Reason Ch 6
Title: Reason Ch 6
Author: limnological
Rating: PG
Pairing: YoonYul
Description: AU, painters!YoonYul
Chapter 6
Yuri opens the door to the art studio and Yoona can only gape at the painting before her. They make their way towards it, and Yoona cannot tear her eyes away while moving closer. In the painting there is a light brown doe standing in a lush forest with different hues of green contrasting against it. The eyes are so clear shimmering with life that Yoona feels like she’s staring at a real one. The yellow hues blend splendidly together, making the sunlight streaming through the luscious trees more vibrant. Everything about the painting is alluring and absolutely beautiful.
“You… you did this?”
The words fall out of Yoona’s mouth as her jaw continues to hang.
“Yeah.”
“This is… wow… brilliant…”
“Yoona.”
“Yeah?”
She turns to look at Yuri.
“That’s the name of the painting.”
Yoona’s eyes widen and she blushes.
“You - what?”
“I’m dedicating this painting to you. Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten my inspiration back.”
Yoona’s still a bit red from the news.
“I’m glad it’s back, but you don’t have to thank me. I didn’t do much.”
Yuri laughs.
“Don’t be so modest. Really. Thank you. I’m supposed to be your mentor yet you’ve taught me more than I’ve taught you.”
Yoona waves her hands up in protest.
“No, no! You’ve taught me a lot. I’ve learned so much from you and I’ve improved my skills - at least, I think I have. So thank you.”
Yuri smiles.
“You definitely have improved in these last two months.”
“Thank you. And, actually, I think I’m ready to work on the piece I want to submit.”
“Really? Let’s get started then. There’s less than two months left until your art show.”
Yoona nods with determination beaming out of her eyes. She’s going to ace this project.
--
There are no more lessons. Now they spend their time together working on the final piece. Yoona gets nervous and worried it’s not good enough as she works on it, but Yuri continues to support her, giving her encouraging words. As her mentor, she helps Yoona work on her weaker areas, constantly giving her advice on how to better the painting.
More weekends are spent with each other and Yoona finds herself cursing when Sunday evening rolls by and their meeting ends. She’ll have to wait five days to see Yuri again.
--
Yoona has finished the paper portion of the project awhile ago, but she doesn’t tell Yuri because she’s a little afraid that Yuri will think she’s being nosy for asking all the inquiries for non-project purposes. She continues to ask her about different topics to learn more and more about her. Sometimes she learns new things about Yuri and goes back to tweak the paper to add those interesting bits in. But there is one question Yoona has never asked and as more time passes by, she finds herself to be more curious of the answer. So she eventually works up the courage to speak.
“Yuri, will you tell me about your love life?”
It comes out quiet, but Yuri heard it. The cookie that was about to go into Yuri’s mouth doesn’t get any closer. Yuri sets it back down onto the napkin.
“Sure. What do you want to know?”
“Everything!”
Oops.
Yoona definitely responded a little too fast to that question. She hopes Yuri didn’t notice the eagerness in her voice. Apparently, Yuri doesn’t. The older girl turns her head to stare at two birds chirping in one of the trees of her garden.
“I was in love once.”
Yoona’s breathing hitches and she has no idea why.
Well, she does have an idea, but she doesn’t want to admit to it yet.
“It was a good love. One that many people would have treasured because frankly, what was better than being in love with your best friend?”
Yoona’s brain jumps to a conclusion, speculating who the lover was.
“But I chose passion over love.”
One of the birds flies off the branch, leaving its mate behind.
“It’s hard to keep a relationship going when you’re never there by the person you care about. My career took off and I kept travelling, and well, she couldn’t come along because she had her own life to live. Our communication slacked, intimacy lessened, and mistrust flared up once in awhile.”
The bird that is left on the branch flies off in the opposite direction.
“So we went our separate ways. It was a mutual agreement and we’re friends to this day. We don’t keep in touch often, but it’s not like we hate each other. She’s busy and I’m busy.”
