0.1 / FRESH SPRAY PAINT STAINS. (ft. jaemin x yeji)
grafittiartist!yeji & volunteer!jaemin  / 4.1k words

 

 

The moment Jaemin stepped inside the orphanage, he expected the kids come crowding around him, attacking him with hugs and endless questions about his day, like they always do every time he comes during the weekends for his volunteering shifts.

Or get bombarded with exaggerated stories about whatever happened since he left, being as convincing and dramatic as ever to make sure Jaemin knows that it's a really big deal (in the kids' eyes). It usually ranges from who got into trouble the night before to how they managed to sneak past bedtime to steal some midnight snacks (Jaemin crossed his heart and pinky promised to keep it a secret).

And for some odd reason, he didn't get any of that today.

What greeted him instead was the kids crowding around a window on the side, which made the boy furrow his brows in confusion. He was familiar with the orphanage and its premises so he knew the view outside of that specific window was nothing but a plain brick wall. Why are the kids making a fuss about it?

"What's going on?" Lia, his volunteering partner, is just as confused when she's never received the same welcoming treatment she used to get.

"No idea," Jaemin shrugged with a slight pout on his face.

"Yes, I'm calling in to report a case- wait hold on a second—" The founder of the orphanage spotted the two by the door and covered the bottom part of her phone to block out the conversation "Jaemin sweetie, could you calm the kids down and Lia, my dear, could you clean up the mess they've — yeah, no it's recent. Sometime in the middle of the night I think," she looked back at the two and mouthed a quick 'thank you' before entering her office.

With the new (vague) information they just got from the owner, Jaemin quickly connected the dots and looked over to Lia. Panic was written all over their faces, both jumping into conclusions and the many (worrying) scenarios that could lead to what they're seeing in the morning seem believable.

The two dropped their bags by the door and rushed towards the main room where the kids are all gathered and managed to let out a sigh of relief to see that the state of the orphanage was nothing out of the ordinary. Messy, but normal. No signs of break-ins and the kids seem too excited for something that could be so serious.

"THEY'RE BACK!" One of the kids called excitedly when they noticed the presence of the two young adults.

A smile grew on Jaemin's face and he opened his arms wide, expecting for them to attack him with hugs again. His smile quickly dropped when the kids grabbed his arms and dragged him over to the window instead.

Now everything clicks into place.

Jaemin stared curiously at the unfinished spray painting on the brick wall directly opposite of the orphanage. It was a new sight for him, he could have sworn it wasn't there when he looked over the same window yesterday during his volunteering shift. The fact that the kids are getting excited about it like a new discovery just proves that the artwork was still new.

Before he was about to do his task of calming his kids down, a small hand took hold of his hand and dragged him over to the side.

"It looks SO cool, Jae-Jae!" One of the kids named Yumi, gushed while tugging on his hand (Lia concluded that out of the two, Yumi is attached to him more). Jaemin felt his heart soften over the small girl's excitement.

"Yeah—" Jaemin paused for a moment; an idea just popped in his head. "Actually, why don't we all grab some crayons and paper to draw something like it, hm?" He called out loudly for the kids to hear, to which the kids cheered in agreement. He ushered the kids towards one of the rooms to grab the materials for them to begin their impromptu art class.

"Don't make any more mess!" Lia warned from the other side of the room, sulking to herself that she's on cleaning duty by herself (God knows why out of all days, Haechan and Mark just had to skip today's activity).

"Good luck with cleaning," Jaemin teased with a sing-song tone.

"Oh fu—" Jaemin gave her a look, nodding his head slightly downwards to Yumi's direction. "Go run along with your Jae-Jae," Lia bit back her curse with a huff, squinted her eyes at the duo (or more specifically, Yumi) before continuing to arrange the toys that were sprawled all over the floor.

Jaemin simply laughed at her antics and carried Yumi in his arms before entering the other room.

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Tucking her mask down under her chin, Yeji tilted her head back slightly as she observed the unfinished art piece on the brick wall. A satisfying smirk graced her lips, pleased with the progress on her work. Everything was coming together exactly like how she visualized on her sketchpad.

She had doubts over the sketch for months, especially since she didn't have anywhere to display it. But when the perfect opportunity fell into her lap where the building became abandoned just months ago, she knew she had to push her doubts aside because the itch to bring it back to life – in her own way — wasn't going away anytime soon.

She tightened her ponytail and pulled her mask back up to cover the bottom half of her face. Giving her new spray can a satisfying shake, she continued where she left off the night before.

She could feel herself drowning into her zone, the music ringing in her ears through her earphones becoming like white noise, continuing as if she remembered the sketch on her sketchpad like the back of her hand.

