48 The Artist | Chapter Twenty

"Close your eyes. No peeking, I'm serious," Toby said with a laugh as I did as he asked me to. I wondered what on earth he wanted to show me. I felt a bit excited, and also a bit nervous as he led me about his apartment. He was holding one of my hands as I covered my eyes with the other. It was hard not to steal a glance or two, but whenever he turned to check if I was looking I'd close all gaps between my fingers and we'd both laugh at me being caught.

After a while, Toby asked me to open my eyes. I had to step away a bit since I was in shock. I was face to face with a painting of myself. I stared at it before turning to Toby who now had a small smile on his face. I wasn't sure what to say, so I just walked over to him before giving him a hug. We stayed like that in silence for a while, just hugging each other in the art studio.

"When did you paint this?" I asked, wondering when he'd gotten the time to do it. I'd been with him after school hours for the most part during the past week, and whenever we stayed in his art room he was always worked on something else.

"I did it while you were at your mum's friend's place for dinner," he explained. I hummed at his answer, letting myself pull away from him so that I could look at the painting again. I wasn't sure how to explain how it made me feel—emotional? It was done in oil paint, and it seemed to be about four layers of detail thick. I wondered how he'd managed to start and finish it in a couple of hours. The painting would have been a week-long, or even as much as a month-long project for an average person.

I looked away from it again to turn my gaze to Toby, and we just looked at each other with smiles on our faces as the clock ticked in the background.

"Thank you. It's beautiful..." I muttered, watching as Toby made to take it off the stand before heading to rest the painting against the wall at the corner. It was evening, and the sun was beginning to disappear behind the clouds. I only had a few more hours to spend with him before I started heading back home.

"There's really nothing to thank me for. I simply missed you, so I did the painting," he said before turning to me. "Besides, I have the painting you did for me in my bedroom's wardrobe. I might hang it up in the living room later."

Oh. I thought. His words answered the unasked question I'd had in my mind for a while. I had been wondering where the painting I had done of him had gone since it wasn't in the school's art room, and I hadn't seen it about whenever I came to his apartment.

We left his art room together and headed for the living room downstairs. Duke was running about the room, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw us walk into the living room area. He sat still, pretending like he had not been tossing a pillow around just a few seconds ago. I laughed when Toby picked up the throw pillow with slobber from the carpet before waving the object over Duke's now guilty looking face. After Toby scolded Duke a bit, we headed to the kitchen area and made some rice before settling at the small dining table to eat and talk.

I loved spending time with Toby, and although we'd started doing more things together — like going to the mall or watching movies at the nearby cinema — I still loved coming to spend time with him in his apartment. I wasn't sure how to explain why it was my favorite place to be in with Toby, but in a sense, it felt like his home was an embodiment of him, and it always felt like I was sort of wrapped in Toby's essence whenever I was at his place, if that makes sense.

"So how did dinner go?" Toby asked, referring to the one I had gone to in my mother's friend's place. I shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. Toby didn't ask me about anything else, so we just ate in silence.

After a while I paused, frowning a bit before speaking up, "Oh, I told my parents about us," I said, looking up to find Toby staring at me with wide surprised looking eyes.

"Oh," he said as his features relaxed a bit. "Is she okay with it?" he asked, making me nod. He smiled at my answer, reaching out for my hand before taking it in his and giving it a small squeeze. I liked it when he did that. It was comforting, assuring and loving all at once.

"I'm glad."

"Me too..." I trailed, just watching him smile — it was his sincere one. I rarely saw the fake ones that didn't reach his eyes anymore, and it made me happy beyond description.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" Toby asked when we were done eating. I nodded, getting up from the chair at the dining table to take my plate to the sink. We then headed downstairs with Duke when we were done cleaning up. We took a walk about the quiet block where the apartment complex he lived in was sited. It was evening, so it was relatively cooler than the warm summer day. Duke wasn't on a lease, so he just ran about, coming back to walk by our side anytime Toby called out to him when he'd strayed too far off.

I could feel my face warm up when Toby took my hand in his. He gave it a little squeeze as we continued walking. I found myself staying close to him — maybe too close seeing as I bumped into him sometimes, but Toby laughed it off, evening pulling me into a side hug once.

"How are your therapy sections going?" From my calculations, he should have gone for his second appointment by now. Toby's smile widened at the question, and he ran a hand through his hair before looking at me from the corner of his eye as Duke barked in the distance.

"It's going fine. I'm able to process things better now — I'm starting to understand things for what they really were," he said, making me smile at him before I turned my gaze back to the stone path in front of us.

"I'm glad," I muttered. Toby didn't give me a verbal response, but he did give my hand a small squeeze as we continued walking.

We stopped by a bench after a while, talking to each other as Toby checked his phone occasionally. I wondered what he was doing, but I didn't ask for fear of coming off as nosy. When he finally put his phone away, he leaned over to give me a small peck on the lips, making my face grow warm in the cool weather.

"I love that," he laughed. "You're like those spoons that change color in different temperatures of water, the only difference is that your package would read something like Kiss to Make Red."

I found my cheeks warming up even more at Toby's words. I covered my face with my palms, but he pulled my hands away before hugging me to himself.

"I didn't mean to make fun of you — I think it's adorable, really," he said, kissing my forehead before pulling away. We sat on the bench, just holding hands. I wondered what anyone who saw us know would think. I hope everyone would be able to immediately state that we were together — I didn't think it would be hard. I wore my heart on my sleeve, and Toby was becoming open with me. I closed my eyes, resting my head on Toby's shoulder and allowing him to run a hand through my hair as I dozed off a bit.

We returned to his apartment after a while of walking about again. We went up to Toby's bedroom, deciding to take a shower together before taking a nap. The shower was fine, it was just a bit funny that we didn't quite fit together in the small space, but that meant I got to be close to Toby, so I didn't mind.

I called home, letting them know that I wouldn't be back until about nine in the evening. My mother had been the one to pick the call up. She'd been quiet at the other end as I explained things to her, and she then gave me her permission to stay out before she hung up.

I tried not to lose myself in the kisses I shared with Toby afterward. I still had to go back home later in the day, and Toby was the one that ironically kept reminding me that I'll have to go home soon. Around eight in the evening Toby drove me home. He parked right in front of my house's driveway, before getting down from the driver's seat and following me to the front door. We pressed the bell and waited for a while, and eventually, the lock turned. My mother looked a bit shocked when she opened the door to find both of us outside. I looked at the two of them warily but went into the house with the painting Toby had done of me when Toby gave me his reassuring smile.

I turned to look back at the two of them when I got in, and I was a little hesitant to leave but I finally did. My mum and Toby seemed to have started a conversation. Later in the night after Toby left I decided to text him since I was curious about what they'd talked about.

Message to: Toby.

What did you and my mum talk about?

Message from: Toby.

Nothing too specific. She just talked to me about you, really. She said you're shy and quiet, and that you'll go along with anything for the most part, so I should always ask you verbally about what you think and want, or you'll never tell me if something's making you uncomfortable.

Typing...

Seriously, don't worry about it. She just seemed really concerned about you coming out of your shell. That's all. I'm sure we'll get along.

I looked at Toby's reply, sighing a bit as I tried not to worry like he'd asked me to. He was right about the likelihood of him getting along with my parents. Toby was a great person, plus, he was an artist. I had no doubt that he'd grow on my parents after a while. They might even like him as much as they liked Ji-Hun.