Chapter 5 - The magic brush

A loud ringing snapped Kui awake. He shot up, startled, wiping his face. "Huh?' he had no clue how he had rolled onto the bed and fallen asleep. in fact, he didn't remember anything much.

just beside him, Tan was deep asleep with a small frown on his forehead.

his head was pounding "…. What happened?"

He distinctly remembered drinking with him, but everything after that was a blur.

"Fuck I should stop getting fucking drunk over my head." Groaning, he rolled out of bed to the kitchen counter where his phone was vibrating violently.

Frowning he picked it up. it was his alarm clock.

"Weird why did I set an alarm for four pm?" scathing his head, he switched off the alarm and went back to bed. "Tan." He kicked him slightly. "Hey, we have to get food in our system." He kicked him gently this time.

Woo Tan groaned. "Go away..."

"I won't until you get up... sit up lest at least have some pb and j," he gently tugged at his nose.

Squinting his eyes, the young man sat up dazedly. "What time is it?"

"Four pm," Kui shoved a tissue to his face. "Wipe your drool mark,"

Blinking, Woo Tan did as he was told. "God, I feel like I'm floating. I'm telling you recently my hangovers have become much more intense."

"it's called old age buddy get used to it," he patted his back and handed him a glass of water.

He just groaned and sat on the ground hugging the glass. "Yeah, I get it I'm getting old. And so are you."

Kui Lang chuckled. "it's inevitable. We just have to adjust our lifestyles a bit with our age. No one getting drunk."

His best friend scoffed. "As if." Suddenly Tan's phone went off loudly.

"Who is calling me at this time?" He crawled to the bed and found his phone somewhere under the bedsheet. "Huh? it's an alarm. Why did I keep an alarm for late evening."

Kui gazed back at him. "Even I had set an alarm exactly at that time. I wonder why…..."

Woo Tan sat up gasping. "The award ceremony!!!! Oh my god, its this evening!"

Kui froze viably. "Today? Oh…."

"Hey, I got invites for it. do you want to…..."

He shook his head. "The reporters will have a field day with me there. I don't want to."

"Come on we can go incognito. Trust my makeup skills we can go in unnoticed. Please…. That award was meant to be yours. At least… you should be in close proximity when its presented to others," Tan crawled over and hugged his leg like a cute puppy.

Kui gently knocked on his forehead. "Fine. But we are only staying there for ten minutes. Besides, I have been wanting to go out for inspiration," he packed a small leather sling bag with water paint and the familiar wooden brush.

"that's; wonderful. The park close to the hotel we are going to has cherry blossoms in full bloom. Let's have a small picnic after." Tan excitedly jumped around.

"Calm down. You'll disturb the people below." He pulled his friend to a stop and made him sit on the bed.

After having few peanut butter sandwiches, they headed out. Tan was dressed as he usually did. the flamboyant red jacket and his neatly styled curly hair made him look like a run way model. As for him, his best friend had slapped on a ton of makeup, drew an ugly mole on his nose and even made him wear dark brown clothes.

As they walked through the familiar alleyway so many passerby's took a double take and gazed at them.

"I think we stand out too much. Maybe the mole is too much," mumbling he gazed at Tan. "Or maybe the red is too much."

"Hey, I might not be the best looking but I will always be the best dressed in the room. That is my moto man. and red goes very well with my skin tone." Tan hugged his shoulders and pulled him close. "Little witchy boy, let's go see your prices painting,"

They entered the venue without a hitch. Woo Tan was an influential Instagram and social media influencer, so it was quite easy for him to get into such events.

After entering, they went their separate ways in order not to gain any unwanted attention.

Kui slowly took a stroll around the hotel room peering at the amazing people who were in attendance. The famous Dutch artist Parkin, the French artist Gustav... so many influential people were here.

He silently picked up a wine glass and sipped on the bubble champagne. "One day… one day everyone will come to feast upon my piece…" he mumbled with a small smile...

After a few minutes the event began. Everyone sat down in their respective seats. As a plus one Kui could not sit with Tan, he was put in the seat furthest from the stage.

He did not mind it one bit.

Kui chowed down on the delicious pigs on blanket they had at the buffet, gazing ahead at the stage.

Dai Zu the protagonist of the event was nowhere to be found and the event had already started.

Frowning, he wiped his mouth. "Did he run away? No not a chance. He is a tenacious little roach." Mumbling, he gazed at his watch.

It was six thirty and the time for the Chinese national awards was up. the presenter showed all the nominees on the screen and finally, the results were announced. "The winner is... mister Dai Zu's flowers. Gove a round of applause."

Kui clapped loudly. 'This shows that my work is award-worthy…. I will strive to do better.' He thought to himself as he sipped on a glass of water. Suddenly he caught a dark figure by the stage.

"Please welcome Dai Zu."

"Huh?" Kui almost spat it all out. "What is he…"

Dai Zu was slightly limping. But that was not the most noticeable. The young man had a fucking large comical mustache on his face. its those curly ones. And his beard… ugh... it looked like a straggly sea weed.

'Why is he coming to the event so unkempt…'

But looking at him, even more, Kui could not help but feel something familiar.

'That mustache…. Didn't we draw that on his painting today….' He chuckled shaking his head. 'That's impossible…'

But is it

A weird feeling came over him.

'Even that beard looks similar. I am not mistaken. It's what we drew! Then….' He hurriedly pulled out a tissue close to him. "Sir can I borrow your pen?" he gazed at his neighbor.

the guy handed him a pen.

Kui secretively scribbled down. 'let Dai Zu shout out 'I'm an asshole.'

Anticipation filed his being. He gazed at the stage unblinking.

But nothing happened.

Sighing, he rolled up the tissue and tossed it in the garbage.

'Back then I drew that lottery-winning painting, and I won. Today we drew a mustache and Dai has a mustache... it's too much to be a coincidence.'

He closed his eyes and thought about it.

That painting was painted right after he got drunk.

'is being drunk the key? I am slightly drunk right now but it does work. Then what is it?' he gazed at the art bag he had on his lap. 'don't tell me.'

He hurriedly pulled out the brush. 'This…. both the paintings were painted with this!'

He hurriedly licked the brush head and scribed. 'Let Dai Zu trip and fall on his face.'

"Ah!" a loud smashing sound came from ahead.

Slowly, Kui gazed up at the stage. His senior was on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose.

'oh my god…this can't be… it relay can't be…'

He once again licked the brush tip and wrote something unbelievable to check his theory. 'Dai Zu becomes bald instantly.'

'it won't happen right?'

Unblinking, he gazed at the stage.

Someone came running to help Dai out but the man had a glass of campaign and a lit cigar in his other hand. the man tripped and he poured it all down on Dai. the cigar slipped his fingers as well and the next second Dai's hair caught in flames.

"AHHHHH get it to stop!!! stop it!!!" Dai cried, patting his head in a hurry.

In seconds his lush black hair was all burned off leaving behind only small tufts of hair strands... his skin was scotched meaning no hair was going to gown on that head again.

"its real." Kui laid down on the table. "the magic is real…."