The paint coming from the spray can covered the dull orange of the brick wall. Despite the only source of light she has in the night was coming from the street light, swatches of yellow and green could still be seen, illustrating the sunflowers she envisioned against the blue background that depicted the sky. Different blending techniques paired with varying shades of the said colours were used to shade and highlight her work, adding depth to the painting. The burst of white for the letters contrasted with the background. With all the letters combined, it becomes the message Yeji wanted to deliver.

"It's never too late to start being who you want to be."

The white stood out against the background. Which was good because she wants the kids to know. She wants to make her artwork as a reminder for them.

A reminder for herself as well.

Yeji stepped back to admire her final work. It was nothing big but she silently hoped it was clear enough for the kids to view from the orphanage. Shaking whatever's left in the white spray can, she tagged her work with her usual signature; 'HYJ' with a crown above her initials.

"So you're the person behind this?"

Yeji jumped at the sudden voice, pressing harder on the nozzle of the spray can and quickly turned around, accidentally spraying paint on the stranger's shirt, her long ponytail smacking his face in the process. The line that finishes the crown off now looks abnormally long. Jaemin, who is now ticked off, caught her hand before she could do anymore damage to his shirt while he rubbed his sore eyes due to the impact with his free hand.

"Look what you've done!" Jaemin groaned as he stared at the white slash on his black shirt, letting go of her hand in the process. Yeji pulled her mask down to reveal her face, eyes turning into slits to glare at him.

"You ing scared me!"

"I didn't mean to scare you!"

"You shouldn't have sneaked up on me then! That's on you!"

Jaemin finally shifted his gaze from the stain on his sleeve to the girl in front of him. The creases in between his eyebrows softened, eyes went slightly wide as he scanned the girl's face. He didn't expect for the person behind the act of vandalism to be this pretty.

"I—"

Before Jaemin could say anything, he was interrupted when sirens could be heard, gradually becoming louder as it neared the empty street they were on. He quickly recalled that the owner of the orphanage called the cops earlier in the morning.

Yeji let out a gasp and hurriedly tried to pack her graffiti kit up, not wanting to get caught by the cops. She was about to make a run for it but Jaemin held her back, causing her to drop her kit on the ground.

With shaky hands, Yeji tried to pry out her caught arm from his grip but Jaemin had no plans on letting the culprit go.

"Let go of me!"

Jaemin's grip was still firm.

"Please," Yeji pleaded softly, almost losing hope of escaping. Her eyes begged for him to let her go — completely different from the eyes he saw earlier.

Jaemin hesitated. 'Yumi would be sad if she found out that her favourite artist is behind bars,' he thought. He recalled how ecstatic the kids were to see the artwork earlier in the morning. She brought them some sort of happiness through her actions and she meant no harm. He looked back to see if the cops are here yet before looking back at her, letting out a sigh.

"Push me."

"What?"

"Just push me!"

Yeji followed his orders and he instantly let her go. He let out a painful groan as soon as his head made contact with the pavement. Without looking back, Yeji hastily put her mask back on and ran before the cops rounded the corner, abandoning her kit.

The impact of the fall made him see stars and the bright headlights coming from the police cars didn't help his vision. He squinted his eyes, barely making out the two figures in front of him who was about to arrest him. Out of instinct, he held his hands up in defence.

"It wasn't me! I was just going home from volunteering in the orphanage and saw... him spray-painting! I tried stopping him but he pushed me and managed to escape."

The police ended up confiscating the graffiti kit. As soon as they're done interrogating him (he kept insisting that he didn't get a clear view of the person's face), Jaemin was about to leave but stopped himself. He looked up at the now finished graffiti piece, finally giving it a good look. His eyes scanned the girl's work and his lips formed a small smile.

Yumi would love this.

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Sure enough, the kids dragged him to let him see the artwork from their window the following weekend.

With another impromptu art class in session, Jaemin noted how Yumi talked so animatedly over the art with her friends; she genuinely admires it. A big smile was plastered on the kid's face, her eyes were full of life as she gushed over it with her friends.

Being inspired by the painting on the wall, the kids drew their own versions on who they'd want to be. They don't have much but the sense of hope that the graffiti on the wall gave them makes them happy. Even the founder of the orphanage came to terms with the artwork, despite the fact that it was considered as vandalism. They were thankful enough that it brought smiles to the kids' faces.

That night, Jaemin purposely stayed back like he did last time, in hopes of meeting her again but to no avail.

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It's been two weeks since Jaemin last saw her, two weeks since the art was painted on the wall, two weeks and the graffiti piece is still there.

Jaemin wanted to meet her again, to tell her what the kids told him about the art, how the kids reacted to it and simply thank her for giving them some sort of happiness in their life.

But she hasn't showed up since.

Yeji thought it was too risky if she went there again. Since her job was technically done, she didn't find any reason for her to risk her identity. Plus, she's still sulking over the fact that she left her graffiti kit behind and assumed it's been taken away by now.

