Nothing But The Truth

22: Just A Friend

A/N:

Thanks for 1000+ reads
❤️❤️❤️

I had been having the time of my life in Paris the past day. I had seen most of my favorite paintings in person and I had toured round the magical city of my dreams. There were moments when Derrek had flashed through my mind but I had pushed away all thoughts of him. I wasn't going to let him ruin my time here in Paris. I was here to learn more about art, become a better artist and of course, to have fun as well. I couldn't let myself get side tracked.

"Bravo." A voice said from behind me, pulling me out from my thoughts. I turned around to see my art instructor, Monsieur Pierre glancing down at my still life painting of the flower vase placed at the centre of the class. This had been our first project and the test was to see how well we were able to put on canvas the simple object before us. As simple as it looked, getting the right shade of brown for the flower vase was where the test really was. It was a roast chestnut colour which could have been easily mistaken for a chocolate butter colour but thankfully I had a keen eye for colour shades.

I smiled to myself as Monsieur Pierre walked onward. I had made several attempts, adding a bit of red to the brown color on my palette to get just the right shade.

"Alright, class!" Monsieur Pierre clapped his hands, calling the attention of the class as he walked to the center of the room.

I set down my paint brush and turned my full attention to the instructor.

"You have all done a splendid job today. Bravo!" He gave a thumbs up. "Tomorrow, we shall get into the lesson proper. Until then, bonne journée.

With that said, Monsieur Pierre took his leave and everyone began to pack up their supplies.

"You've got a keen eye, I see." A voice said from behind me and I turned around to see an Asian lady with blonde straight hair, looking at my painting. "This could have easily be mistaken for chocolate butter."

"They do look identical to the normal eye." I replied and she nodded.

"I had an argument with that man over there earlier on. He swears on his life that it's chocolate butter." She nodded at the Caucasian man, who looked to be in his early to mid forties, sitting at the right end of the room.

"Did he now?" I gave a light chuckle as I placed my supplies into my bag.

"I'm Haneul by the way." She stretched out her hand towards me.

"I'm Tiara." I gave her hand a firm shake.

"A couple of us are going out for lunch. Julie recommended us this really good restaurant, so, we're going to try it out. You wanna come with?" She proposed and I shrugged. This was a good opportunity to make new friends and explore more of Paris so I was all for it.

"Who's Julie though?" I asked as I got up to my feet and strapped my bag over my shoulder.

"The brunette over by the door. She says it's her fourth time in Paris and she knows all the cool spots."

"Hani, are you coming?" The brunette, Julie with a thick American southern accent called out to Haneul.

"It's Haneul." The lady mumbled before asking Julie to give her a moment. "Are you ready to go?" She turned to me and I nodded.

*

"Isn't this nice? Lunch in Paris with new friends. This is literally the best week of my life." Maddie, the nineteen year old ginger haired girl from California said gleefully.

"You don't even know half our names." Haneul—who I'd found out was twenty seven years old and from Korea—laughed, shaking her head.

"I've already memorized them." Maddie promised and Julie, who was thirty, from Texas and the oldest in the group, scoffed. She obviously didn't believe Maddie as she had asked our names countless time through out lunch.