Chapter Six - Masterpiece

 

 

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“Aahh... Na... rah... wa..ter...” Minjae demanded weakly while panting.

 

 

I rolled my eyes and threw her a plastic water bottle, hoping that she was able to catch it. It fell down of course. She grunted and picked it up before drinking it.

 

 

“Come on Minjae, the hike will end soon,” Dongwoo cheered.

 

“Oh, why did I even agree on this in the first place?” Minjae muttered to herself.

 

 

We continued hiking on the path that had been created for hikers in the middle of the hill. It wasn't a steep one, but it was pretty tiring. Hoya and Raina were in front, leading us, while the others trailed behind them. Me, Minjae and Sungyeol was almost at the end of the line, with Dongwoo and Ailee in front of us, and Sunggyu behind.

 

 

The majestic towering trees protected us from the scorching sun rays. I was really glad that I could have this kind of experience, especially with my friends. The refreshing wind blew across our face once in a while, but still, we sweated. Perched on one of the overhanging branches, a bird chirped melodiously. Sunggyu stopped and looked at it with a smile.

 

 

“Isn't it cute?” I asked behind him.

 

 

He nodded and chuckled, “Cute and brave,”

 

 

I furrowed my eyebrows, “Brave?”

 

 

“Nevermind,” he shrugged his shoulders and directed his eyes to the others who were already a few steps ahead of us. He patted my shoulder, “Come on, you don't want to get lost here do you?”

 

 

“Not with you,” I joked and he laughed a bit.

 

 

We continued walking. The beautiful chirp of the bird suddenly reminded me of Sunggyu's amazing voice. I purposely did not catch up with the others. I was curious. But was it the right time to ask Sunggyu about this? What if he got overwhelmed and started wheeping in the midst of our hike? That wouldn't be funny.

 

 

 

“Nara,” he called and I turned to him.

 

 

"Do you have any snacks at your bag? I'm hungry,”

 

 

I glared at him. “Don't you know our hike is still three hours-”

 

 

“But Dongwoo said it would end in a while-”

 

 

“And you believe him?” I attacked.

 

 

He pierced his eyes on Dongwoo's back which was almost five metres away from us. “That bastard... giving fake hopes,” he mumbled.

 

 

 

“Oh come on Sunggyu! He wasn't giving fake hopes- well he was- but he was just trying to cheer for Minjae,”

 

 

“Cheer for me too then,”

 

 

“What?”

 

 

“Cheer for me,”

 

 

“Why?”

 

 

“Because I'm as drained as Minjae,”

 

 

I glared daggers at Sunggyu. “Give me a reason why would I want to cheer for you,”

 

 

“Well, since I was the one who always saved you from getting detentions by lending my previous books for you to cheat,” Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “So cheer for me too,”

 

 

“You don't ask someone to cheer for yourself. That's called arrogant,” I said with a laugh.

 

 

“I don't care if you want to call me names,”

 

 

“You should,”

 

 

“But I don't,”

 

 

“Why?”

 

 

“Because you're someone unimportant, no one will start calling me names even if you do,”

 

 

I scoffed and nodded. “You want it this way huh Sunggyu?-”

 

 

“And why is that you never call me oppa?”

 

 

“Because...” I paused and tilted my head, searching for the right reason, but I couldn't find one. “Because I don't like calling anyone oppa,” I reasoned.

 

 

“That's weird-”

 

 

“I don't care since you aren't someone important,” I stuck my tongue out.

 

 

 

Sunggyu seemed surprised with me mimicking his words.

 

 

 

“Then let's make a bet. Only between the two of us. If you start calling me arrogant and everyone does too, I'm treating you. However, if you fail, you have to call me oppa,” Sunggyu said.

 

 

“Hmm...” I started to think. A treat would be perfect, but calling Sunggyu with 'oppa' wouldn't be. I took some time to make a bit of a mental calculation inside my head.

 

 

 

"But Sunggyu,” I called him while panting. The track was getting a little steeper.

