Time to Love (BTS & Red Velvet Short Stories)

Satangelique: III

The two fell back into a 'professional silence', with each one being conscious of their roles. Jungkook being the artist and Yeri being his muse.

It has been two weeks since they started the contract. She'll be his model for three times a week or 8 hours a week, whatever her schedule dictates to Yeri. Mostly she stays longer than he expects, it was no brainer that she's committed to this craft as much as he is. It was just amusing to Jungkook that the girl was more serious than she let on.

Most of the time Jungkook practiced on Yeri's expressions, it's because it is really portraiture that he really loves to do and allows him to concentrate on the details. During these sessions Jungkook would usually be quieter and Yeri finds him transfixed in his sketchpad, sometimes he would just ask her to make an expression and he would take a picture of it. But it never satisfied Jungkook.

Yeri was not yet asked to pose naked. Although it was stated in the contract, Jungkook never actually requested her to do such things yet. So when he does figure drawing, she's usually posed clothed in a position she can hold for longer amounts of time, doing something mundane, like right now, when she is plopped on top of the couch with her legs dangling on one side and her head on the cushion of the couch with her hair splayed out and a book on her hand - one that she's actually reading.

Jungkook noticed that her face got serious all of a sudden and he was fascinated, as always, by how features seemed to be emphasizing each emotion she felt, as if he was there with her reading the book she held.

"What are you reading now?"

Yeri looked at him from the corner of her eye, where she caught a glimpse of Jungkook's side and a part of what he is actually sketching, although she didn't make such big movements on her body, her limbs moved freely and she showed him the book cover, "It's a suspense kind of book. A thriller."

"Is it any good?"

"Well, it makes me feel things. It's harder to fake some emotions you know, so I read these books to make me feel the excitement they bring."

That was followed with silence. Yeri noted that Jungkook only falls silent on two occasions:

1. When he's getting frustrated in what he's doing.

2. When he's too shy to ask her to talk to him.

At this point Yeri thinks it might be the latter of the two.

"I never asked, what brought you to the arts?"

He stayed silent for a while, and Yeri thought she might have spoken too softly and it didn't reach his ears, or maybe it was too personal of a question and he didn't want to answer.

"It's probably because it runs in the family. My parents are in a way involved in the arts, and my brother also is very good with art. He's a cartoonist."

She hummed a response. Letting him know that she's listening.

"I was never forced into it. I just felt it was the way to go." He looked away from his work to her, looking for some kind of agreement from his model, "You know what I'm saying?"

"You might think that this is harsh, but I think you had it easy, knowing that your parents supported you being in this line of work or study."

"I know that. It's at the back of my mind, but you're probably the first one to say that to me face to face. It was not the same for you?"

"What I do is something unagreaable for most people. But, yeah, probably for my parents it was unthinkable and despicable."

She remained lost in her thoughts, and Jungkook let her be for a while as he began to draw the details of her dainty feet.