half/closer | GirlXGirl

half / 17

The night was already mysterious. The moon was hiding in the clouds like a shy maiden refusing to expose her beauty but some stars were confidently blazing between the massive mist of the nightfall. The autumn was fairly bitter, however, inside the tree house, the dancing flame warmed the air, bringing me a sense of protection.

It was already two thirty-four and I was still wide awake, resisting to get any sleep because of wanting to appreciate the time with Khloe. It was already weekend so I wasn't bothered about getting up late tomorrow. Mom would always let me sleep until ten on a Saturday morning so it was safe to say that everything was going to be fine, I believe.

Though I insisted to wash the dishes, Khloe refused and shoved me lightly towards the unfinished canvas of her father instead.

"Try to end my misery with that," she jeered before going back to her tiny kitchen.

I scoffed, crossing my arms as I looked at her in disbelief. "I do the work but it's your misery?"

"Oh c'mon, Toes! I'm excited to see a complete work of yours for the first time," she groaned, wearing the rubber gloves on her hand and started with the dishes.

I lifted my eyebrow at the new pet name. Then I glanced down at my barefoot and shook my head in amusement. "Oh great! You decide my pet name based on the footwear I'm wearing."

Khloe laughed, provoking me to smile. "So you've noticed. There's a pair of slipper near the door. Wear it then I will start to call you 'slipper' if you don't want 'toes'."

I rolled my eyes and turned to the art materials on the desk. "You're so extra," I teased, earning a light chuckle from her.

Once I prepared all the acrylic colors I needed, I placed my phone on the desk and turned up the music— a classical piano piece I would always used whenever I do my paintings. The melody was always hauling me into a world of my own, guiding me away from reality. Not only it was my personal favorite but the piano piece was also important in my heart because it was the music I was actually playing when Cassie found me at the orphanage. And then with so many other reasons...

"What's the title?" I heard Khloe asked.

I peered over my shoulder to see her still busy at her task. "Butterfly Waltz, Brian Cain," I replied, pinching a tiny bottle of phthalocyanine blue on the wooden palette.

"Sounds like a kid lullaby to me," she concluded.

"Yes, it is...at least for me," I confirmed to her while damping the tip of the brush on the paint. "My mother used to play it to me using her old oak wood piano before I sleep when I was a kid."

I heard her footsteps drawing closer to me. "Do you still ask her to play it for you?"

As I sensed her presence behind me, I twirled sideways to gaze at her and shook my head. "No, my biological mother is already dead so..."

Khloe froze. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought..." she trailed off as she pinched her left ear uneasily.

"No worries, Klo." Leaning forward, I kissed her cheek to make her feel at ease.

She seemed to relax and collapsed her body on the couch. "Do you mind telling me about why you ended up in the foster system?"

Focusing back my attention on the canvas, I gently stroke the brush on the white material but answered her nonetheless, "There's nothing to tell, Klo. They're scarcely pieces of memories that are slowly fading away from my mind. It just that my mother died due to an incurable disease when I was six and my father was shot to death because of an unknown reason when I was almost nine. I don't remember, actually."