Yuri turns back to look at Yoona.
“That’s my love life in a nut shell. Lame, right? I only had one relationship.”
Yoona shakes her head.
“No, not lame at all. It doesn’t matter that it was only one relationship. The fact is that you were in love. To be honest, I’m slightly jealous of that.”
Yoona isn’t sure if she is jealous of the fact that she was in love or jealous of the woman she loved.
Yuri smiles softly at the always honest Yoona.
“Will you be publishing this in the paper?”
“Only if you would like me to.”
“Ah, then I suppose you should since it was a chapter of my life.”
“Okay. And the woman you loved - was it…” Yoona bites her lip hesitating to ask, but if she didn’t ask now, when could she?
Yuri laughs softly, able to read Yoona’s mind.
“You’re thinking it was my childhood friend, aren’t you?”
Yoona nods her head meekly.
“It wasn’t. I could never date Jessica. We’ve always been good friends and we always will be. Besides, her fiancée would murder me if I wanted to make a move on her.”
“Ahh, I see.”
Yoona nods in understanding, curiosity satisfied.
--
“How’s the project coming along?”
Yoona looks up from the textbook as Key sits across from her, setting a few textbooks onto the table. They’re in the library, studying before a test. She breathes out a sigh.
“It’s… okay.”
“Just okay? You’ve been working on it for three months and it’s ‘just okay?’ My, what have you and Yuri been doing instead?”
Yoona almost throws one of her textbooks at him, but seeing how it belongs to the library, she restrains herself.
“Oh shut up, Key. Look, I’m just - I’m a little worried my submission won’t be good enough. There’s going to be tough competition at the art show.”
“That’s true. You’re not the best one out there either.”
“Hey!”
Yoona tries to control her voice since they’re in the library, but it still comes out relatively loud.
“Joking. Girl, you’re the best painter I know.”
“I am the only painter you know.”
“Good point.”
“Key, did I ever tell you that you suck at cheering people up?”
“Laughter is the best way to cheer someone up. If you don’t like it, deal with it.”
Yoona sighs at her best friend.
“Such a diva.”
His eyes turn hard.
“If you really believe that you can’t pass, then you’re not going to pass. You need to be more positive about the outcome. After all, confidence is always half the battle. When you want something, you must get it yourself. You’re a strong girl, Yoona. You can do this.”
Yoona smiles lightly. Key may tease her day and night and bicker with her, but in the end, he is her best friend and he knows her well. And it was pretty uncanny how he was always right all the time.
“…You always bring out the deep talks when I need it. Thanks.”
Key smiles.
“So about Yuri - figure out if you like her yet?”
He adds a wink at the end of the sentence and then nearly dodges the flying textbook thrown at him. Yoona’s already near the exit of the library, redder than she should be.
“I’ll take that as a yes!”
--
Yoona lets out a sigh as her hand shakes. She feels like she’s been sitting on the wooden stool forever, hand moving mindlessly. Looking up at the painting, Yoona bites her lip, worrying it doesn’t have enough feeling, enough effort, enough anything.
“Bwah!”
It’s a spontaneous shout and it startles Yuri slightly.
“Stressed?”
Yuri is sitting on a stool next to her and has been watching her work.
Yoona nods.
“I feel like this isn’t good enough. Like I’m not good enough.”
Yuri frowns.
“That’s not true. It’s going good so far and you are definitely more than just ‘good enough.’”
Yoona pouts and she feels like whining.
“I don’t know…”
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
Yoona turns to her left and Yuri’s finger taps her on the nose.
“You’re an exceptional painter, and I can’t wait to see this finished. It’s going to be great. Okay?”
Yoona laughs softly.
“Thanks Yuri.”
“Alright Miss Stressed. Why don’t we take a break?”
Yuri stands, and takes the palette and brush from Yoona without letting her respond.
“Huh?”
The older girl sets the tools on the table and then returns back to where Yoona is sitting.
“But -“
“No buts, ands, or ifs.”
