amaranthine.

sept

-          "hey," yerin blinked.

"can i sit here?" jeongguk asked, with a friendly smile.

"of course," yerin heard herself say. she was strangely calm. this is all a dream.

"yerin, right? i don't know if you remember me...i'm jeongguk. we were in high school together."

"it's been awhile."

"i know," he rested his chin in one hand, looking over the table at her. "how have you been?"

"fine," yerin broke eye contact with a nervous laugh. "tired. how about you?"

"about the same."

"are you a student here? i feel like i've seen you around."

"yeah. i transferred last month, actually, from hereford. it just wasn't the right fit."

"any particular reason?"

"not enough art," jeongguk said. "that's the main thing. there were also only two kinds of people there: jocks and preppy kids. i'm neither, so that kind of sucked."

"i can imagine," yerin said. "are you in many art classes here?"

"i have drawing and painting this term, then graphic design and photography next term," jeongguk listed, "so yes."

"whoa," yerin said, eyebrows raised. "do you have a favorite?"

"painting, definitely," jeongguk said, tugging at his earlobe. yerin smiled to herself. she remembered that tic from grade school.

"yeah? i think i saw you in my drawing class."

"oh really? that was my first class there—i'm surprised i even found it. do we always do observational stuff?"

"no...but i really like it. i've never done nude posture studies before."

"me neither," jeongguk admitted. "it wasn't as weird as i thought it'd be."

yerin nodded in agreement, and raised her latte to her lips. there was a moment of silence between them, before jeongguk gasped and brought a hand to his forehead.

"what is it?" yerin asked in concern, and jeongguk shook his head.

"i just forgot we have a contour for my portrait due at the end of the week...and i don't even have a model yet..."

"yikes," yerin grimaced. "good luck with that."

jeongguk pursed his lips in thought, staring past yerin. he broke out of his reverie with an embarrassed laugh.

"the problem is i really don't know anyone here yet," he confided quietly. "i don't even know where to start."

yerin looked over at the boy across the table, who was sipping his macchiato with his dark eyes fixed on the table. he suddenly seemed so vulnerable, in this new place so far from home. she knew what it was like to feel lonely.

"if you wanted, i could be your model," she said slowly.