color ; kyg+pjy ✓

color

"Colors, like features, follow the change of the emotions."
- Pablo Picasso

"Why don't you ever paint in color?

"Why does this painting look so sad?"

"Without color, this looks so boring."

Jinyoung sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day. He abhorred exhibition days. All anyone ever did was say negative things about his paintings. So what if he didn't paint in color?

"Who painted this? It's beautiful."

Jinyoung froze when he heard the tall boy standing in front of his painting speak.

He saw the boy fill out one of the pink review sheets, and Jinyoung had a strong urge to say something to the complete stranger. Jinyoung looked for the stranger, but he'd already lost him in the sea of people. Jinyoung sighed and took a seat on one of the benches nearby.

He pulled his sketchbook from his worn brown satchel and flipped it to the next clean page. He unconsciously began sketching the side profile of the tall boy from before. For some reason, he couldn't get the drawing right, no matter how many times he tried.

He sighed in frustration and closed his sketchbook. He shoved it back into his bag before walking over to the empty space in front of his painting.

He ran his hand over the spot where he'd messed up and smiled. This was one of his favorite works, mistakes and all. He opened the small box which held the reviews in it, and he wasn't surprised to see only one pink slip of paper.

Compared to all of the beautiful colored paintings, no one found his monochrome art interesting.

He flipped over the pink slip in his hand and couldn't help but smile at the words written in messy handwriting.

Name: Kim Yugyeom

I don't know much about art, but this one really stood out to me. I felt like there was a lot of emotion behind it. It's really beautiful!

Jinyoung rarely ever got reviews on his paintings, and it was even more rare that the review was positive. No one could blame him for feeling elated that someone finally enjoyed his artwork.

He put the small piece of paper into his sketchbook before leaving the auditorium which was serving as a makeshift art gallery.

He took the train home and felt extremely relieved when he reached his rundown apartment. He turned on the lights and slipped off his shoes before walking into his living room. Jinyoung haphazardly tossed his bag onto the chair setting in the living room.

He settled onto the lumpy couch and tried to watch some random variety show, but his mind still hadn't left the guy from earlier.

He once again pulled his sketchbook and tried to draw the stranger that he now knew was named Kim Yugyeom, but he still couldn't get it right. He'd been dissatisfied with his work before, but he'd never experienced this inability to draw what he wanted. He could perfectly picture what, well, who, he wanted to draw, but it felt impossible. Something felt off.

Jinyoung sighed in defeat and tossed the sketchbook onto the ground.

He was barely paying attention to the TV and his eyes began to feel heavy, so he soon found himself drifting asleep to the monotonous voice of the talk show host.

The next time he saw Kim Yugyeom was in passing. He was leaving one of his classes to go to the cafeteria, and he saw him. He had his head thrown back in laughter, and Jinyoung thought that his laugh sounded like the pure embodiment of euphoria.