New Neighbor ✔️

1

There was a loud knock outside of my studio which caused me to jerk and my paint brush to fall out of my hand. 

"Shit." I mumbled under my breath leaning down to get it. 

I heard the knock again only softer, followed by my brother's loud voice. "Noona!" 

"What?" I yelled back. 

"Come have dinner!" 

"I'm not hungry!" I shouted. 

"You have been locked in there for almost 15 hours, and don't lie and tell me you haven't. I don't even think you have gone to the bathroom, so no arguing. Go take a quick shower and meet me in the kitchen in 15 minutes." 

"Jin!"

"DONT SASS ME GIRL, DO AS I SAY!" 

I sighed and placed my paint brushes in the cleaning solution in defeat. There is no winning against my brother. He gives me my privacy in here but he's right. I have been in here for a while working on this piece, and if I don't come out now he will drag me out of here. 

He's done it before. 

I kind of feel bad for him. I'm a year older and yet he is the one that acts like the older brother. But we like it this way. I am going to have to go back to work tomorrow anyway, as today is Sunday. I'll need to sleep well. 

"Okay I'm coming but can I have 30 minutes please?" 

"20." he replied in a calmer, lower voice making me laugh. 

"Okay." I smiled. "I'll be there in 20 minutes." 

"Good girl." he said through the door. "Plus, I made your favorite." 

I laughed as I took off my apron and pulled the gloves off my hands. Usually I don't mind getting paint on my skin, but sometimes it stains and I can't have stains on my hands when I meet with clients, and I was meeting a new one tomorrow. An idol in fact, so I had to be very prim and proper...and well rested. 

When I stepped out of my studio, I could smell the food that Jin was making and it made my mouth water just a little. I hurried to my room and pulled my clothes off walking into the bathroom. The water was warm and soothing. I didn't realize how stiff my body was becoming by staying in the same few feet and leaning the way I was while working on my painting. I think I may have been in the shower longer than intended because I could hear Jin calling for me from the hallway. 

"Noona, are you almost done?" 

"Yeah, sorry Jin, I'm coming." 

"I'll plate everything okay?" 

"Yes please." I said as sweetly as possible. 

My brother was my favorite person in the world. We were best friends growing up, and when the day came that our parents never came home, we leaned on each other for guidance and support. Our foster parents were okay, giving us the necessities to survive and the will to get through school. Thankfully Jin's intelligence put him in my grade so we were able to graduate together, go to the same University together too. There was one thing our parents did right, and that was they pay for our education before they lost their minds and abandoned us. Jin took an extra 4 years as he was going through his residency for internal medicine, and thankfully now he was working with a new program at the hospital nearby. 

I was able to sell quite a few of my paintings to a few of the higher income families and CEO's. What bought us our house three years ago was one of the CEO's who found my stuff online gave us enough money for me to paint 36 pieces for him to hang in his 8-bedroom home. He decorated his entire house with my work and though, obviously the money he paid was good, if felt even better than he thought they were worth that much money.