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Baekhyun was standing before four paintings that were made in his absence. The sixth painting, the one entitled ‘Under her spell, I can’t break, I just can’t stop’ put him in a trance. It was a painting of a person undoing a zipper on his body that ranged from his forehead to his chest, revealing water splashing all over from inside his body, while vines with thorns and beautiful flowers entangled around him. It was there—he could close the zipper to contain the water that made the creepers grow so much, but he was under the spell of the beauty of the plants. He just can’t stop.

‘Light me up, so baby come light me up’, the seventh painting, was straightforward. Gasoline was pouring from one side of the painting while a lit match lay on a table. The petrol splurged however it never hit the lit match but it was so close to touching it; as if taunting it to come nearer, as if it was speaking the words of the lines that inspired the painting—light me up, so baby come light me up.

Rara stayed behind Baekhyun, watching his back as he examined the paintings he missed. He arrived at the mansion over the weekend. When they saw each other again after a month, he seemed himself again. The problem he had at work must have been solved and long gone, as suggested by his good mood. Before he asked to see the paintings, he asked Jinwoo to replace the lights and fortunately this time, the replacements were steady and good at being lights.

She couldn’t see his expression so she just hoped that she’d receive the same feedback she’s been receiving from the previous paintings.

He turned around, his arms crossed. “Could you get any more talented? You’re so good at what you do.” His compliment made Rara smile heartily. “Seriously. I think it’ll break my heart when you leave that talent behind when you go to med school.”

Rara’s heart cracked a little at the thought of giving up art for a while for med school, but managed to break into a smile. “Oh, I will assure you my lab sheets and my drawings of the human anatomy will be done with utmost effort.”

“Keep it up.” Baekhyun encouraged. “This week’s topic—”

“—is different, yeah. Do I have anything on my mind? Not yet.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Well, in my defense, if you do find yourself falling in love, it’s not always going to be rainbows and butterflies.”

“I’ve read enough books in this lifetime to know that.” Rara replied.

“You mentioned you have nothing on your mind yet.” Baekhyun cleared his throat. “Well, let me fill it with something. Next week Monday, there’s going to be a meeting about building a new branch of Park Enterprises. I’ll be there—”

Cutting him off for the second time seemed rude but Rara did it anyway. “Please don’t ask me to accompany you.”

Baekhyun held his breath before he spoke again. “Not just that, I’m going to ask you to review your thesis a bit.”

Dumbfounded, Rara merely looked at him like he swallowed a live frog. “...you what...? Why?”

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