Raw Line| SVT

34

Despite the fact that I was terrified to meet up with Minho, there was a part of me that couldn't help but want answers. I didn't even know if he was going to give me any, but any straw, every inch of information that I could hold on to was important.

THE 8 was right, curiosity killed the cat. I was about to find out if I'd have the same fate as the poor feline in the saying.

I see the boy as soon as I step in the warm café, his dark aura contrasting with everything around him. He raises his head as soon as he hears the entrance door opening and meets my gaze. We look at each other for a few moments before his lips spread in one of his comforting smiles. I let out a small huff of air in relief and step towards the table where the boy was sitting. He had a large cup of something that looked like coffee and he was watching me carefully, his smile still plastered on his lips.

"Hi," I say sitting across from him, praying he won't notice my high level of anxiety.

"Hi," he says. "Thank you for coming."

I wave him off like I normally do.

"I wouldn't miss the chance," I say and his smile widens.

I watch him as he takes a sip from his coffee. His hair was ruffled messily and he wasn't wearing as many accessories as I was used to him wearing. This image of him, this attire made him look warmer, more approachable. How on earth was he one of the racers at Lime Rock Park?

"I actually wanted to share something with you," he says, pulling his laptop out of the bag next to him.

A waiter comes to our table and asks me if I'd like to order anything. It doesn't take me long to say "hot chocolate" since it was too late for any type of coffee and I was always in the mood for hot chocolate. As soon as the waiter leaves, Minho turns his laptop towards me, showing me something that looked familiar to me.

When I finally realize what that was, my eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh my God, this is..."

"The sketch you helped me on, yes," he says with a bright smile. "What do you think?"

It certainly wasn't just a sketch anymore. The car was colored and all the lines were exactly where they were supposed to be. The shadows were drawn precisely and overall, the drawing looked almost real. The last time I saw this sketch, the coloring wasn't done, nor the outline or the shadows, so maybe that was why I was so surprised with the way it turned out. Minho has always listened to me carefully and tried his best to learn from me, so the fact that his sketch ended up looking so good shouldn't surprise me.

"It's... absolutely awesome!" I say, a smile spreading on my lips. "I'm really proud of you, wow!"

He chuckles, making my smile widen unconsciously.

"I tried my best so you wouldn't feel like all those hours in the library were a waste of time," he says on a slightly flustered tone.

Goddammit, he can't be a racer.

"You could have been the worst pupil in the world and I would still have been thankful for all those hours," I say and he smiles.

"Anyway..." he speaks after a few moments "this is not all of it."

He leans in a bit closer and I look at him confused, but also intrigued by what he was going to tell me.

"So I talked to one of my friends and..." his smile widens "he said he would help me recondition a car to make it look like this."

That's when the awful connection before the sketch and Lakeville hits me. He was a racer, he knew every single inch of a car, that was why he draw it so smoothly initially. It all started from a car after all. It could have been so obvious.