Chapter 11 – The Past Crawls Back

Sena’s POV

The school’s year end farewell party for the seniors. Everyone is busy preparing for that. Well of course they do since it’s the last time where we’ll all be together. Sehun and his EXO brothers are busy practicing for their performing arts performance while Jini and Sejin are in charge of the guests—it’s typical to have idol groups and former students to perform. And I, Shin Sena am stuck in the art room again.

When everyone is preparing along with each other, I’m all alone in this room, trying to finish up the poster. Apparently, my art teacher trusted this job for me (simply because he’s too lazy to do it himself). I glanced around the room. Hmm, emptiness greeted me. The cold paint smell surrounded me, snuggling my passion. I didn’t mind doing this actually—in fact, I like it. No one to crack up jokes and drifted my attention away. And that means I get to finish this as soon as possible.

I’ll be done in minutes since I’ve been here for 2 hours already. Speaking of hard work, eh? I glanced at my clock—after this, I’ll have this approved and printed. And BAM, I’m free from this torture. I’m gonna enjoy doing it though; this would be the last torture I’ll experiencing in high school. The school festival’s in 3 days which says 3 days being alone—no EXO, no Jini and Sejin.

I looked around—my last time in this room. I’ve shared countless of memories inside. Staying out late for school projects, hiding from punishments, the MT program we had for the Art Club. Come to think of it, I’ve matured a lot throughout my high school years. Having meeting my first love here, and now stuck with another possessive boyfriend—this life taught me so much thing. What am I being so emotional? I chuckled to myself and traced my fingers alone the table.

“Feeling angst?” There’s no need to guess the person any further; Oh Sehun. He closed the door behind him and went towards me. “You finished your job here?” I nodded, still going through my works in this room. Ah, my first artwork. I pulled up the canvas from the cupboard and put it on the floor.

“Ta-dah!” I showed him. “My first master piece!” he smiled and looked at it too. “What do you think of it?”

“It’s amazing of course.” he clasped his hands together. “I remember your first award.” I turned to look at him. He does? “You were crying on the stage.” I chuckled, I remember it too. I was just entering the school that time and the teacher secretly put my painting in the competition. Luckily, I won and got the nickname Genius Mona Lisa.

“Genius Mona Lisa, Shin Sena who was cold and quiet is now my girlfriend.” He laughed. What’s so funny about that? I pouted, taking the painting from him and placed it back. Giving it a final kiss, I put it back. “It’s Mona Lisa since you barely talked and smiled, right?” I gave him a light nod before rummaging through the cupboard again. “You were like Aphrodite back then. You were untouchable, elegant, magnifying gorgeous.”

“Do you really like me since that?” he looked away and scoffed. I smiled, sensing brushes of pink on his cheeks. “I can’t help it.” he said. “You were everything that I always wanted.”

“Are you happy that you have me now?” Picking through choices of painting, I found a portrait of someone. My hands froze. Biting my lower lips, I instantly put it back and turned at Sehun. He has the same look at me—anxious and terribly shocked. He must have seen it too. I cleared my throat and laughed. “I say, are you happy that you have me now?”

Sehun shot back and looked at me. His eyes softened and he offered his hands. I grabbed them and smiled back. “I’m so happy I could die at any moment.” He then stared at my lips.

“Well, let’s go and give this to the teacher.” I hurriedly packed my stuff; putting the easel at the right place, keeping the brushes in my bag, cleaning the table. I heard Sehun sighing and I looked at him. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He smiled and closed the cupboard for me. I watched his back as he did so. “What’s the keyword to close it?” He kept his eyes on the cupboard, sighing again. My mouth strode open, realizing the actual answer for that. Geez, I just figured it out now! Why haven’t I changed it yet?

“I’ll let you do it yourself.” He slung his backpack and stepped aside. My hands trembled as I steeped in front of the cupboard again; the doodle was now clearly seen. I let out a small sigh and looked at Sehun. He was troubled for some reason; perhaps he saw the words craved on top of the cupboard, written in dark red. “I’m going to wait outside.”