Though what bugged her since the night she escaped was the fact that she doesn't even know if the purpose for her pulling the graffiti stunt was fulfilled, let alone if the art was still up. She wanted to check the area but again, the thought of being held back by the same guy worried her, assuming that he worked there based on his shirt.

Yeji shook her head to snap out from her reverie and looked around the surroundings of the café. Shades of pink and orange painted the sky, indicating that it's late in the evening, almost entering the night. She took a sip of her latte before leaning back into her chair and stared at her sketch she drafted in her trusty sketchpad, silently wishing that she'd find a canvas; another empty wall where she wouldn't get caught to put her artwork up.

As of now, she could only rely on her sketchpad as her canvas. Flipping open to another blank page, she started sketching again, tuning out the sounds coming from the café's surrounding.

The jingling sounds coming from the door indicated another customer had entered. Jaemin grinned when he saw his friend behind the counter as he walked up towards the pastry display. Deciding that he'll try to stay back late again, he thought of stopping by the café around the area to grab a quick dinner (he wanted something new other than the food in the orphanage).

"Renjun! It's been a while," he greeted the barista.

Renjun looked up from his phone and smiled when he recognized Jaemin.

"Hey! Glad to see you're back. What can I get you?"

Jaemin shifted his gaze to look up the menu above him but stop midway when he saw a drawing pinned on the corkboard behind Renjun — the signature was seemed familiar to him. It was the same signature as the one on the graffiti piece on the wall – the one that he's now accustomed to seeing at the orphanage through the same window.

His eyes went wide and Renjun noticed this. He waved his hand in front of Jaemin's face. "Jaemin?"

Jaemin blinked back, breaking out from his trance. "Where did you get that?" He asked, pointing towards the said sketch.

"Oh, the drawing? It's from a close friend. She gave it to me when I first started working here."

"Your friend?"

"Yeah, she's here actually." Renjun nodded his head towards her direction. Jaemin's eyes widened when he recognized the girl. The girl he's been looking for. There she was, sitting alone, her cup of coffee was long gone – not that she noticed because she was too busy sketching.

"I'll get one muffin," Jaemin quickly ordered before making his way towards the girl in question.

"Wait which muffin?" Renjun looked up and pointed at the various muffin flavors, only to realize Jaemin was long gone.

"Hey."

Yeji stopped shading her drawing with her pencil and looked up from her sketchpad, only to have her face instantly morphing into a scowl when she recognized his face and his shirt. The stain was still there.

"You!" She hissed icily.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you! I lost my kit because of you! Did you know how long it took me to buy the damn kit?" 

Jaemin was flustered at how the girl was fuming when he could have sworn she looked calm a minute ago. "Look I'm sorry—"

"A sorry doesn't cut it."

"What about my shirt then?"

"You're seriously comparing your ing shirt to my kit?" She chuckled humorlessly. "It took me forever to save my money and get the whole kit together!"

"I tried stopping them from confiscating it—"

"It wouldn't be confiscated if you hadn't stopped me." Jaemin saw that Yeji had already packed her stuff up and was about to leave. He opened his mouth to say everything he's been wanting to say for the past two weeks but when he saw how hurt she was through her eyes, the words got stuck in his throat.

Not forgetting to purposely bump his shoulders, Yeji left the café.

"So you're the dude she's been complaining about," Renjun voiced out with an amused tone after witnessing the scene unfold in front of him (not that he mind, his shift was boring and nothing exciting happens in the small café). Renjun pushed himself off the counter and approached Jaemin with crossed arms.

"She's been talking about me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, it's nothing nice." Renjun patted his back. "So which flavor do you want for your muffin?"

Jaemin sighed, guilt was starting to consume him.

"Chocolate chip," he mumbled finally.

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Jaemin had decided that he wanted to make it up to the girl so after pestering Renjun multiple times throughout the week, he found out that her name was Yeji and that she visits the café from time to time. Renjun was hesitant at first in telling him who she was but later thought that he was being sincere in wanting to apologize to her.

Though, his first two tries of waiting for her failed. However, he remained persistent and decided to test his luck again on a Friday evening.

Lo and behold, the girl of the hour finally made her appearance with her hair tied up in a ponytail and her sketchpad in hand. Third time really is a charm.

"Hey again."

The moment Yeji looked up from her sketchbook, she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What do you want now?"

"I just said hey." Jaemin raised his hands up defensively.

"Hi. Now leave me alone,"

Jaemin took a seat in front of her instead.

"Which part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand?"

"Oh, I understood. I just didn't want to listen."

Yeji rubbed her temples. "Look, you've already done enough damage." Jaemin took a peek at her sketchbook to see that she's working on something. Yeji noticed this and brought her sketchbook closer to her, protective of her work.

