Eyes Full Of Stars || Park Sunghoon

6 ¦ Number 81

As it turns out, the owner of the art gallery, who introduces himself to me as Mr. Kim Taehyung, is a good friend of Sunghoon. He allowed us access to the art gallery outside of regular opening hours.

Absolutely enraptured by all the different paintings, I walk through the gallery. Sunghoon is constantly at my side, silently looking at the paintings.

Astonished, I stop at an abstract acrylic painting. It was painted in magnificent shades of blue and yellow and looks as if the artist had tried to combine two different paintings that at first glance do not fit together, yet complement each other wonderfully.

The colors blend into each other and blend into a pleasant green that acts like the ribbon between the two paintings, melding them into one painting.

"Wow," I whisper in amazement, running my fingers over the rough canvas where the blue and yellow blend into a green.

"Do you like it?", Sunghoon wants to know. It sounds like he can't really understand why I like this painting so much. Still, I nod.

"It looks boring," Sunghoon remarks. I look indignantly at the young man, who is wearing only a plain white shirt without a tie today and has tucked it into his black pants. "You look boring," I say in a huff and cross my arms.

Stung by his derogatory words, I want to move on, but Sunghoon grabs my upper arm and pulls me back. "I don't know about art and I'm not interested in it," Sunghoon confesses to me, pointing to the acrylic painting, which I almost like more at second glance. "Tell me what you like about it. Maybe you can change my mind."

"Just look at it," I say, looking at the painting. "It reminds me of two things put together, even though at first glance they look absolutely nothing like each other. But if you look at the transition..." Gently, I run my fingers over the transition where the two colors meet. "...Like the yellow and blue together make a brilliant green, they do go together."

"Do you know the meanings of the colors?", Sunghoon wants to know, looking at me from the side. I shake my head.

"The color yellow," Sunghoon begins, stroking the yellow paint. "At first glance, one associates it with optimism, cheerfulness.... But on the other hand, it also represents greed and selfishness."

Sunghoon wanders his fingers across the canvas to the blue side. "Blue... seems cold. But it also represents longing, the pursuit of harmony, contentment and constancy."

Spellbound, I listen to Sunghoon's words as he wanders his fingers to the transition. "Green..." he whispers right by my ear, triggering a pleasant tingling sensation on the back of my neck, from which goosebumps spread over my entire body. "Stands for balance. It can only come from an interplay of blue and yellow, and thus you are right."

Sunghoon puts his hand on my back and I stand frozen as the goosebumps on my body continue to strengthen.

"At first glance, they don't match, yet they complement each other." I swallow hard as Sunghoon takes his hand off my back and takes a step away from me.

After Sunghoon's explanation, I see the painting with different eyes. I like it even better now than before. "So you do know about art," I state, looking at Sunghoon. A wry smile creeps onto his lips and his eyes bore deeply into mine.

"Do you still like the painting?", Sunghoon wants to know after a few seconds in which we just stared at each other without responding to my previous statement.

I look longingly at the painting on the wall before nodding. "Let's keep going," I say quietly. Because of my father's financial situation, I can't afford to buy such an expensive painting.