Chaeyoung just finished rinsing her brushes when she heard a knock on the door.

“Hello. Is anyone here?”, Mina peered inside the classroom.

“Over here Mina.”, Mina turned around to see Chaeyoung waving at her from the metal sink.

“I’ll be right over.”, Chaeyoung wiped her hands and put the paint-stained towel on the edge of the sink to dry. Chaeyoung walked over to Mina. She pulled out the keychain and gave it to Mina.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you so much for picking this up.” 

“Someone else in class actually picked it up first. Her name is Tzuyu. She gave it to me since we are working together in Lit, which is another class we all share.”, Chaeyoung elaborated.

“Oh, well I should also thank her the next time we have class together.”, Mina answered.

Chaeyoung expected Mina to leave right after but the girl started to look around the art room more closely.

“So you picked Art as your elective?”, Mina asked.

“Yeah. What about you?”

“Dance.”, Mina tentatively stepped inside the classroom. The colourful room piqued her interest.

“Do you mind if I have a look around?”, Mina shyly asked. Chaeyoung was leaping inside her mind after hearing Mina’s request.

“Sure! I could show you around if you like. I have the key to the room anyway.”

“Why do you have the key to the art room?”

“Teacher’s pet,I guess.”, Chaeyoung nonchalantly shrugged.

“I guess I could relate. I also have the key to the dance studio. My teacher doesn’t mind me staying after school to practice.”

The art room was probably the same size at the dance studio but the abundance of furniture and art supplies made the room seemed a lot smaller. The wooden floor was slightly scuffed and had splotches of dried paints. Even the long metal sink that stretches one side of the classroom had layers of paints smeared on its edge. There were drying racks to put students’ works to dry and some were even hanging from the ceiling.

“I actually wanted to pick Art as my elective.”, Mina said after a while. Chaeyoung was surprised by Mina’s comment

“Why didn’t you pick it then?”

“I was scared that I wasn’t gonna be good at it.”

“Eh? You don’t need to be good to do an elective? It’s just something fun to pick up.”

“I guess I’m just a perfectionist.”

Mina walked around some easels that were still propped up. Chaeyoung was staying rooted to her spot, too busy gazing at Mina. Mina scanned pass the half-finished portraits until she noticed Chaeyoung’s. While looking at the painting, Mina’s hand subconsciously traced the outline of her own features. She was mesmerised  by how detailed the painting was.

“Do you know who painted this?”, Mina asked Chaeyoung. Mina’s question brought Chaeyoung back and she was horrified to find which canvas Mina was pointing at. Chaeyoung quickly found a canvas tarp and ran over to Mina. She was about to put the cover over the canvas but she realised that the paint haven’t fully dried yet.

“Oh…um…I think that’s…”, Chaeyoung stuttered, trying her best to not make eye contact with Mina. She realised that there’s no way she can lie her way out of this so she admitted:

“It’s mine…”, Chaeyoung looked down at the ground and gripped the cover tightly, afraid of Mina’s response.

“Oh…”, the two awkwardly stood there in the stifling silence. Chaeyoung decided to explain her case:

“I’m so sorry for not asking your permission beforehand. I actually started painting this before we even talked. No wait, that sounds bad. I mean…”, Chaeyoung nervously rambled.

“Hey hey. It’s OK. I’m not mad or anything. I’m just…surprised?”, Mina tried to reassure Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung looked up at Mina in disbelief.

“Are you sure you are not mad?”

“I promise. I’m not.”, Mina looked at Chaeyoung reassuringly. Mina looked back at the canvas and continued:

“My first thought of your answer was: “Wow, she’s very talented.” My second thought was…”, Mina turned to Chaeyoung:

“Why me?”, Mina confusingly looked at Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung’s heart tightened at Mina’s question. How can she not see herself how Chaeyoung see her, how Chaeyoung adored her so much that her look is perfectly imprinted in her mind. This might be the only time when she can confess her feeling, when her crush has caught her red-handed creepily making a painting of her.