“But I -“
Yuri grabs her hand, pulls her up from the chair and leads her to the entrance.
“You’re too focused, Yoona. It’s admirable, but sometimes you just need to step back and breathe.”
Yoona doesn’t protest anymore as Yuri pulls her forward, leading her to the door. Her mind is too preoccupied on the fact that they’re holding hands.
When Yuri opens the door, the both of them are met with a surprise. A blonde haired woman stands before them, clearly surprised by their presence as well.
“Jessica? What are you doing here?”
The childhood friend.
So this is Jessica. She’s got a cheery smile on her face and Yoona can’t help but notice the big smile on Yuri’s.
“Surprise! I was in town so I thought I might drop by. I called earlier and Seohyun told me you had started painting again. She also told me you had a guest already, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. I just had to see what the painting was.”
Yuri laughs.
“You haven’t changed one bit. You were always the curious one.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt though. I was just hoping to look at the painting without disturbing you.”
Jessica says it with a sincere tone.
“It’s fine. This is Im Yoona, my student for the student-mentor program. And this is Jessica Jung, the childhood friend I told you about.”
They exchange handshakes and polite greetings.
“Were you two heading somewhere?”
The blonde’s eyes travel down to their joined hands.
“Yeah, just to get some fresh air.”
Yuri answers while Yoona shakes her head.
“Actually, I should get going. It’s getting late.”
Yuri turns her head at the comment.
“Oh, but -“
Yoona smiles at her.
“It’s alright. You two should catch up. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yeah. It was nice meeting you, Jessica.”
“You too.”
It’s only then when they untangle their joined hands.
“I’ll walk you to the gate.”
Yuri offers, but Yoona shakes her head again.
“No, no. I’m fine. Go on, show Jessica the painting.”
Without letting her respond, Yoona turns on her feet and heads towards the gate. And as she leaves, she feels a slight pang in her chest.
She’s never seen Yuri smile like that at her.
Yoona sighs as she reaches the front gate because she knows for sure how she feels now.
Oh, she definitely does like Kwon Yuri.
Author: limnological
Rating: PG
Pairing: YoonYul
Description: AU, painters!YoonYul
Chapter 6
Yuri opens the door to the art studio and Yoona can only gape at the painting before her. They make their way towards it, and Yoona cannot tear her eyes away while moving closer. In the painting there is a light brown doe standing in a lush forest with different hues of green contrasting against it. The eyes are so clear shimmering with life that Yoona feels like she’s staring at a real one. The yellow hues blend splendidly together, making the sunlight streaming through the luscious trees more vibrant. Everything about the painting is alluring and absolutely beautiful.
“You… you did this?”
The words fall out of Yoona’s mouth as her jaw continues to hang.
“Yeah.”
“This is… wow… brilliant…”
“Yoona.”
“Yeah?”
She turns to look at Yuri.
“That’s the name of the painting.”
Yoona’s eyes widen and she blushes.
“You - what?”
“I’m dedicating this painting to you. Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten my inspiration back.”
Yoona’s still a bit red from the news.
“I’m glad it’s back, but you don’t have to thank me. I didn’t do much.”
Yuri laughs.
“Don’t be so modest. Really. Thank you. I’m supposed to be your mentor yet you’ve taught me more than I’ve taught you.”
Yoona waves her hands up in protest.
“No, no! You’ve taught me a lot. I’ve learned so much from you and I’ve improved my skills - at least, I think I have. So thank you.”
Yuri smiles.
“You definitely have improved in these last two months.”
“Thank you. And, actually, I think I’m ready to work on the piece I want to submit.”
“Really? Let’s get started then. There’s less than two months left until your art show.”
Yoona nods with determination beaming out of her eyes. She’s going to ace this project.
--
There are no more lessons. Now they spend their time together working on the final piece. Yoona gets nervous and worried it’s not good enough as she works on it, but Yuri continues to support her, giving her encouraging words. As her mentor, she helps Yoona work on her weaker areas, constantly giving her advice on how to better the painting.
