I Know You | Meanie

Lost.

It was Sunday, the day before his and Mingyu's painting was due and Wonjae still had not painted his half. After dinner, when  Mingyu left on the first day the assignment was given he had decided to take the canvas with him to work on his half. They planned to paint together, but that didn't happen because Wonjae had still not found a meaning for their word, petal. He couldn't think of anything so he stared at Mingyu's work, admiring. Mingyu had painted what he called "blooming rain." It was a multicolored upside down rose which gave the impression of falling petals. In the painting there were what at first Wonjae thought were green petals, but when he asked Mingyu why he had colored some petals green. Wonjae thought back to the time Mingyu gave him the explanation for his painting, Mingyu explained that they were leaves.

"Why did you draw falling leaves on there, doesn't it defeat the purpose of the petal theme?" Wonjae asked when Mingyu gave him the canvas with his finished half.

"Nope, leaves deserve to be there." Mingyu responded.

"Where did you get that idea from?" Wonjae asked, genuinely curious.

"Your brother."

"Explain." Wonjae said.

"We were talking one day and he told me about his interest in flowers and he pointed out that leaves are like unappreciated petals. Wonwoo said, and I quote, 'they deserve just the same amount of attention as petals.'"

"My brother is weird."

"No, he's not, he's just focused and thoughtful." Mingyu said. 

"Whatever."

When he realized that he was just staring at the canvas and that he was running out of time, Wonjae left his room and went to the garden. He hoped to get some sort of inspiration there. Wonjae would've never thought that one stupid, igsignificant word could make him feel so...out of it. He asked himself how Mingyu did it, Wonjae knew Mingyu's art was inspired by Wonwoo's weird flower obsession, but how could his brain come up with the most intricate yet simple paintings. Wonjae had never before felt out of his element, then a meaningless word comes to defeat him.

...

Wonjae decided to walk through the garden and looked at the different plants, nothing caught his attention. Everything in the garden was beautiful, his mother made sure of it when she tended it every week, but nothing was beautiful enough for him. Wonjae felt frustrated. Then, the next thing he knows he has pulled out his phone and is calling Mingyu. They had exchanged phone numbers at the beginning of the week and right now he needed help.

—
"Hello." Mingyu said.

"I need your help, but don't tell anyone I asked you for help or you'll regret it." Wonjae said.

"Uh, ok. What do you need help with?"

"I still don't have my half of the project done."

"Are you seri—"

"I know, I've had forever to do it but I can't think of anything, this has never happened before, I'm usually the first one done with projects. Can you come over and help me?"

"I can't, I was about to go out, but I'll still answer texts. Hey is Wonwoo with you?"

"Okay, I'll text you later and no he's not, he's  in his room, why?"

"We're hanging out in a bit, but he hasn't answered my texts or calls, so could you please tell him to do so."

"You guys are going out? Just you two?"

"Yeah, we're gonna watch a movie and I'll try to convince him to go to the mall because I want to go shopping."

"Cool."