off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ twenty eight

Today's session was the last session. That was what Yanmei had promised herself. She couldn't keep abusing Hanbin's kindness and asking him to come back every week for a painting he had no stakes in to begin with. If her piece managed to get exposed in an exhibit, she would probably invite him to see it, as one would a model. But that was where it would end. Things had become a bit... Confusing. She'd noticed how much she'd begun to project her bad relationship with her brother onto Hanbin. It wasn't fair. He didn't deserve to deal with that.

Well, he wouldn't have to deal with it for much longer. Soon enough, she would enter a stage in the realization of this painting where she wouldn't need him anymore.

This time, as she'd gotten started on rendering his face, Yanmei had asked Hanbin to sit closer. Just so she could see the details of his features clearer. He'd dragged his stool all the way to the easel, and every so often, their knees brushed together. Yanmei had to refrain from flinching so she wouldn't make hazardous brushstrokes. Free from having to stay in awkward poses for several minutes, Hanbin simply watched her paint, as she carved out his most noticeable traits.

"Wow," he mused, completely hypnotized by the unfinished piece. "I could never dream of painting or drawing like you."

Yanmei snickered to herself. That was the type of compliments she often heard directed at Hao. After all, her twin brother was a man born with seemingly never ending natural abilities, from academics to arts. She knew he worked hard to be at his level, denying it would be foolish, but he'd been born with a significant advance. Everything came easy to him. Yanmei had had to work so hard and so much to even produce anything worthwile.

"With some training, I'm sure you could get better. You have to exercise both your mind and your body, after all."

He chuckled lightly, letting his eyes drift down towards her. "I don't know about that. I know practice makes perfect, but we all have our weaknesses. I'm definitely a lost cause when it comes to drawing."

"You think?" Her lips stretched into a teasing smile. "How about showing me what you got?"

She leaned away from the easel, reaching towards the desk behind her. With a bit of stretching, she grabbed her trusty sketchbook, and handed it to him. Hanbin blinked for a second, before hesitantly taking it in his hands. Still, he looked at her again, unsure.

"Come on, draw something," she encouraged him, giving him a charcoal pencil that had been laying near the easel.

"Hmm, I'll try to draw you, then. But don't be mad at me if the final result makes you look like a horribly disfigured monster!"

Going back to her painting, Yanmei simply laughed. He opened the sketchbook to a blank page, and for the next few minutes, all she heard was the fervent scratching of a pencil against paper.

For all her talk of cutting contact with Hanbin, she still felt weirdly comfortable with him. The only other person that had ever managed to make her feel so at ease had been Narae, who had very much become some sort of adoptive sister. Yanmei had never been one to easily open her heart, too afraid someone ill intentioned could take advantage of it. As a result, she often seemed on edge when interacting with people. As if she was carefully watching each of her movements and words, so that they may never get a glimpse of the real her.

Hanbin was different. Not once, had she felt like he would ever try to hurt her. That didn't mean other people were out to get her either, she simply tended to be quite distrustful. But she'd never had a reason to doubt Hanbin's genuine kindness. He didn't seem like the type to judge. He certainly didn't seem like the type to put her down. With him, she could let her shoulders down and relax, just a little. And somehow, that was the scariest part. She felt a bit too comfortable with him.