“Because I…I…I really like you. I mean! I really like your face! Ah! Not just your face. You also have a very kind personality and is very smart. Argh! That’s not my point!…I mean…”, Chaeyoung mentally slapped herself for bombing her confession. She took a deep breath and mustered all the courage and dignity she had left:

“I really like you and I am a coward who can’t confess to you. I decided to paint because that is the only way I can pour out my feeling.”

The room was once again silent. Chaeyoung’s tensile heartstring hang in the air. Chaeyoung could not bear carrying her unspoken feeling any longer so she poured her heart out. But now after the rush of confidence, she was too afraid to look up. She was too scared of seeing disbelief, horror, disgust from Mina.  

“I was planning for you to see it once it was done. Sorry for presenting it in this incomplete state.”, Chaeyoung said. Mina agreed that the portrait was a long way from finishing, but the canvas felt like a mirror and she was staring back at her own reflection.

“Well...we’ll be seeing each other a lot more for the Lit assignment so maybe you will finish the painting quicker? I would love to see it once it’s done.”, Mina said. Chaeyoung’s ears flared up from embarrassment but also excitement.

“Oh..um..yeah..definitely. I’ll work on it more diligently too.”, the room fell into a comfortable silence as the two fondly look at the unfinished painting.

---

It had been an overwhelming day for Sana. Her talk with May in the morning helped ease some of the weight off her heart but she was still conflicted nonetheless. Classes flew by and merged into one big blur in her mind. The voices of her teachers and classmates were droned out by her subconscious berating herself:

“You should have known better...It was too good to be true...He probably picked your friend over you because you became so boring...Why are you so fake, putting up the facade of an outgoing person when you’re cowering in fear over your grades...No one like spending time with you...You’re best being left alone...” 

Sana was walking aimlessly along the hallway, drowned in her cynical thought when she felt someone tackled her from behind.

“Hayo, Sana! I haven’t seen you all day!”, Momo clung onto Sana’s shoulder. Sana turned around to see Momo happily beaming at her. Sana mustered up her best smile:

“Hey Momo, how was your day?”

“Um, it’s been good...Classes were so boring~I’m so glad school is over~”, Momo stretched herself and yawned tirelessly: “What about you? How was your day?”

Terrible.

“It’s been good.”

I feel so alone.

“Are you free to hang out later?”, Sana asked.

“Oh sorry Sana but you know how we have that Lit assignment we must do? I have a meeting with my partner today.”, Momo answered and Sana tried to ignore the disappointment slowly creeping up to her.

“Oh, that’s OK. When is your meeting? Do you have to head off soon?”

“Nah, it’s OK. I’m meeting her at my house anyway. Do you want to come over and hang before I have my assignment?” Sana didn’t want to intrude on Momo’s meeting and hospitality so she declined:

“It’s OK. I should probably head home and work on my assignment too.”. The two continued chatting and walking until they reached an intersection near their school.

“Well, I’ve to head home now.”, Momo have to cross the street to get home while Sana would continued to walk straight: “See you tomorrow?”, Momo gave Sana a hug as the pedestrian light turned green.

“Yep, see you tomorrow.”, Sana answered. They continued waving at each other as Momo crossed the street. Momo was half-way across the street when she shouted:

“We haven’t been hanging out much! All 3 of us! I’ll organise something so you, me and Mina can hang out soon!”

“OK! Focus on crossing the street you dummy~”, Sana shouted back. The light is blinking red now and Momo rushed to get to the other side of the street.

Sana continued walking home. The further she was away from the intersection, the closer the negative thoughts come creeping on her. Her meeting with people were almost never scheduled and never on her schedule. It was more like if they can fit her into their limited availability or coincidence happened to be at work that day and she and someone would have a brief chat before parting ways. Sana never blamed anyone for this. Sana blamed herself for not having importance for people to see her.