Jiseok Short Story Collection

A vividly stained kiss

Sunlight streamed long between the huge windows of the campus art studio, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air and casting warm golden squares across the wooden floor. From the small speaker in the corner, lively, rhythmic retro synth music played softly, filling the room with a bright, pleasant energy.

Jiseok sat on a low stool in front of an empty canvas, a wooden palette balanced on his knees. He was wearing an oversized beige sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he looked unbelievably fluffy and kind. At first he said nothing, his shoulders slightly tense as he carefully mixed different shades of acrylic paint. Every time I moved closer to check his color choices, he hurriedly dropped his gaze to the palette. His long eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks, and a small, cute blush slowly crept up the back of his neck.

"You're way too quiet today, Jiseok," I teased as I perched on the edge of his table and swung my legs. "Are you secretly judging my art skills?"

Jiseok let out a soft, breathless laugh and finally looked up. The shy tension from before had vanished completely from his eyes, replaced by a gentle, mischievous spark. He smeared some bright yellow paint onto the back of his hand and flashed me a wide smile.

"I'm not judging," he laughed, his voice full of warmth and affection. "I'm just trying to concentrate because you keep stealing my attention."

"How am I stealing your attention?" I scooted a little closer and let out a laugh.

Instead of answering in words, Jiseok's mischievous instincts kicked in. A playful glint flashed in his dark eyes, and he dipped the tip of his finger into a vivid blob of cerulean blue paint. Before I could even blink, he reached out and lightly poked the tip of my nose, leaving behind a perfectly round blue dot.

"Hey!" I yelped with a laugh as I reached for a paper towel.

"There, done," Jiseok chuckled, leaning back against the chair and shaking his shoulders as if he was truly delighted. Beside me, he looked endlessly relaxed and cozy. "Now you match the canvas. Much better."

I checked the bright blue dot on the tip of my nose in the window reflection and inhaled in disbelief. "Wow, Kim Jiseok, you're dead!"

Laughing hard, I snatched up a brush, loaded it with bright pink paint, and charged forward. Jiseok's eyes widened all at once in shock and playful terror. He hurriedly backed away from the chair, dodging my first attack with the quick agility of someone born with natural athletic reflexes.

"Wait! No! Not the sweater!" Jiseok cried, shoulders shaking with wild laughter as he ducked behind the heavy wooden easel.

"You brought this on yourself!" I shouted back as I climbed fully off the table and chased after him.

We raced all over the sunlit studio, locked in a frantic, breathless scuffle, and our laughter echoed loudly up to the high ceiling.

I cornered him near the storage shelves at the back, finally lifting my hand to leave a pink mark on his cheek. But the moment Jiseok lunged forward to grab my wrist, I stepped on a drop of paint splattered on the wooden frame of the floor, and my sneaker slipped out from under me.

With a scream, my balance completely gave way. The instant I crashed backward, Jiseok also lost his footing in a desperate attempt to catch me, and in the end we both went tumbling down with a loud thud.

We landed heavily on the giant canvas cloth spread across the floor. As the spinning world came to a stop, the room was instantly swallowed by heavy silence.

I was lying flat on the floor, and Jiseok was looking down at me while bracing both hands firmly on the floor beside my shoulders so he wouldn't crush me with his weight. We were both breathing hard, our chests rising and falling in a perfectly matched rhythm.

Seen up close, his face was completely flushed a bright pink, and his black hair was beautifully tousled. His widened eyes held mine directly through a wave of breathtaking romantic tension that had rushed in all at once. The playful chaos had melted away entirely, and we were trapped in an awkwardly intimate position on the floor, wrapped in the bright afternoon sunlight.

Creeeeak.

The heavy studio door swung open with a sharp, loud screech. "Wow, our maknae's making pretty fast progress, huh?" a sharply teasing voice rang out like thunder through the air.

We both jolted in shock and snapped our heads toward the door. Hyunjin leaned heavily against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, wearing a dangerously mischievous smile that filled his handsome face. Right behind him, Chanyeon walked into the room carrying three iced Americanos. He stopped short as he looked down at us tangled together on the floor, and then a low, rumbling laugh immediately burst from his chest.

"Jiseok, I told you to be a good younger brother to noona, not to tackle her onto the floor," Chanyeon said smoothly, lifting one eyebrow and curling the corners of his eyes into a perfect teasing crescent.

Jiseok's brain completely short-circuited. The confident, gentle guy from just a second ago was gone without a trace, and his whole face, neck, and even ears turned a furious crimson, bright as a raging fire. He scrambled off me so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet, then hurriedly tried to smooth out his beige sweater in a flustered panic.

"Ah, hyung! It's really not like that! We just fell over, really!" Jiseok stammered desperately, his voice cracking slightly from pure, untainted embarrassment. He fidgeted anxiously and reached down to help me up.

Hyunjin clicked his tongue as he walked in and handed me a wet paper towel to wipe off my blue nose. "What excuses? Don't try to pull anything clever. And you, I definitely told you that if our maknae keeps bothering you, you can just come to me, didn't I? That offer's still good."

"Hey, Park Hyunjin. Don't joke around," Chanyeon said with a chuckle as he handed me an iced Americano. Then he smiled and lightly tapped the back of Jiseok's head. "Come on, let's all go eat before our shy little maknae's heart completely bursts. My treat."

I burst out laughing, and as we all gathered our things, my face burned as red as Jiseok's. Surrounded by teasing hyungs and my adorable, flustered Jiseok, trapped in the chaos of that bright, colorful studio... this heart-pounding romance had been officially stamped and sealed. Our brilliant, laughter-filled future was finally beginning for real.