 

 

“Hm?”

 

 

“If I win, I don't want your treat,”

 

 

“Then what do you want?”

 

 

“I want you to answer to my question,”

 

 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Can I know the question now?”

 

 

I shook my head. He pouted.

 

 

 

“Fine,”

 

 

I smiled. “Then I'll take it,”

 

 

 

 

Sunggyu offered his right hand to me and I shook it twice. “Deal.”

 

 

---

 

Later that night, since we were too lazy to go back down, we decided to rent two rooms in a motel – one for the guys and one for the girls. We had canned sausages and sardines as our dinner, while sitting outside, on the damp grass and below the huge oak trees, which surprisingly felt so nice.

 

 

“Everyone make sure you get a good rest since we're waking up at 7 tomorrow,” Hoya said and we groaned.

 

 

“But we just hiked today,” Minjae complained while rubbing her sore knees and ankles.

 

 

“That's why, take get a good sleep,” Raina said.

 

 

“And by the way, people say that you can see beautiful sun rise through here. So if any of you wants to go out to see, you can take that chance,” Ailee informed and we nodded.

 

 

 

I immediately promised myself to wake up at six and made sure not to miss the beautiful scene, unless... I decided to stay on the bed and not open my eye. But I'll leave that decision for the next day.

 

 

 

“Hey guys, please put the trashes here,” Sora said as she placed a huge plastic bag in the middle. It was immediately filled with cans and all kinds of plastic water bottles and trashes.

 

 

 

Sora stood up and carried the plastic bag.

 

 

 

“Where are you going?” Sungyeol asked.

 

 

“Throwing this of course,” she answered, eye brows half furrowed.

 

 

“Oh, you don't need to do that, we have Nara,” Myungsoo smirked.

 

 

 

Ah... My errands! I grunted. Five more days to go. I glared at the two of them, but smiled to Sora.

 

 

 

“Here, let me. You get a good sleep,” I told her and grabbed the plastic bag from her hand. She looked unsure but gave it to me anyways.

 

 

 

I sighed and trailed the path looking for a good spot to dump the trash. I went to the back side of the motel and saw a huge, smelly trash can there. After placing the plastic bag there, I immediately ran back inside. I groaned. Myungsoo and Sungyeol would definitely pay for this!

 

 

After a nice warm bath, I took of my specs and went to sleep, not forgetting to set my alarm clock for tomorrow previously. All I remembered before I closed my eyes and drifted to cloud nine was Minjae turning her body back and forth beside me.

 

 

---

 

The sound of repetitive clicking of camera made me turn my head. I smiled. As expected. There he was, standing under the fresh morning sun with his black jacket, looking as handsome as always. He pierced his right eye through the camera lens and his right pointer pressed the small button at the top, producing another 'click' sound. He looked at the image he had just took and nodded slightly with a contagious curve on his lips. I turned my head forward again and inhaled the thin air. Indeed, the sunrise was beautiful.

 

 

I feel I deserved myself a pat on my back since I had succeed to wake up at 5: 30 and was able to enjoy the gradual changes in the sky color. Surprisingly it was only me and Sora, who came out to see the sunrise. While Sora had gone back to our room, I was too lazy to do so and decided to just sit above the stone bench with my legs curled up. Lucky me since Myungsoo had came out too. It felt nice you know, starting your day by looking at his handsome face. Although the sun was already above me, and not in front like how it was before when I first came, I still freezed at my position. I wanted to enjoy this. Here, my nose could even sense how rich the soil was.

 

 

 

"Good morning,” I was waiting for those words to come out of his mouth. It meant that he noticed my presence.

 

 

“Morning,” I looked up and greeted him back with a smile.

 

 

“Can I?” he pointed towards the space beside me with his camera.

 

 

“Oh sure,” I slid my bump to the left slightly so as to give him space to sit down.

 

 

My heart was starting to go insane once more time. A good heart exercise in the morning I guess.