After Sehun left, I plopped down to the floor. Never once had I felt this guilty before. Why did he have to ruin my life even after he left? I couldn’t imagine how Sehun would’ve felt. Is he going to hate me for it? Gaining myself some strength, I glared at the doodle; JIL <3 SSN 4ever! With swift hands movement, CLACK, the cupboard is shut locked. 1004.

I guess forever means nothing, eh? I grabbed my bag and the finished poster. I shouldn’t waver now. I like Sehun. I really do and Jung Ilhoon won’t be the reason I flunk at this. I’m over him.

I hope.

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“As I thought, you’re the best!” Mr. Kim’s voice praised. I smiled at him and felt myself being boosted up with confident. “I’ll get this printed and distributed.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my job too, sir?” he shook his head. “I’ll finish this up for you. You’ve done enough for us here.”

“Thank you sir.” I smiled. “Thank you for everything that you taught me.”

“It wasn’t me, Sena.” He rested on his chair. “It was you all along. The talent you got there is flawless. I haven’t seen a student like you in years. I’ve been a teacher here for almost 2 decades and not one student had me touched as you do.”

I was flattered. You know the feeling of being complimented too much and it was overly too much for you to handle—that’s what I’m experiencing now. If it wasn’t for he’s the teacher, I would’ve kicked him and say, ‘Aww, stop it, you.’ But no, Sena, he’s not Jini and Sejin.

“And that’s why,” he handed something over to me. “I want you to have this.” I received a document. Curious, I immediately opened it. “A-are you sure about this, sir?”

“A letter of recommendation from the director of SM’s Art Gallery,” he smiled wider. I was basically over the moons, doing flips here and there! “With that, you’ll be able to roll in any art universities in the world. Not to mention your amazing master piece for the application, I say, here comes the next Picasso!”

“You’re exaggerating, sir.” I chuckled. “But still, thank you so much for this.” After more flatters, I finally am able to excuse myself for the day. I bowed to him over and over, because after all, he’s the first teacher who acknowledges me for my talent.

“Come visit here any time you want,” he called out. “I won’t remove your paintings, don’t worry.” I turned back and smiled. “It’s going to remain there forever, well, until I found your replacement of course…but I highly doubt that.”

“Thank you, sir.” I closed the door to his office and trailed down the hallway. Stopping to keep the precious document in my bag, I found no Sehun around. Didn’t he say that he’ll wait for me around here? Did I take too much time with the teacher?

I tried calling his phone but I was advanced to the voicemail. Where did he go? I decided to go out; perhaps he got bored waiting for me inside. Stepping out to the school compound, I found the mighty decorations for the school festival. My heart found some more ease after spotting Jini and Sejin next to the freshly done stage.

Next to them were tents, for the guests. Jini were busy talking to someone—Ah, Chen! And I saw more EXO boys there too. I did remember Sehun said that they’ll have their practice again in the evening. That’s it; I screwed up by blending in too much with the teacher. I can’t help it though; he offered me green teas!

Sehun was there too, on the stage, warming up. I smiled; my worried was lifted up my shoulder immediately. I waved at him and gave him two thumbs up. Oh well, I’ll just wait for his practice to finish. It won’t take too much time, will it? He smiled back and waved, earning some ‘oohs’ from EXO-K.

Jini noticed me and went over to me—her face bothered. “Why are you here?” Excuse me? Jini looked troubled and glanced over to one of the tents. EXO-M members joined us and they greeted me.

“If only you were as friendly as your boyfriend, Jini.” I pouted. She glared and kicked my legs. Chen just laughed and pulled her into a hug. Of course, their tug of war hasn’t really ended yet. After the one-day date they had, Chen lost—since Jini’s a strong woman and doesn’t waver quickly. But after that, I say, they grew a lot closer than before and I promised I saw some more feminine changes to Jini. Chen had stopped going out with random girls too.

Jini went over to the tent, probably her work calls as I talked some more with the boys. I found out that they’ll be performing a couple of songs and it could end later than I thought. It was now EXO-K’s turn and then it would be EXO-M’s. Then after, they’ll rehearse together.

EXO-M went over to the tents for something and I was left alone at the ground, watching K’s performing History. I was excited, fangirling and stuff, along with the other spectators. After a few minutes, I grew tired. I blame myself for the lack of stamina and was coughing for water. Gosh, this thirst is killing me.

“You need this?”

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