More weekends are spent with each other and Yoona finds herself cursing when Sunday evening rolls by and their meeting ends. She’ll have to wait five days to see Yuri again.
--
Yoona has finished the paper portion of the project awhile ago, but she doesn’t tell Yuri because she’s a little afraid that Yuri will think she’s being nosy for asking all the inquiries for non-project purposes. She continues to ask her about different topics to learn more and more about her. Sometimes she learns new things about Yuri and goes back to tweak the paper to add those interesting bits in. But there is one question Yoona has never asked and as more time passes by, she finds herself to be more curious of the answer. So she eventually works up the courage to speak.
“Yuri, will you tell me about your love life?”
It comes out quiet, but Yuri heard it. The cookie that was about to go into Yuri’s mouth doesn’t get any closer. Yuri sets it back down onto the napkin.
“Sure. What do you want to know?”
“Everything!”
Oops.
Yoona definitely responded a little too fast to that question. She hopes Yuri didn’t notice the eagerness in her voice. Apparently, Yuri doesn’t. The older girl turns her head to stare at two birds chirping in one of the trees of her garden.
“I was in love once.”
Yoona’s breathing hitches and she has no idea why.
Well, she does have an idea, but she doesn’t want to admit to it yet.
“It was a good love. One that many people would have treasured because frankly, what was better than being in love with your best friend?”
Yoona’s brain jumps to a conclusion, speculating who the lover was.
“But I chose passion over love.”
One of the birds flies off the branch, leaving its mate behind.
“It’s hard to keep a relationship going when you’re never there by the person you care about. My career took off and I kept travelling, and well, she couldn’t come along because she had her own life to live. Our communication slacked, intimacy lessened, and mistrust flared up once in awhile.”
The bird that is left on the branch flies off in the opposite direction.
“So we went our separate ways. It was a mutual agreement and we’re friends to this day. We don’t keep in touch often, but it’s not like we hate each other. She’s busy and I’m busy.”
Yuri turns back to look at Yoona.
“That’s my love life in a nut shell. Lame, right? I only had one relationship.”
Yoona shakes her head.
“No, not lame at all. It doesn’t matter that it was only one relationship. The fact is that you were in love. To be honest, I’m slightly jealous of that.”
Yoona isn’t sure if she is jealous of the fact that she was in love or jealous of the woman she loved.
Yuri smiles softly at the always honest Yoona.
“Will you be publishing this in the paper?”
“Only if you would like me to.”
“Ah, then I suppose you should since it was a chapter of my life.”
“Okay. And the woman you loved - was it…” Yoona bites her lip hesitating to ask, but if she didn’t ask now, when could she?
Yuri laughs softly, able to read Yoona’s mind.
“You’re thinking it was my childhood friend, aren’t you?”
Yoona nods her head meekly.
“It wasn’t. I could never date Jessica. We’ve always been good friends and we always will be. Besides, her fiancée would murder me if I wanted to make a move on her.”
“Ahh, I see.”
Yoona nods in understanding, curiosity satisfied.
--
“How’s the project coming along?”
Yoona looks up from the textbook as Key sits across from her, setting a few textbooks onto the table. They’re in the library, studying before a test. She breathes out a sigh.
“It’s… okay.”
“Just okay? You’ve been working on it for three months and it’s ‘just okay?’ My, what have you and Yuri been doing instead?”
Yoona almost throws one of her textbooks at him, but seeing how it belongs to the library, she restrains herself.
“Oh shut up, Key. Look, I’m just - I’m a little worried my submission won’t be good enough. There’s going to be tough competition at the art show.”
“That’s true. You’re not the best one out there either.”
“Hey!”
Yoona tries to control her voice since they’re in the library, but it still comes out relatively loud.
“Joking. Girl, you’re the best painter I know.”
“I am the only painter you know.”
“Good point.”
“Key, did I ever tell you that you suck at cheering people up?”
“Laughter is the best way to cheer someone up. If you don’t like it, deal with it.”
