Chapter 25, Part 2 of Portrait
INDEX
Chapter 25 Part 2
The backyard seemed smaller than Junho remembered from when he and Hyekyung had cleared away the leaves and he had killed that flower that Hyekyung had been so protective of. Hyekyung didn't even look back at him and she just plowed through a clump of bushes in the corner. Junho stood there staring for a second.
You've got to be kidding me. Where the heck is she going?
By the time this thought had finished in his head, Hyekyung had completely disappeared. Junho huffed and then went to the corner of the yard.
But where did she go in?
No matter how he tried, he couldn't seem to find a very good opening in the bushes. Giving up, he just picked a spot that looked less prickly and dove in.
"OW! That hurts! OW! AHHHHH!"
Hyekyung couldn't help a small giggle escaping her mouth as she sat serenely on the stone ledge.
Finally, Junho extricated himself from the barbed tendrils of the bushes as he stumbled into the little clearing.
At the sight of the leaves and the prickles all over Junho's clothes and in his hair, Hyekyung laughed heartily and tumbled over the stone ledge.
There was an ominous silence. Junho forgot being irked at Hyekyung for laughing and rushed over to the ledge.
"Are you okay?" The silence scared him.
It turned out that Hyekyung was fine; in fact, she was still laughing. She was laughing so hard that she didn't even make any sound at all. Her shoulders and tummy just bounced up and down as she guffawed.
Junho remembered that he was irked.
"Don't laugh!"
Still rolling around on the ground, Hyekyung managed to spit out in between gasps, "HAHA...I didn't...HAHA...tell...you...to...HAHAHA...follow...me...HAHAHAHAHA!"
Junho crossed his arms. "Well..I...I had to make sure you weren't running away!"
This made Hyekyung laugh even harder. "Running...HAHA...away?...HAHAHA... As...if! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Junho couldn't stand this anymore. He irritably bent over and shook his head to get all of the leaves out..
"STOP!" Hyekyung's laughter suddenly ceased.
Still bent over, Junho lifted his eyes up. "Stop what?"
Hyekyung, all serious, sprang up from the ground and grabbed Junho's shoulders. She forcefully pushed him to sit down on the ledge and she straightened out his torso. Junho raised a hand to brush off more leaves from his hair, but Hyekyung swatted his hand away.
"OW!" Junho started to rub at the pain in his hand from the slap.
"Don't move! And shut up!"
Hyekyung was scary again. Junho kept his mouth shut and stopped moving. Hyekyung touched his chin to angle his face and a shock impulse traveled from his chin to his feet.
"I told you not to move!"
Then Hyekyung began to squish his face. She pushed his right eyebrow up and made the other one furrow into the center. Her hands gently rested on his cheeks for a moment and a few mad thoughts ran through his head as she gazed into his eyes. Those mad thoughts were quickly replaced with nothing but OW! As Hyekyung pinched his chin between her palms and forced his jaw down.
"Look up," Hyekyung instructed. "No, not there. HERE!"
"Happy now?" Junho asked, sarcastically and very uncomfortably.
"DON'T TALK!"
"You know, my face doesn't naturally work this way."
"SHUT UP!"
Okay, jeez...
With his peripheral vision, Junho watched Hyekyung get settled on a nice cushioned stool behind an easel.
A sense of horror overtook Junho and made Junho's eyes widen even more.
She's PAINTING me?!
"Ah, good! You're getting into this! Keep your eyes open like that!"
Hyekyung and Junho listened to some birds chirp as Hyekyung worked zealously.
"Hyekyung?"
"I told you to shush!"
"But this is important..."
Hyekyung dropped her paintbrush to her side with a big sigh. "What?" Hyekyung said, barely restraining herself from yelling it.
"Can you do my face first? Because it hurts. Especially my eyes."
"Alright, fine." Hyekyung said brusquely.
That boy is following directions better than I thought.
What was I thinking, following her out here?
Hyekyung finally said, "Okay, you can relax your eyes now."
"WHEW!"
"HEY! I didn't say your whole body could relax!"
Hyekyung hummed a tune to herself and was completely oblivious that Junho was studying her, just like she was studying him in order to paint him.
What a crazy girl...WHY am I here?
Junho remembered how Hyekyung's eyes had locked with his and how her small soft hands had held up his chin.
No. She has no thoughts of romance in her head and neither do -
"DONGJOO'S HERE! Hyekyung, what are you doing back here, instead of helping Hyemin?"
Junho's eyes swiveled to the sight of Dongjoo, looking nice and neat as usual (HE had somehow found a nice path here) and also looking very shocked.
"Go away, Dongjoo, I'm busy."
Junho couldn't help a little smirk growing on his face.
Oho, there's gonna be some drama now...