MAX

[ ☂ ]  goodbye.

He’s seeing all sorts of colors. Bright, neon colors all merging together in a psychedelic manner, before somehow they burst like fireworks–and suddenly, AOA is right in front of him. They’re angels, honest to goodness angels with wings spread, and white, flowing dresses. Choa and Yuna are singing on the side, and Mina is right there, in the middle, slender fingers strumming at the strings of a harp. Hun can’t help but think that he has somehow died and made his way to heaven.

“Hm?” Joohyuk tilts his head, confused by the apology. Honestly, there was a part of him that didn’t expect Hun to wake him up, so he dismisses their current situation as a mistake, “It’s okay! I mean, we have the whole night ahead of us! I’ll go ask the driver were we are, and when the next bus is. It’s all good.” He stands up and walks to front of the bus for a brief discussion. 

“Really?” It makes Taehyung happy to know that at least somebody would like to be taught by him. Maybe Joohyuk thinks a little too highly of him, but Taehyung is sure he’ll change his mind as they get to know each other better. “After this, that’ll be my next job.” Already, he’s excited to teach the other everything he knows. “But just one or two? I could tell you about fifty right now.” Which is not an exaggeration.

Joohyuk’s requirement for being an “assistant” is quite easy, so he figures until the painting is finished he’ll lay on the bed, talk to Taehyung about anything and get him more water. In the end, he would be rewarded with a nice photo that the art student would admire then fall in love with him over. Dramas work like that, right? As Taehyung draws he finds himself keeping the other company but he also feels quite drowsy in the process. “Why is art so calming?” he would rather say boring, but artist don’t feel that way. 

[ rewind ]

When he notices her packing up her things, he does so too before standing up and throwing his backpack around his shoulders. He follows her out the door, a little shocked that she held it open for him. He walks beside her, thinking very little of the project. He’s thinking about what he’s going to eat versus what he can afford to eat. Maybe he should go to the grocery store for once? 

The pointer first settles on the number two, which has Sooyoung’s breath hitching. The board is lightly shaking–or at least she feels like it is, when Joohyuk suddenly declares that maybe they should stop. “What?!” Her head turns towards him, her expression frustrated–now that they seemed to be getting somewhere, he suddenly says this? But then just as soon as he says it, the board stops vibrating, which causes her to suddenly become suspicious.

It would be wrong for him to tell her that he’s not feeling uncomfortable, that something isn’t making him second guess everything he’s thought until this point. “Um...” he’s speechless, his sight fixated one the board, anxious to find out what their spirit might be saying until everything suddenly stops and he’s looking up at her. She’s frowning and he can’t quite figure out why until she speaks. 

“Technically, we met a whole back,” she points out with a smile. She understands what he means, although now she’s a little baffled how, despite having a common friend, and living under the same roof for months now, they’ve never actually had a real conversation before. “What’s there to know, though, really–” She chuckles, thinking that it would probably be better if his mother knew less about her own dating history. It’s not even that she’s been around, she’s had a few boyfriends here and there, some more serious than others, but if they were going to be acting anyway, then wouldn’t it be better to show his mother the very best version of her? “I don’t mind if you tell your mother you’re my first boyfriend–” She cuts herself off though, laughing, because for some reason that sounded a little ridiculous. “My first serious boyfriend, anyway?” At least that’s a little more believable, and closer to the truth.

Although he finds it odd seconds later that he’s leading the way to her room, he follows through with it anyway, laughing at words. At that moment she sounds like his mother, so he’s somewhat taken aback, “I wasn’t going to go into my dating history, but once you meet my mom you’ll realize that she takes one question and turns it into a complete theory. Senior year of high school, I dated this girl for about two- maybe three weeks. I don’t think she liked me that much, and every since then I haven’t been in a stable relationship. My mom finds it strange that I haven’t told her about any relationships and that I keep rejecting her blind date offers, so she came to her own conclusion. Don’t jump to conclusions miss Mina.” 

Sooyoung sighs; she’s just about ready to give up when a minute passes, and then two–and there’s still no movement. “Maybe silence means yes? No?” For some reason, her earlier ambivalence has turned into anxiety. It’s like now she wants there to actually be a spirit, if only to prove something to Joohyuk. “Or maybe there are just asking the wrong questions.”

“It probably means the spirit isn’t interested.” he replies quietly, making sure not to unbalance their energy. He nods too eagerly when she mentions asking the wrong questions. He’s sure that it has something to do with, or he just wants to hear her voice. Even if there was a spirit in the beginning, they’re are not the most believing and infatuated pair, so maybe the spirit just moved on. 

[..]

“Possessed. I definitely don’t want that,” he added on, playing off that he was completely engulfed in thought minutes ago, “no I can pay for the snacks, really.  If you feel like you must contribute then we can pay separately. I didn’t stand in line all that time although you weren’t that late.” However, this was his first time noticing the crowds of people. It is the weekend, he thought but getting pushed through a sea of people wasn’t part of their afternoon plans. When they finally got to the ticket booth he paid for their tickets then ripped them in half, handing one to her and keeping the other.