"Let me make it up to you." Jaemin looked up to her with sincere eyes.

"How?" Yeji scoffed.

Realizing that she's no longer pushing him away, a grin broke upon his face. Jaemin stood up from his seat and offered his hand to her. "Just trust me."

Yeji eyed his hand suspiciously and her eyes drift around her surroundings, mind drifting in thought to weigh her options. Her eyes landed on Renjun, who nodded reassuringly towards her. Sighing, she packed her stuff up and stood up, completely ignoring his hand.

"Lead the way."

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After the dreaded small talk session throughout their journey (or so that's what Yeji thought— Jaemin thought it was relieving that she's not ignoring him), Jaemin finally brought her to the hardware store. Yeji had to take a step back to process and take in the amount of spray paint colors the shop has to offer in front of her. The thought of bringing her sketches to life with the colors displayed in front of her just made her inner artist geek out.

"Pick whatever you need for your kit."

Yeji's cold demeanor was immediately shrugged off, eyes rounded as she looked up to him. "What?" she asked softly, not believing what was happening.

"I'm replacing your kit but I have no idea what you needed so...," Jaemin trailed off, slightly embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head and handed her the basket he took from the entrance.

Yeji bit her bottom lip to hold down a smile but her excitement got the best of her. She started pilling the basket with the colors she initially had in her kit (and slipped in a few new ones). Maybe he isn't so bad after all.

Jaemin let out a sigh as he handed the cashier his debit card, silently praying he has enough balance as he eyed the two full bags of brand new spray cans. She really went all out — to the point that they had to take another basket to carry the items. He could have sworn she didn't have this much when he first saw her but kept his mouth shut.

"Thanks for all of this," Yeji said with a small smile, grateful for his actions.

"I have something else for you," Jaemin smiled, excited to tell her the news.

Yeji's grip on the shopping bags tightened and felt her heartbeat quicken, mind wondering what else does he have up his sleeve, slightly worried that it had something to do with turning her in. What if this was a part of some plan before handing her over to the cops. That he's just waiting for the right moment to catch her off guard. But when she looked up to see his warm smile, she felt reassured that he had no bad intentions. She motioned her head for him to continue.

"Well, uh, the kids back at the orphanage really liked the graffiti piece you did," Hearing that, Yeji felt relief washed over her. She immediately broke into a smile. They liked it.

"And they wanted to meet the artist behind it." Jaemin finally added.

Jaemin saw the hesitation in her eyes. "They even wanted to show you the drawings they did. It was inspired by yours."

Yeji could feel her heart melt at the thought of the kids feeling inspired by her work. She finally managed to push away her doubts, seeing that he was being sincere and finally decided to trust him. "I'd love to meet them."

At that, Jaemin brought her to the orphanage. The moment the kids found out that Yeji was mystery artist behind the graffiti piece, she was immediately bombarded with questions (Jaemin was pretty much forgotten at this point) and Yeji was honored with the amount of attention and love her work received. The owner offered Yeji the walls around the orphanage as her canvas and in return, she takes over the impromptu art class and making it a permanent activity for them – to which the kids cheered when Yeji accepted the offer.

She finally looked up after answering numerous questions the kids had to offer her, only to meet eyes with Jaemin, who was standing by the side (he was sulking that no kid paid attention to him until she looked up) with the bags beside him. At that point, she felt nothing but grateful for everything he's done for her, even if their previous encounters were sour in her memory. Both of them shared a smile, a faint blush evident on their cheeks.

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"We're done!" The kids cheered as they finished painting in the last bit to complete the mural that covered the whole wall at the side of the orphanage.

"Good job, guys! Now remember when I taught you guys how important it is to tag your work?" Yeji asked as she shook the spray can, the metal ball inside it rattling loudly.

The kids nodded in response. "To let everybody know it's your work."

"Exactly! Now I want everybody to grab a spray can and sign off wherever you want. Then, I want you all to go in and wash up, okay?"

"Okay!"

Finally done handling the kids for the day, Yeji took a step back to observe the two months' worth of work on the wall with a satisfied grin plastered on her face. Seeing that there's a small space in the corner, she took a white spray can and gave it a good shake before tagging her usual signature.

As she was about to finish off the crown above her initials, someone crept up behind her and caught her off guard with a peck on her cheek. The line that finishes the crown off now looks abnormally long, yet again.

"Is this going to be a thing now?" Yeji chuckled as she eyed the line before turning to meet her boyfriend's eyes.

"Only when you're around me." Jaemin grinned when he managed to make the girl fluster while taking hold of her hand, not minding the spray paint stains being transferred to his hand, and gave her another quick peck on her blushed cheeks.

"Get a room, you two!" Lia, who was about to clean the mess outside, groaned.