"Are you sure about this?" Dara asked as she bent down next to Jiyong who was holding his pencil against the paper, looking up at her with a smile on his face.

"Trust me, Dara. You do trust me, don't you?"

She blinked her eyes a few times. Did she trust him? No. How could she? This boy had made her brother yell at her a lot lately, how could she trust someone like that?

"I will... if you tell me why you decided to draw me..." She turned around from him, keeping her eyes on the watch hanging at the wall. School had ended a long time ago, and she had promised to wait for Youngbae outside the school. He must be freaking out right now, wondering where she is and why she wasn't there waiting for him. "Why did you make me punch Ken? And drink alcohol? All those things you draw, why did you do it to me?"

"My Dara..." She felt a pair of arms wrap around her and a warm breath on her neck.

From the mirror on the wall, she saw Jiyong giving her a back hug as he stared down at her with a look that was hard to describe. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't sad or angry either. It was like... his eyes were shining and sparkling as he snuggled into the crook of her neck, softly planting a kiss against her skin. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she tried to turn around, but Jiyong wouldn't let her go.

"I had to do those things to get your attention. I can't explain why i decided to do those exact things, but just trust me, it was for a good reason. I was running out of time, it was the only way".

"Running out of time?" This time Dara had managed to turn around. Jiyong had let go off her and he was staring at the floor, hands folded behind his back. "Running out of time from what?"

He quickly shook his head as he looked up. "I can't tell you" He put his hands on the side of her face and smiled. "But i am real, and so are my drawings. Look, i'll prove it to you" He grabbed her hand and grabbed another chair. He sat down on his chair as Dara carefully sat down on the other chair. Jiyong reached for the pencil again and looked up at her. "Tell me about a place, it can be whatever you want. Close your eyes, use your imagination and forget everything you know about the real world".

And so she did. She closed he