 

 

 

“It's perfect,” he mused and clicked his camera again.

 

 

I nodded in agreement. “Too bad you came a bit late. It was really stunning when the sun just rose up, but now it's already in the sky,” I pointed up.

 

 

“Oh really? That's a shame. How long have you been sitting like that?” He asked casually, looking at the result of his shot.

 

 

“For the last one hour I guess,” I kept my eye forward. The wind blew across our face.

 

 

“That's quite a long time,” he commented.

 

 

I nodded. “Yeah,”

 

 

 

I decided not to start another conversation with him since he seemed extremely busy with his own 'toy' and I don't think disturbing him would be a good idea.

 

 

 

“So, Nara,” he called. “What do you like to do?” he continued before I could respond.

 

 

"Uh...” I was startled. “What do I like?”

 

 

He nodded and took another shot. “I like photography and music, how about you?”

 

 

I tilted my head, thinking what the appropriate answer was. What do I like? I don't know.

 

 

 

"I don't know,” I answered sheepishly.

 

 

He put his SLR between us and looked at me. “What do you mean you don't know?”

 

 

 

“Well, I don't know what I like. I mean, I don't have an obvious talent like you or Minjae, you see. I like to do almost anything but I can't specialize in just a thing,” I admitted.

 

 

He nodded. “Yeah... I guess some people are just like that,”

 

 

 

I sighed and gazed down in disappointment. Do I even have a talent?

 

 

 

He patted my right shoulder with his warm hands and I looked to him, only to find myself enjoying the thin smile on his lips the next second.

 

 

 

“But don't worry. Everyone is born to be special. We are all God's masterpiece no?” His words made me tug my lips upwards.

 

 

“I guess we all are,” I mumbled.

 

 

He nodded and stretched his body. “I'll go take a bath first then, before everyone wakes up. See you later,” he told me before he took his camera and left.

 

 

I chuckled. We are all God's masterpiece. I shook my head. Why hadn't I thought about it before? At least, being a masterpiece made me feel better. It made me feel special even though I had no idea what I was good at. That's right, I'm not someone who has an obvious talent like some of my other friends. People say that no matter what, every human being has at least one, but I was actually doubting it then. If it was true, then where did my talent go? For almost 16 years, I could see my friends starting to find their true selves one by one. Some like Minjae, found their passion for art. Some like Myungsoo, got immersed with photography. Some like Ailee, preached their beautiful voice to the world. But... what about me? I liked art, but I wasn't good enough. SLR cameras were too heavy for me to carry around, and my voice wasn't beautiful enough for people to hear.

 

 

I raised my bump and took out my blue notebook that I purposely hid by sitting on it. I clicked the pen and tilted my head. What now? I didn't even know what I should write. So I sat there, staring blankly at the ivory white page filled with brown lines. I exhaled.

 

 

 

 

Date: 16 June 2013

Place: In front of Jeju's sunrise

 

Others sings out their voices

Just like the beautiful chirps of the birds

Entertaining our ears

 

 

Others are capable to capture moments

Turning them into beautiful memories

and cherish it when we become grandparents

 

 

Others expresses themselves by the splatter of paint

While others are able to be proud of themselves

Even though it means being imperfect

 

 

But me?

Who am I?

What am I capable of?

 

 

Maybe it's because I'm trying so hard to be perfect

although I know I'm not,

and so is everyone else

 

 

Then I realized that each one of us is God's creation

God's wonderful work

And God always creates a masterpiece...

 

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It has been a reaalllyyy long time hasn't it? TT

School was insane! A really rough week for me idk why

But anyway, I'm really happy that I can update right now ^^

Sorry for these once-in-a-week update thing, I just can't find my leisure time on weekdays OTL

But of course, I would be more than happy to read all of your comments! Thankyou for those who've been commenting!! :D It means a lot!

If you've read up to this far, THANK YOU for being able to endure this crappy story! LOL <3 <3 Love you all and See ya! :D