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He looked down.
“Daria?”
He managed to regain his balance without trampling all over her.
Dressed in a cropped top and denim shorts, she was crouched on the sand, butt up, elbows down, and peering through the lenses of her SLR. She lifted her head up at his voice. “Good morning.” Her smile was sunny, but her gaze was uncertain.
Nik couldn’t answer right away. He needed a moment or two, the relief he felt at finding Daria right outside his doorstep making him feel disgustingly heady.
One day.
Last night’s promise echoed inside his head, reminding Nik that he only had today before he turned his back on Daria for good.
He was silent again, she thought. It was stupid, but she found herself wishing he would be his usual cranky self instead. At least she knew what he was thinking then. At least she knew what she did or said still mattered to him.
But when he was silent like this...
She rose to her feet, nervousness making her clumsy, and she almost dropped her SLR twice. The third time, it completely fell from her fingers, but Nik caught it handily before the expensive equipment could crash on the ground.
He handed it back to her without a word, and she accepted it with trembling hands. “T-thanks.”
Nik shrugged, his mood becoming edgy at the way Daria stared at him with too-bright eyes and an even brighter smile. He hated seeing her like that, but he hated it even more that he was affected by something so damn simple.
Even so, he heard himself say gruffly, “What were you doing?”
It took a moment for Daria to answer, her mind still whirling at the realization that Nik had somehow decided they weren’t going to talk about last night. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but in the end, she decided to follow his lead. She couldn’t afford not to. She just wanted them to be together, and if this was how he wanted to play it...
She pointed at the flowery bushes lined up in front of the row of hotel rooms. “I spotted a ladybug.” She was proud of the way she managed to sound cheerful even though her voice still shook a little in the end. “It looked so cute I had to take a photo so I wouldn’t forget.”
Nik frowned, wondering if he was missing something. “Forget what?”
“How it looked,” she explained. “When I find something I want to draw, I take photos of it so I can study them afterwards.”
“I see.”
More silence fell, and she didn’t like it, prompting her to blurt out, “I’m an artist. I told you that, remember?”
Had she? Nik shook his head. “I can’t recall.”
“Well, I am. But not the real kind,” she clarified quickly. “I mean, I draw, but kawaii stuff.”
The term was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, causing a faint frown to mar his forehead. “Kawaii?”
She nodded. “Basically, cute stuff.” There was a pause, her hesitation evident, before Daria bent down, and that was when he saw the sketchpad propped against the wall. She handed it to him.
As he flipped it open to the first page, she explained, “It’s deliberately unrealistic, if you know what I mean, with a focus on rounded figures and miniatures.”
Nik only nodded, his concentration fully focused on Daria’s work, which he surprisingly found both interesting and fascinating. Page after page, her whimsical and colorful illustrations leapt to life, ranging from little girls in kimonos to landscapes filled with cotton-candy skies, flowers made of cakes, and rainbows turned into bridges.
“You’re good,” he said quietly.
Her eyes widened.
She was obviously startled, but he also saw the doubt in her eyes, leading him to say firmly, “I mean it.”
“You don’t think it’s silly?” The words were out before Daria could stop them.
Nik frowned. “Is that why you don’t consider yourself a real artist?”
