Beautiful Art

A few weeks had passed from the last time Haebin had gone to Mark and Jackson's dorm. She hadn't avoided him per-say, but she didn't put the effort into going to his room and hanging out with him or spending a lot of time with him in general. She threw herself into her paper writing and got ready for finals.

"Noona, you're being unreasonable." Yugyeom commented as she tossed Mark's clothes towards him.
"No, I'm just busy! I don't have time to go all the way to his dorm. You live in the same building." Haebin defended.
"You use to spend all the time over there, what happened?"
"Nothing, I don't know what your talking about."
"It's been weeks; you don't come to our building, you avoid talking to him, its frustrating for all of us. We miss you! What happened? Was is something to do with Momo?"
The freshman's words smacked her in the face, she knew something was going on with Momo.
"No, I've just been busy. Tell JB I'll make you two dinner sometime next week once I'm done with my paper."
"I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that. I'll take these back to Mark-hyung." The taller of the two said with a sigh.

Haebin frowned at her notes, she hated the way the paper she was writing was turning out. She hadn't realized, until re-reading her progress, that the paper had slowly become about her affections towards a certain Point-Guard on the college's basketball team. A small groan left her lips and she dropped her head onto her notebook. The scraping of a chair being pulled out made her jump to cover her work.
"You won't let me see?" The teasing voice of Mark Tuan chimed from beside her.
"A-ah? No i-it's not that..." She trailed off unable to think of a what to say to him.
"Are you still struggling with it?" Mark questioned.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"So, I've been working on a piece that I think will help with your paper." Mark's deep voice commented beside her.
Haebin felt her heart sink, he knew that her paper was about love. All the hope that she was still holding onto that he wasn't in a relationship with Momo was crushed at that moment.
"I'll show it to you, it's in the art building."
"Okay." She mumbled she quickly closed her notebook to prevent him from seeing what she had been writing down. He waited patiently for her to pack her things into her bag.

"Here, get on the front. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall."
Mark urged her onto the front of his long board.
She paused, unsure of whether or not she should. After a second of consideration, she stepped onto the front of the board. Mark stepped on behind her, ever so casually wrapping his arms around her waistline. She felt her chest tighten as his toned torso pressed against her back, what would she do if Momo saw them? What would she even say. He kicked the board forward and began to maneuver them to the art building.

As they rode through the quad wolf-whistles could be heard. Haebin felt her face heat up immensely.
She felt Mark chuckle at the people around them, the rumble of his laughter didn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks.

Mark could feel his nerves stir as Haebin casually leaned against his chest.
Finally the pair arrived in front of the at building. As soon as he had stopped Haebin was off the board standing before him. Her face was red, he assumed it was from the cold air that had rushed against her face as they rode over. She stood before the steps.
He took in her sight.
A distressed olive green hoodie that was a few sizes too big for her thin frame, her heart ring choker wrapped around her neck, ripped up black jeans that revealed her pale legs to the air. On her feet she wore a pair of platform combat boots. With the boots she was only two inches shorter than him. He smiled slightly.

The young artist pulled the door to the gallery he was permitted to use for both academic works and personal pieces. He pulled her behind his body. As she passed through the threshold he turned and placed his hands over her eyes.
"W-what are you doing?" She sputtered out.
"I'ts a surprise." He grinned.
He hoped what he was about to show her would improve the awkwardness that had existed since the night she was in his dorm and Momo came in.

Haebin felt her face get even warmer at the contact of his hands on her face.
"Okay," He whispered in her ear, "1...2..."
He pulled his hands away slowly.
As she realized his hands weren't obstructing her vision anymore, she began to look at the piece.

Before the pair sat a painting on an easel. The colors were muted and soft against the dark head board. Depicted in the image was a young woman sitting cross-legged on Mark's bed. The viewpoint was from behind her. In front of her was Mark leaned on the headboard, his arms folded behind his head a grin on his face.
Haebin focused on the young woman finally, after trying to ignore the woman he was in love with.