Yoona sighs at her best friend.
“Such a diva.”
His eyes turn hard.
“If you really believe that you can’t pass, then you’re not going to pass. You need to be more positive about the outcome. After all, confidence is always half the battle. When you want something, you must get it yourself. You’re a strong girl, Yoona. You can do this.”
Yoona smiles lightly. Key may tease her day and night and bicker with her, but in the end, he is her best friend and he knows her well. And it was pretty uncanny how he was always right all the time.
“…You always bring out the deep talks when I need it. Thanks.”
Key smiles.
“So about Yuri - figure out if you like her yet?”
He adds a wink at the end of the sentence and then nearly dodges the flying textbook thrown at him. Yoona’s already near the exit of the library, redder than she should be.
“I’ll take that as a yes!”
--
Yoona lets out a sigh as her hand shakes. She feels like she’s been sitting on the wooden stool forever, hand moving mindlessly. Looking up at the painting, Yoona bites her lip, worrying it doesn’t have enough feeling, enough effort, enough anything.
“Bwah!”
It’s a spontaneous shout and it startles Yuri slightly.
“Stressed?”
Yuri is sitting on a stool next to her and has been watching her work.
Yoona nods.
“I feel like this isn’t good enough. Like I’m not good enough.”
Yuri frowns.
“That’s not true. It’s going good so far and you are definitely more than just ‘good enough.’”
Yoona pouts and she feels like whining.
“I don’t know…”
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
Yoona turns to her left and Yuri’s finger taps her on the nose.
“You’re an exceptional painter, and I can’t wait to see this finished. It’s going to be great. Okay?”
Yoona laughs softly.
“Thanks Yuri.”
“Alright Miss Stressed. Why don’t we take a break?”
Yuri stands, and takes the palette and brush from Yoona without letting her respond.
“Huh?”
The older girl sets the tools on the table and then returns back to where Yoona is sitting.
“But -“
“No buts, ands, or ifs.”
“But I -“
Yuri grabs her hand, pulls her up from the chair and leads her to the entrance.
“You’re too focused, Yoona. It’s admirable, but sometimes you just need to step back and breathe.”
Yoona doesn’t protest anymore as Yuri pulls her forward, leading her to the door. Her mind is too preoccupied on the fact that they’re holding hands.
When Yuri opens the door, the both of them are met with a surprise. A blonde haired woman stands before them, clearly surprised by their presence as well.
“Jessica? What are you doing here?”
The childhood friend.
So this is Jessica. She’s got a cheery smile on her face and Yoona can’t help but notice the big smile on Yuri’s.
“Surprise! I was in town so I thought I might drop by. I called earlier and Seohyun told me you had started painting again. She also told me you had a guest already, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. I just had to see what the painting was.”
Yuri laughs.
“You haven’t changed one bit. You were always the curious one.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt though. I was just hoping to look at the painting without disturbing you.”
Jessica says it with a sincere tone.
“It’s fine. This is Im Yoona, my student for the student-mentor program. And this is Jessica Jung, the childhood friend I told you about.”
They exchange handshakes and polite greetings.
“Were you two heading somewhere?”
The blonde’s eyes travel down to their joined hands.
“Yeah, just to get some fresh air.”
Yuri answers while Yoona shakes her head.
“Actually, I should get going. It’s getting late.”
Yuri turns her head at the comment.
“Oh, but -“
Yoona smiles at her.
“It’s alright. You two should catch up. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yeah. It was nice meeting you, Jessica.”
“You too.”
It’s only then when they untangle their joined hands.
“I’ll walk you to the gate.”
Yuri offers, but Yoona shakes her head again.
“No, no. I’m fine. Go on, show Jessica the painting.”
Without letting her respond, Yoona turns on her feet and heads towards the gate. And as she leaves, she feels a slight pang in her chest.
She’s never seen Yuri smile like that at her.
Yoona sighs as she reaches the front gate because she knows for sure how she feels now.
Oh, she definitely does like Kwon Yuri.