Never Cried
The sky is hidden by grey clouds that water drips from.
Inside the house near the beach, Doyeon is standing by the easel, painting on the canvas.
In front of the canvas, Moon Bin is standing still with a pink rose in his hand, while patiently waiting for the painting to get finished.
As she starts painting the white of his eyes, she hears the rain outside and starts thinking of how different he was from the other boys, that she knew.
Since she started to know him, when they were both 8, he never cried in front of her.
The one day when they were riding their bicycle, racing against each others, competing about who was the fastest of them both, he fell of the bicycle and his knee bled. She expected that he was going to cry, but he didn't. The only thing he did was to get up again, as if his knee didn't hurt, saying "I'm going home to get some band-aid."
She remember that she found him less childish than the other boys because of this. Maybe that is why he was the first boy, that she has had a crush on.
His eyes are staring at her face, that reminds him of his mom.
He remembers that when he was younger, his mother used to paint pictures of him. Even though he wasn't always standing still, while she painted him.
Even though, his mother died when he was 7, he still remembers his mother clearly. How her sweet voice sounded like and her face, when she was focusing on the painting.
The last picture she painted of him, was when they were at the beach on a sunny day. On that picture he was trying to stand as still as possible, while having a huge smile on his face. He was standing in the water, feeling the coolness in his feet.
After he has been standing still for a while, Doyeon says: "And done."
He smiles at her and walks towards her, while still holding that pink rose, excited to know how that painting has turned out.
He looks at the painting.
"It's beautiful." he says.
Dayeon's cheeks turn into the colour of the rose.
"I agree." she says. "And I want to sell it for a lot of money."
"Why do you want to sell it for that much money?"
She wants to tell him that it is because he means a lot to her.
"Because I..." she says before she comes up with a lie. "I saw that cute, pink dress at the store yesterday, and I was sad about not having enough money to buy it."
"Alright." he responds with a friendly smile. "You probably really want to have that dress."
She smiles back at him, but feels guilty about lying to him.
After having been to Doyeon's house, Moon Bin is in his bedroom and picks up a book that he has wanted to start reading, since he finished the book "The Wind Elf, He Adored." by Kim Minseok.
This time it is an other Kim Minseok fantasy book called "The Girl and The Arrows" about an archer called Flecha, who has to go in quest for the prince of Verdenia who had mysteriously disappeared.
He had heard a lot of other people talk about how nice the story is and how beautifully written it is.
On the green cover of the book is a brown arrow lying horizontally under the words "The Girl".
He turns to the first page and sees a black-and-white illustration of the archer wearing a dress and holding a bow and an arrow.
Looking at her face, his heart feels like it has been hit by an arrow and starts beating faster.
If she was real, he would tell her how beautiful he thinks she is.
He starts reading the first chapter of the book, that describes her dark brown hair and her emerald-green eyes.
He turns back to the first page, looking into her eyes that have a greyer colour.
Afterwards he goes to bed.
When he opens his eyes, he gets startled by seeing a brown-haired girl wearing a green dress sitting next to the book.
At first he thinks he is hallucinating, but then the girl looks at him and asks: "Do you have any knowledge of where I am?"
"Uhm..." he responds. "You're in my house."
"So this is your house?" she looks around. "Wherefore am I here?"
"I don't know why."
"Perhaps the prince is here."
"I don't think he's in my house."
"I hope not that you are lying to me." she walks towards his bed.
She sits down and has her face close to his, staring into his eyes.
He nervously looks into her eyes, that he notices is as emerald-green as it was described in the book.
His heart starts beating fast again.
"I see in your eyes that you are speaking the truth." she says and gets up from his bed.
He pinches his own upper arm, hoping that this is just a weird dream, but his arm hurts.
The little pain in his arm makes him feel a lump in his throat, but then he tries to think of the funny cartoon, he watched as a child, and the lump disappears.
He is at Doyeon's house again.
He looks at the painting of him on the wall.
"Something weird happened this morning." he tells her.
"What is it?" she asks curiously.
"Flecha from The Girl And The Arrows magically appeared in my bedroom."
"Really? How weird." she says.
"I don't know if it is because I was admiring the illustration of her."
Her eyes feel as if they have become green of jealousy, and her heart feels like it wants to cry.
"I want to tell her how much how much I adore her." he says with a smile.
That smile makes her feel sick in the stomach.
