Shin Hye stirred awake when she felt uncomfortable with her dried throat. She slowly opened her eyes and for a moment, she was confused with the surrounding around her. Slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position, she glanced around the room and her blurred mind was slowly brought back to her senses.
This is Min Ho’s room. She was sick and he asked her to stay. She turned to the bedside table and glanced at the clock. It was already 3.30am. She touched her forehead and caressed her temples softly. The fever has subsided and her head felt so much better now. The headache was gone too. But her throat felt very dry and very thirsty.
She pulled the comforter away from her and slowly climbed out of the bed. She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of cold water. The water felt amazing running on her dry and scratchy throat. After she finished, she washed the glass and put it back into the cabinet before she walked out from the kitchen, looking around the spacious living room. It was dark as usual and whenever she stands here like this, her mood will naturally turned sad, affected by the dull surrounding.
As she walked back to Min Ho’s room, she stopped outside the study room when she saw the dimmed lights seeping out from the door.
“He is still awake?” She whispered to herself. Without thinking further, she tried to turn the doorknob and pushed the door. It opened. He didn’t lock it. The lights were still turned on dimly but she couldn’t see Min Ho at the study table. She turned to the other side and her heart skipped a beat when she saw him sleeping on the big and comfortable chaise lounge chair. His hand was still holding a sketchbook.
Shin Hye smiled as she slowly walked towards him. He was in a deep sleep and didn’t even realize that someone came in. His breathing was steady but heavy at the same time. Even in a deep sleep, he is not relaxed. She took the blanket at the side and gently wrapped it around his body before she kneeled down beside him, watching his sleeping face.
Her gaze slowly shifted to the sketchbook he was still holding. She smiled. There must be a lot of his sister’s drawing inside that make him adores it so much. With curiosity biting inside of her, she reached for the sketchbook and pulled it away from his hand very softly, carefully not to wake him up. A satisfying smile painted on her face when she got the book and he was still unmoving.
She flipped the book open and smiled at the drawing inside. As expected, it was the same little girl’s drawing that she saw on the drawing block of his art easel. She continued to flip over and there were more than ten of her drawings inside. Her fingers naturally touched on the drawing and stared at it for a long moment. His sister is very pretty. Even though it was just a sketch but the way he drew her features, her smile… she looked very beautiful.
When she flipped to the next page, when she saw the next drawing, everything seems to freeze around her and her breath was stuck in her throat, unable to breathe. Her eyes were darted at the drawing with a shock expression spread across her face. She moved her trembling fingers to the sketch and touched it very gently. This is not his sister. This is her… her sketch.