The acrylic painted woman had pale skin; her long black hair pulled into a messy bun atop her head.
- Something about the woman seemed so familiar.
She let her eyes trance up her slip neck at the base was a black mandala-styled lotus tattoo.
Haebin felt her breath hitch.
"It-it's-" She couldn't speak.

Mark held his breath. He had chosen to show an alternate version of a memory he thought back on often. In the painting if you focused over her shoulder, she was sketching him.
In his dorm he still had the sketchpad she had been using that night; it remained unfinished. The drawing tossed to the side when Momo and Jackson had come into the dorm, causing Haebin's abrupt departure.
He had drawn Haebin wearing his basketball jersey. "TUAN" written across the upper back of the top, 93 in larger font below his last name.

The art major could only hope she completely understood what he meant in the art piece.
He thought back on the last conversation he'd had with Yugyeom.

| "Hyung! What happened between you and Haebin-noona? She's so sad, she doesn't come over to our building ever!" Yugyeom's frustrated voice met the eldest member of their friend groups ears.
"What do you mean?" Mark asked looking up from his text book over the Italian Renaissance.
"It seems stressed between you two, she asked ME to come and return your clothes to you."
"Well...I don't know how to explain it." Mark faltered.
"WEELL! Let me explain," Jackson's voice filled the room, "Marky-boy here made her jealous. He brought her to our dorm. I was at a party that some of the dance majors threw and Momo was there. She has a thing for him, ya know. So she was there, right? When I said I was leaving she asked if she could come back with me and say hi to Mark. She was really sad he didn't go to the party, no he was on a non-date date with Haebin. Because they're both too stubborn to admit they like each other. BUT anyways; I brought her with me and Haebin got upset because Mark was trapped into talking to only Momo. So she, Haebin I mean, left. Ever since then it's been kinda weird."
|

Mark carefully looked over her face, tears had begun to form in her dark brown eyes.
Finally she spoke.
"It's-it's me."
"Your paper is about love, right?"
He watched as she gave him a shaky nod.
"You should use personal experience for a more accurate description, shouldn't you?"
"I..." She trailed off.
Not even a second after she'd trailed off; Mark felt her thin arms wrap around his neck.
Her full lips pressed to his softly, it was a delicate kiss. It was very her, surprising but still soft and sweet.

Relief flooded him as she pressed herself to his chest.
"Thank you." She whispered into the thin cotton of his shirt as she pulled away.
"I-I was worried you'd given up on me." He finally admitted.
"I thought you liked Momo." She murmured.
"No, I couldn't let go of you that easily." He chuckled softly against her hair. "Was the painting a good confession?" He grinned.
"Yeah, it was." She giggled against his collarbone.
"You know what we should do?"
"Hm?" She hummed.
"We should go finish that sketch."
"Right now?"
"Sure, why not? Jackson left for Hong Kong this afternoon, he'll be gone for the next week."
As he finished saying that Haebin pulled away, her cheeks a rosy-pink shade.
She slowly nodded and he tugged her towards the door.

Haebin's short puffs of breath ghosted over Mark's slender neck. He pressed himself closer to her small frame. The only sounds in the room where their uneven breaths.
He captured her chin once more and pressed their lips together. His tongue ran across her lip, she shyly opened her mouth.
Once they separated again, Haebin tugged on his shoulders to bring him closer.
"The sketch?" He whispered teasingly against her soft lips.
"It can wait." She whispered breathlessly.
Her forwardness surprised him, but he didn't stop her.

Mark's hand lightly ran through Haebin's long black hair. Her cheek pressed to his chest as she slept, this was a sight he would never truly forget. He took it in; Haebin curled into his side wearing only his jersey and her underwear.
He glanced down at the completed sketch that laid in the hand that wasn't tangled in her hair. Depicted was him; leaned against the headboard shirtless. He wore a sated smile on his lips. His hair messy: the silvery blond strands sticking out at odd angles, curling ever so slightly at the ends. Small beads of sweat clinging to his torso.
Finally he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, the slowly drifted close. The sketch pad laid beside the sleeping pair.