable of casting a spell on Sehun, not letting his eyes wander to anywhere else except for Kai. He wants to ask, he needs to ask, but then again, his lips betrays him, “How?”

“The works of goddess Aphrodite. Thou breathes life into me for me to be with you, Sehun.” 

There are tears in his eyes again, but instead of sorrow, these are tears of joy. It overwhelms him that Kai is now human and that goddess Aphrodite not only granted his favor, thou granted Kai as his love instead.

He silently thanked goddess Aphrodite, for giving him Kai instead of anyone else. He can now touch his face, he can now intertwine their hands, he can now feel the softness of his brown wavy hair, and he can now feel the warmth of Kai’s embrace.

Joy rushes inside of him and he feels a weight had been lifted off of him. He can now breathe properly without feeling his chest suffocating him. He has Kai with him and now he feels every inch of joy and gratitude towards the gods. 

His mission now is to repay the gods by using his gift for a good reason, to make more paintings and sculptures.

 Kai’s gaze softens when he sees a tear drops to Sehun’s cheek and his hand reaches to wipe away the tear. He hugs Sehun tightly, embracing him inside his arms.

He still couldn’t move his feet as they are still changing into human form but for the time being, he lets Sehun’s head rest in the crook of his neck, his other hand rubbing Sehun’s back. Kai kisses Sehun’s head, his lips chant a hushed whisper, calming him down, “I’m here with you now, Sehun. My dearest love.”

20th Century, Year 2016,

A group of people is crowding in front of the shown artwork, a piece of a fragment from a wall with a beautiful painting on it is displayed inside a glass case. There are chattering noises around the group, about the man on the painting, as the man looks dashingly attractive. The guide motions for everyone to be quiet and the chattering voices slowly stop. 

She starts speaking up in a louder voice so everyone can hear, “Here is one of Oh Sehun’s greatest piece of artwork. This is a fresco painting, a method of painting using wet plaster then it is printed onto the wall and it usually takes up to several days.”

“As you all know, Oh Sehun is a noble nation wide known artist in Ancient Greek, known best for his sculptures and paintings as they are used for offerings to the gods on special days. This piece is indeed one of the greatest, but it is also very mysterious as the background story is vaguely known.”

Someone raises their hands up and the guide nudges for the person to speak up, “Why is it vaguely known?”

“It’s because no one knows the actual reason why Oh Sehun made this painting and who this person on the painting is, remains a mystery. We do know that the painting is named as ‘Kai’ and that’s the name of the person. Oh Sehun made this when his career was just starting to prosper and he was still in his late 20s. It is said from a reliable source that this is a painting of a sculpture he was working on, but the sculpture was never to be found. People starts second-guessing whether this is a painting of a sculpture or an actual human because there are no traces for either.”

Another voice chimes in, “Let’s just say that this is a painting of a sculpture. Why did people think that it could be a painting of someone?”

“If you notice, this painting is so realistic and it manages to capture every little detail such as the facial expression, the relaxed posture of him sitting on the stool and we can all admit it, he looks rather a dashing and handsome figure for it to be just a sculpture. But then again, people believe that Oh Sehun is gifted with the hands of an extraordinary artist so anything is possible in his hands.”

A woman raises her hand up and the guide lets her continue, she asks in a hesitant voice, “Is it true that Oh Sehun retired at a young age and single?”

“I couldn’t say that he retired at a young age because 57 years old is up in the older ages but for an artist, he did retire at a young age. It’s been debatable on whether he spent his retiring days alone or with someone because there’s no documentation of someone with him. Now, let’s move on to another great piece by Oh Sehun.”

The guide walks away from the artwork and the group of people follows behind her. Staying behind, there are two guys dressed in a casual outfit. One of them is wearing glasses and a plain white shirt with a navy blue cardigan, jeans and a pair of oxford shoes. 

The other sports a pale pink sweater, jeans, a pair of oxford shoes, and he’s bringing along a camera. He gets closer to the glass, bringing up his camera as he looks into the viewfinder, focusing on avoiding reflection from the glass.

He takes a couple of shots and looks at the previews, nodding in approval when he doesn’t see a reflection on his taken photos. The guy in glasses is scrutinizing the portrait of Oh Sehun, in his late 20s, and the guy with the camera follows his trail of gaze.

“Holy , is Oh Sehun your ancestor?”

“My parents did say something about me being related to Oh Sehun, but I didn’t know I’d look this awfully similar with him.”

“You look like you’re cloned from him, Shixun,” the guy punches Shixun’s shoulder, in return earning a glare.

“Shut up, Jongin. He’s not as handsome as I am,” Shixun scoffs, as he takes out his phone. Jongin looks back and forth from Shixun and the portrait, then he shakes his head in disapproval.

“You share the resemblance, Oh Sehun is probably the more handsome, caucasian version of you,” and now Jongin earns a punch on his shoulder, but it hurts since Shixun actually punches him in a strong force.

“I have a mix of caucasian, excuse you, Kim Jongin. Now, can you take a photo of me and my great ancestor?” Shixun puts out his phone and Jongin takes it, grinning goofily.

“Sure thing, but you better pose the exact same way as Oh Sehun in that portrait.”

And Shixun poses exactly in the same way, arms crossed as he looks sideways. Jongin chuckles, as he notices that not just they look similar, they have similar vibes as well. 

When he’s done, he gives back the phone to Shixun, letting him see the taken photos and he nods satisfied. Jongin searches for the group and he sees that they’re starting to move on to another artwork, “Shixun, we better rush or we’ll get left further behind.”

Jongin starts catching up to the group, but he notices that Shixun isn’t following beside him. He looks back and sees Shixun still in front of the artwork, staring at it intently. He shakes his head, but he goes back and tugs Shixun’s wrist, then he intertwines their hands and pulling him away.

“Wu Shixun, let’s go or we’ll be left out of the rest of the works from your great Oh Sehun.”

Shixun follows behind Jongin silently, as he stares at their linked hands. He smiles, he closes the space left between their fingers. He looks up to Jongin’s back, and a fleeting thought passes through his mind,

Oh Sehun is my ancestor, but then what Jongin didn’t realize is that Kai looks similar to him.

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I hope you enjoyed this fic even though it's not completely angst but I had it a while for Sehun. This had been in my mind when I saw the painting by Jean-Leon Gerome in my art class so I just had to make a sekai fic out of it yknow

The sekai instincts *^*

On another note, I bet you're asking about the next chapter for 'photos and a thousands words', I'll be updating it by this week also, so please wait for a while!

As always, thank you for your support towards my fics <3 I'll keep on improving hehe and you can upvote, comment, subscribe, or be friends with me, anything is good c: and happy Thanksgiving!