Sunggyu had not stepped into college for three whole years. It was not a particularly happy period of his life, and he certainly did not want to recall the fact that he broke up with his girlfriend of 1 year and 7 months on graduation day. Yet here he was finding himself taking a day off, throwing away the opportunity to sleep in and walking from the station to his alma mater. There were a couple of shops on the way that he had not noticed before, or maybe they were new. The cafe he used to frequent in his undergraduate days was still there but the barista was no longer the same. If he remembered correctly, his favourite bookshop should be around the corner.

He took a turn at the end of the street only to find out that the juice place that had his favourite reading spot, and that was situated right beside the bookshop before, was now an accessory store. Well that’s disappointing, he thought. What’s the point of an accessory store near a college anyway? He looked through the windows display lazily. A pair of bracelets caught his eyes. The strap was a sort of leather rope and a silver piece shaped like an infinity sign was secured to the middle of the strap. Obviously it was marketed as a couple bracelet (as with most things in this country honestly), but he liked the fact that the strap was the adjustable kind that allowed its owner to control the tightness, and also that it came in different shades of blue rather than the usual pink-blue pairings. He thought that the navy blue one would suit his own pale complexion and the new pair of jeans he just got, while the baby blue one might go well as a Christmas gift for Woohyun.

He was too engrossed in his own thoughts to notice a figure behind him in the reflection of the window. Woohyun grabbed his older friend by his shoulders as he greeted him in his usual cheer. “Whatchu looking at?” He moved closer to look at the bracelets too.

“Nothing. And stop scaring me.” Sunggyu shrugged off the idea and continued making his way with Woohyun behind him.

“All set?”

“Yup, and hyung I really can’t believe you were my senior in school! How cool is that!” Woohyun was obviously in a good mood that day as he was practically skipping to school. Even Sunggyu, who was usually grumpy in the mornings, found it hard to resist the contagious happiness. The two of them were on their way to Woohyun’s photography club exhibition, where his work would make up a good half of the displays. The boy had notified him first thing in the morning when he found out his works were chosen. Woohyun promised him that he was the first person to know the news.

“No congratulatory notes or gifts?”

“I have coupons for Starbucks.”

“You are so stingy urgh….careful, girls hate that.”

“I’ve enough charms to compensate, you ungrateful brat. I’m taking a day off for your school club thing.”

The familiar buzz of Woohyun’s phone came again. Sunggyu had had the slightest inkling that Woohyun might be dating, but the younger had been vehemently denying that. Yet each time the phone buzzed, Woohyun would not hesitate to reply or return the call immediately, sometimes almost too eagerly. In fact, he thought he saw his younger self in Woohyun, back when he was dating. The smile when you text, the nervousness, the concentration….everything spoke louder than words.

He remained quiet as Woohyun took the call beside him. He was doing it less secretively as the days went by, but he would still unconsciously distance himself whenever he picked up calls from this person, whom Sunggyu had noticed he saved as Sooshi☆, a rather irksome nickname in his opinion.

“So you’re definitely coming today? Really? Aww thanks!….nah you don’t need to get me anything. It’s awesome enough that you’ll be there…your message? Yup I replied. Maybe it’s in your email spam. Or I can just tell you later when we meet? And hey….I’ve got something important to tell you later.” The way Woohyun spoke with Sooshi☆ was making Sunggyu uncomfortable still, but over the past couple of weeks he had been making less of a deal out of it.

“Introduce her to me one day.”

“I will, when the time is right.” Woohyun replied as he got off the call, still smiling. He gave Sunggyu a meaningful look, the kind that said you guys would love each other, I know it, which made Sunggyu kind of uneasy. Thankfully they had reached the venue, and Sunggyu could finally get a peace of mind.

Sunggyu was almost overwhelmed by the crowd and incessant chatter of college students and their parents. He was impressed, however, by how much the place had changed and at the grandeur of events that college students were able to put up nowadays. The exhibition stretched across a large studio that the school had obviously built after his graduation. Being among people who were a few years younger than him yet way more energetic made him feel old. “Gosh why am I here,” he cast a sharp glance at Woohyun who was beaming beside him. His relations with his college friends had been better lately because of the photography crash courses he had been giving in school. In fact, he was gaining popularity among the girls as well.

“Is it just me or have those few girls been following us since we entered the exhibition?”

“Er…I don’t think so? They’re my students so…I guess they just wanted to say hi.”

More than hi obviously, Sunggyu could hardly refrain from rolling his eyes.

The giggling group of girls soon left their trail to actually look at the other photos in the exhibition. Sunggyu was not an expert in photography, so Woohyun had been dragging him around like a personal guide. He wasn’t understanding half the things he said, “You have no idea how much time I spent on Lightroom for this…” “You remember that time I couldn’t meet up for lunch at the new Spanish place? I was trying to hunt down the right spot for this.” “I honestly think that I should have set the exposure longer for this.” He did not understand photography like Woohyun did, but he certainly liked the feel to them. He thought about how perfect it was to find a buddy who complemented him so perfectly - one good with words, the other with pictures. Woohyun was not very good with his words, but he was the most astute photographer Sunggyu had met at his age. Woohyun was so excited he was practically pulling Sunggyu around or manhandling him to face the right displays. Sunggyu was so amused by his enthusiasm he let Woohyun grab him by his arm so that he could be rushed off to another corner of the exhibition.

“I swear being a fan has given me so much practice,” Woohyun said it quietly so that only his bestie could hear him. He nudged him lightly in the ribs, and pointed to a photograph that displayed a set a of concert stage lights, “I took that during the Busan One Music Festival. You know that feeling when you are always amongst the audience below the stage, and you look up to see the set up, the shining idols, the lights and then the skylight above the stadium? I was trying to get that.”

“It’s the feeling of looking up, and seeing hopes and dreams?” Sunggyu summarised. They both smiled and nodded in unison as they understood each other’s words.

Their tour was disrupted by a sudden stir at the entrance of the exhibition. The school security guards had parted ways amongst the crowd and set up some simple barricades to block the crowds from rushing in on whoever the guests would be. Sunggyu tapped his buddy’s shoulder lightly, “Who’s the guest-of-honour today?” Woohyun simply smiled knowingly. Sunggyu had no idea why the moment was so salient and poignant to him, but when Woohyun left to welcome the guest (he said he had to, it was part of his ushering duties), he felt that the air beside him was especially cold. The crowd’s noise was apparent to him again, like he was forcefully taken out of a bubble he was in a moment ago.

Nobody except Woohyun had expected this. Kim Myungsoo, one of the lead vocals of Forever, was walking into the venue accompanied by Lee Howon the manager and welcomed by Woohyun. Sunggyu noticed the unspoken exchange in their eyes, but Woohyun and Myungsoo gave each other a nod and the former was beaming due to the idol’s arrival. Girls started gasping and handphones were in the air, snapping photographs. Why Kim Myungsoo would even come to a college photography exhibition was a complete mystery, and how he got invited was equally puzzling to everyone. Well, everyone