“Stop staring at me,” I hissed at him. 

“Haha, but I have too,” Luhan waved his pencil in the air with a smile. He then went back to sketching.

I clucked my tongue in disapproval, folded my arms and legs, and turned my head the other way.

“Hey hey, come on. Stop changing your position,” Luhan said with a serious yet happy expression. I rolled my eyes at him and then went back to the original pose.

We were in art class and boys and girls would be assigned together to draw portraits of one another. Everyone was sitting on stools sketching each other on large sketchbooks laid on top of easels. The art room was completely white with different paintings and ceramic sculptures decorating the place. It was about half the size of their gymnasium.  

I glanced at Luhan who was concentrating on his drawing. Until Luhan, I had no partner. Whenever we had stupid assignments like this, I would just draw inanimate objects. I didn’t mind.

“Ah, sorry, can you stay still for a second,” Luhan then got up and came over to me. He removed a strand of hair that fell out of place. He was so close that I could see the small features of his face like the twinkle in his eyes.

“Perfect,” he then would go back to his seat and resume drawing. I blinked a couple of times. No one else touched me except Gongchan. I turned around to see him standing behind me near the wall. He smiled at me gently with a question in his eyes as if he was saying: milady? I slowly turned my head back around to see many of the girls and boys whispering amongst themselves while they eyed Luhan and me.

I rolled my eyes at them like it was a natural response. I then watched Luhan. His eyebrows knitted together as he concentrated. The way his eyes would move back and forth as if trying to make the vision he sees appear on the sketch pad.

“Done,” His head popped out from behind the sketch pad. “Do you want to see?” He asked. His eyes look hopeful.

“It’s probably not that good,” I said as I stared at my nails. I could hear the disgusted looks and the other whispered insults.

“How about you see and then judge,” Luhan then turned the pad around for me to see. I rolled my eyes and began to look up to see a reflection of myself.

Well, not quite.                                                                 

The girl in the drawing had beautiful straight hair with a bow collar. I unconsciously touched the ribbon around my neck. The girl’s face was so clean. Although the sketch was colorless, her eyes had so many colors within them. The smile was small, but noticeable enough that it created a picture of mystery but happiness.

I looked at it in awe for a good few seconds and then muttered that it wasn’t too horrible. Luhan smiled at the stupid compliment as if it meant the world to him.

“woah, hey Luhan are you a pro or something?” A guy with dark brown hair and dark eyes leaned over to see Luhan’s work. He was the son of a shipping business.

“No, no, not at all,” Luhan waved his hand as if he wasn’t that good. Soon other classmates came over to check over the sketch.

“Luhannn, draw me next?” “No me first please,” “You are better than any artist,” Girls swarmed around him, touching his arm and batted their eyes.

“But dang, he made the ice princess look less evil,” one of the guys said as he leaned in closer. I snapped my head and shot him a glare. Everyone looked towards me and then the painting.

“If you are done gawking, I will take my leave,” I snapped at them. I then tossed my sketch pad to Luhan and walked out of the door. Gongchan of course bowed to the other students and followed me out.

We walked in silence in the hallway. The only sounds that came were from my black shoes that made a clack sound with every step.

“Is it fine to leave like that?” Gongchan asked after a while.

“I did my assignment, there is no use in staying there any further,” I replied to him. I honestly don’t know why I threw my pad at him. It just made me feel angry because in that type of situation how am I supposed to show them how I truly feel?

The hallway was long, it almost felt like there was no end to it. This loneliness that surrounded me, I dread it, but it’s the price I must bear with to prevent myself to fall into a pit of despair again.

I then heard Gongchan chuckle to himself. “When you say assignment, do you mean the sketch pad you threw at him? That was very lady like”

“Gongchan!” I turned around with my hand on my hip. “Are you sassing me?” I asked him with my eyebrows raised. Gongchan gave me this innocent look and walked towards me. He bent on one knee and took my hand and kissed it.

“Never,” he then gave me a wink. I scoffed at him and turned around to stop the reddening of my cheeks.

“Lady Jiwon gets embarrassed very easily,” Gongchan commented with a smile.

 “She really is rude,” One of the guys said.

“I feel bad for Luhann,” a girl with dyed blonde hair touched my shoulders affectionately.

“Because you sit across from her, you might be paired with her a lot,” said another.

“I wouldn’t mind if we change partners though,” the blonde girl gently touched the tip of his nose.

Luhan smiled at his classmates, but he had a slight frown.

“Why do you all criticize her so much?” Luhan cocked his head to the right. His classmates blinked at him as if he was crazy.

“You’ve seen how she treats others. Just because she is one of the top families across this country, she treats the rest of us as if we weren’t worthy of her,”

“She always says rude comments when she doesn’t need to,”

“She ignores us and always tries to be alone,”

“She treats her attendant horribly too”

“But the teachers don’t notice a thing!”

“And my parents always tell me to get along with her and her family”

“Me as well”

“But getting along with someone like that is impossible,”

Luhan listened patiently to his classmates’ rants, but couldn’t help smiling.

“I wonder if someone so cruel can draw something so beautiful,” Luhan said suddenly. He was looking at Jiwon’s sketch pad. The drawing she had drawn was a picture of the whole class. The scene was exactly how it was a few minutes ago. Everyone was sketching each other, and there was this sense of happiness in the picture. In the middle, there was Luhan with a calm and composed face as he sketched.

Luhan closed the sketch book with a small smile at his lips. His eyes twinkled with interest and wonder.

*****

"I wonder if you threw that sketch pad at Sir Luhan because you were too embarrassed to show your sketch to the others,” Gongchan commented. We were in the tea lounge again. He was pouring me apple tea again. We were alone in the lounge for everyone else was still in class.

“I have no idea what you mean. That sketch had no deep meaning” I lied to him as I flipped through some documents.

“Although you proclaim you don’t like anyone and prefer to be alone, you do cherish your classmates a lot,” Gongchan placed the tea cup gently in front of me. He eyed my few other sketches of our classmates on pieces of notebook paper.

“Lady Jiwon is really a kind person,” Gongchan smiled down at me.

“S…Shut up…” I replied to him with the tea cup covering my face. “Like I said…there’s no deep meaning”