Truly Yours • Kim Mingyu

[twenty-seven]

When I think of it, I never got to look at beautiful things in my earliest life that much. I don't have of alot of alibis for it. It could possibly be two things.

Maybe because there wasn't many beautiful things to look at, almost everything seemed pedestrian that time.

Or maybe I was too preoccupied on staying alive that I didn't have time for it, or I simply didn't care about things around me; no matter how beguiling.

Before I had the chance to realize it, I had already lost the capability to acknowledge beauty and became numb to it.

Stepping inside Starlight, I feel like I'm newly discovering the term beauty. Every single artwork in this gallery has it's very own spark of grandeur in it. Every stroke of paint is bold and unblemished. Even the flaws of this world are painted so beautifully that it can be mistaken for the emblem of perfection. It's absolutely surreal.

It is almost hallucinatory to think that a single human being is competent enough to create such masterpieces with just paints and brushes, all by himself.

I walk pass by the paintings very slowly, so that I don't miss any detail. I brush my fingertips against them, and strangely, I find myself connecting with them; an unspoken bonding.

It makes me gasp.

Each painting has a bit of me in them, a bit of my past.

Inadvertently, one drop of tear rolls down my cheek.

Wonwoo wraps his arms around my waist from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. "I told you, you made me who I am today. Do you get it now?" He whispers.

I nod my head, comprehending at last. "How come all the places you take me to without telling me where it is always ends up being so mind-blowing?" I say.

He responds with a breathy chuckle. "And you always end up crying." He exclaims.

"You know what?" I turn around. I cup his face and pull it down to my level to kiss his forehead. I then lock my eyes with him in order to let him know that I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart and believe it.

"You're a star, Jeon Wonwoo."

His lips tug into a gratified smile, then all of a sudden he arches an eyebrow. I frown in confusion, "What?"

"Aren't you suppose to say something like you're my star after that?" I immediately roll my eyes. "Ayee you cheesy man. I'm vegetarian." I state sarcastically and wriggle myself out of his grip. "Go away!"

"Nooooo come baccckkk!"

He catches me by my forearm and pulls me against him. "You can't get rid of me so quickly." Says he.

"Nobody is getting rid of nobody. You better not fall into that fallacy you hear me cheesy boy?" Giggling, I hug him back. We stay like that for several moments.

His heart beat is calm the entire time. Suddenly, I hear it becoming frantic. "What happened?" I mutter.

He presses his cheek against my head. "Can you say that for me?" He utters, his voice timid.

"Say what?"

"That I'm your star? Can you say that please?"

I softly rub his back. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask.

"Just . . . say that please." He mumbles vaguely, ignoring my question. I say what he wants to hear, whilst the heaviness in his voice continues to concern me.

"Fine. You are my star, Jeon Wonwoo." I try my best to be as truthful as possible, though I don't think the candour in my words really matter to him right now. He just wants to hear me saying it aloud, nothing more or less.