"I know I just met her, but I want to confess my feelings for her now."
He has a huge smile on his face, and walks out through the front door.
Tears start running out of her eyes.
She looks at the painting of him.
"When am I going to be the girl, you catch feelings for?" she says, while her throat and heart is hurting.
She takes the painting of the wall and holds it in her hands.
Her tears drip down on it.
Then she goes through the front door.
She feels the wind blowing.
There is no sight of Moon Bin.
She walks to the beach and steps on the sand.
She remembers the days when she and Moon Bin used to make sand castles together.
She throws the painting into the water and starts watching the colours of the painting slowly disappear and become part of the sea.
Meanwhile Moon Bin runs over to his house and sees Flecha sitting on the bench outside.
His stomach hurts and his face is sweating.
He stops running and pants.
"Flecha..." he says. "there is something... I have to tell you."
"What do you have to tell?" she asks "Have you found the prince?"
"No, I haven't." he responds. "I just want to tell you that I have feelings for you."
"Excuse me?"
"I adore you, Flecha."
She looks into his eyes.
"My apologies, but my heart adores another person."
His heart hurts as if the arrow has been pulled out of it.
"Oh, perhaps it might be the prince."
"Precisely."
The painting of him has turned back into a white canvas.
Suddenly in front of Flecha, Moon Bin's hair turns white, his skin paler and his eyes turn grey.
He has started to look like a blank canvas.
He looks at his skin in panic. It looks as white as snow.
He opens the front door of his house and looks into the mirror.
She gets up from the bench and follows him.
He thinks he looks like a black-and-white illustration.
"What has happened to me?" he asks her.
"I have no knowledge of it."
"Maybe it is because I got you out of that book." he says. "So I guess I have to find a way to get you back in there."
"But how?"
"Let's go back to the bedroom."
"But I do not feel tired at all."
"No, we're not going to sleep." he says. "We're going to get you back in it."
They are in the bedroom and he looks at the book.
He picks up the book and starts reading second chapter, where she finds out that the prince has disappeared and starts remembering of when they kissed inside his bedroom.
Then she puts her palm on his shoulder.
"I imagine that I have to kiss your lips like I kissed his." she says.
His cheeks feel warm, but don't change colours.
"We could try to see if that would work." he says and puts the book down.
Then she puts her palm on his left breast, feeling his heartbeat.
With the other hand, she caresses his cheek.
Her face gets closer to his, looking into his eyes, knowing that his feelings for her are true.
He looks into her emerald-green eyes again.
Then her lips touch his, and her green eyes close.
He closes his too and enjoys the softness of her lips.
Their lips separate from each other.
He opens his eyes and sees that she has turned black-and-white like she was in the illustration.
Then he looks at his hand that has turned back into it's original colour.
"I apologize for making you lose your colours." she says.
Then she puts her hands on his shoulders and kisses his forehead.
He closes his eyes, thinking of when his mother pecked his forehead, when he met her at the hospital for the last time. As if she knew it was going to be the last time, she saw her son.
When the touch on her lips disappear and he opens his eyes again, she's gone.
He picks up the book and looks at the illustration again.
His throat starts hurting again.
He starts thinking again about that cartoon, hoping that his throat will stop hurting.
On a sunny day, he is inside Doyeon's house.
He looks at the empty wall, where the painting was supposed to be.
"Have you sold it?" he asks her.
"Yes." she lies. "And finally I can buy that dress."
"You must be feeling happy right now."
"I am." she says, while feeling guilty.
He looks at one of the blank canvases, that are lying on the floor.
"I want you to paint a painting for me." he says.
"Really?"
"Yes, I want you to paint me at the beach."
"Why?"
He looks at a painting that she painted of the beach and doesn't answer her question.
He is standing still while being barefoot, feeling the wet sand and water on his feet.
His jeans have turned wet in the bottom, and he feels cold.
She paints the blue sky in the background.
He looks at her face.
The face that reminds him of his mother.
His throat starts hurting again.
Again the cartoon appears inside his thoughts, but it's not funny anymore.
She starts noticing that his eyes look red and wet, and tears are falling down from them.
She puts the painting brush on the easel.
"Are you crying?" she asks.
"Yes, I am." he answers.
"This is the first time I have ever seen you cry."
"Yes, but my father told me not to." he says.
![[IMG]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/99/af/6a/99af6a114b254000ab9f99e1b4d518bd.jpg "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
