I couldn’t quite get it through my head.

Choi Seunghyun? The both nationally and internationally known artist who owned one of the most visited galleries in Asia? The man who had millions in his bank because of his investment in art and the money he sold his paintings for?

They were expensive, I knew as I always wanted some of his artwork as well to hang up.

“I must be honest with you though Ara,” Miss Kim interrupted my jumbled thoughts of the news she just broke down. “I think you can do better than what you have shown me this semester, and if you can impress him with what you made now, then I don’t want to know what you can do if you just improved a little bit more and took more risks.”

I could only nod in understanding, the shock still not dying down one bit as I tried to phantom two things; how did Miss Kim know someone as famous and as busy as him? And why did he want my pieces out of all people?

I wasn’t the worst, I liked to believe I was above average, but I wasn’t anything grand enough to get offers like this just tossed at me.

“He will even come personally over to this school closer to graduation to view more of your art. Therefore, I would recommend you only pick the best pieces you have made here or at home, or create a few more if you find the inspiration.”

My ears felt as if they were deceiving me with all I was hearing. How could this be?

“How do you even know Mr. Choi?” I had to ask because I almost thought this was some sick joke, but Miss Kim only let out a smile that I couldn’t quite read before replying.

“We go way back, but let’s just say that I know him well enough that he doesn’t give opportunities like this easily,” she then replied, and I figured it wasn’t really my business to know, but that honestly wasn’t occupying my mind anymore.

I felt a growing smile on my face as I could only thank her before getting up, before I remembered one small detail.

“But Miss Kim,” I called out as she looked up from her bag to me again. “What about my final grade?” I had to ask as she only laughed; something I oddly enough hadn’t heard in my entire time in this school.

“You have an internationally famous artist ready to invest in you, and you wonder what your final grade in high school art is?” she then proceeded to ask and I could only nod sheepishly, because that did sound kind of stupid as I thought of it.

Then she nodded her head towards a spot behind me, making me turn around slowly to come face to face with the image of a girl in scarlet red hair, her face hidden from the viewer as multiple shadows and highlights illuminated her body from the way I tried to capture the sight in front of me.

And I could only let out another huge smile as I thought that my answer had stood right in front of me, as I got the honor to have my own masterpiece hang on Miss Kim’s wall for all the younger generations to see.

The smile on my face wouldn’t leave me, not even when I was surprised to see Krystal emerging from nowhere and latching onto me for no apparent reason. Well, unless she heard about –

“Congratulations Ara!” she nearly shouted and I would have covered my ears had I not been smothered by the girl with scarlet red hair, literally crushing my arms together as I could only stand there in confusion.

I didn’t want to listen to the heavy pounding of my heart, the one that sounded so similar to the feeling I got when I was around Jessica. I wanted to ignore the happiness I got from having her close, as I lightly caught the scent of her sweet perfume.

“Now, now Krystal, you can let go,” I said, and she did after a while, although she was still smiling so bright that I had to blink more than twice. It was still a surprise for me each time she let out that expression from her face.

“You said you wouldn’t earn anything from this, you idiot,” she then suddenly hit my arm as if I had betrayed her, and I could only lightly chuckle by her antics.

“It was only maybe; he might not actually buy it,” I had to say and more so because I still had a hard time believing it. The fact that the painting I worked on, the one with Krystal was the one that awoke a famous artist’s attention this much.

“Well I don’t care, we are celebrating!”

I wanted to protest to the idea, although it sounded nice that someone cared this much, but Krystal was already dragging me along. It was weird how we went from not talking, to suddenly become like this.

“I know just the place, and relax, it won’t be some fancy café,” was the only thing Krystal said, for once not sounding as formal as she usually did, as we got to Cherrie and she told me the instructions. Something about it was very familiar, but I didn’t quite remember, as I only nodded and drove off with her arms around me, trying to ignore the butterflies.