#04
c o i n c i d e n t a l

Jinki hopped out of a black van, quickly spreading his arms wide and took a big breath. It was the day of the photo shoot, and just like any other shoots, he was excited. He was always excited when he's taking pictures, which was most of the time. They were in their third site, Myeongdong. As usual, a lot of people were passing by there, just what they needed for the picture. Jinki took some time to roam around, taking pivtures of anything interesting he could spot.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a co-worker scolded him, "Let's get to work!"

"Yes!" Jinki let his camera hung around his neck and then walked back to where they parked the vans.

Suzy, one of the models, was being dressed inside the largest van–or it was more of a trailer–and the other, Sulli, already dressed in preppy clothes, was being polished by the make-up artist.

"Oh, oppa," Sulli said between the light brushes on her cheek by the make-up artist when he spotted the photographer through the mirror.

"Hello," Jinki waved. "It's been a long time since I've seen you model."

"I'm in my third year, I don't take jobs too much this year," replied Sulli. "Once I graduated, I think I'll be serious in the business. I might even think modeling for the runways."

"You're not going to college?"

"I'm thinking about taking a one-year break before going to college. I'll model at the time being."

"But if you eventually enter college and still model, remember that school comes first," said Jinki, patting the girl's shoulder.

"Oppa is such a nerd," Sulli commented, when suddenly Suzy came out of the trailer, styled in grunge, approaching her partner and Jinki.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Jinki oppa and I were just discussing about my plans after graduating," explained Sulli without asked.

"Are you still going to model after graduating, Suji-ah?" asked Jinki.

Suzy shook her head. "Perhaps after I graduate college, I will. I'm thinking about taking Performing Arts for major, later," she said.

Jinki got into a pretty long conversation while waiting for one of them to finish so they could start the photo-shoot. They talked about quite important matters, really, like school and career for the two girls. Suzy and Sulli both have been modeling for almost two years and Jinki too had known them for quite a while.

"Sulli-ah, we're done heeere.." the make-up artist said as she brushed another coat of lip-gloss onto her lower lip as a finishing touch. "Now, Suzy-ah, let's get you all dolled up!"

Sulli stood up from her seat and exchanged places with her partner. "Should we start now, oppa?"

Jinki glanced at his watch. "Sure, we can't waste time," he said.

Suzy quietly gave a hand out for Sulli to high-five with, which she gladly welcomed. Sulli turned to Jinki and held a fist in the air. "Let's go!"

It was over twelve in the afternoon and Jessica was lazing away in her apartment. Earlier in the morning, she had decided that she won't come to the office because she was tired. Besides, there's such a thing called the internet, she can just do work through there. But now that she's done most of them, and felt bored, she couldn't find anything to do.

Jessica laid on her bed and thought of something to do, something not boring, something she hasn't done in a while.

"Ah, molla," she muttered, burying her face into the pillow.

Usually, when she's home on her free days, she spends time reading novels, learning to cook for herself, or watching American drama series. But she's finished all of her new books, doesn't have any new recipe to try, and not in the mood to watch dramas.

Jessica got up from her bed and decided to make some snacks in the kitchen. But turns out that her kitchen cabinet was empty too. She groaned, before grabbing an apple from the fridge and took a bit of it.

Then an idea hit her mind.

"I should just go shopping," she thought aloud. "It's been a while since I went shopping. I'll buy myself a set of new novels and new outfits. Before going home, I'll stop by the market for some grocery shopping... yeah. Yeah, I should do that," Jessica smiled to herself.

She went to the bathroom and showered quickly so she could leave quickly too. She threw on a red tee and jeans, and grabbed a chocolate long cardigan and white scarf. After stuffing her personal necessities like her phone and wallet, et cetera, into her bag, Jessica slipped her feet into a pair of creme peep toe flats, grabbed her keys and left her apartment. As soon as she exited the building, she hailed a cab.

"Myeongdong, please," she said to the driver as she closed the door of the car.

Seoul traffic that day wasn't too busy, it was still in the middle of the day so there was no rush hour, and the ride wasn't too long as well. They stopped in front of Noon Square, the center of Myeongdong. Jessica paid the driver, and stepped out of the cab.

"I should buy books first," she thought as she looked around, and eventually entered the mall, heading towards the bookstore on floor B1, as she remembered.

Once she entered, she was welcomed by the employees, which she quickly responded to with light bows. Jessica roamed around the bookstore, searching through the shelves of books what might be interesting. L Magazine was in the lifestyle magazine section, and she was glad to know that the sells were going good since there was only two copies left when it was only released a week ago. Jessica decided that she'd take a cooking magazine, and then went to the novels section.

Jessica has read a lot of books on her free time, most of them English translated books. It's another thing she finds relaxing. After looking for quite a while, she grabbed a set of the Airhead series by Meg Cabot and the translated version of Translations of Beauty by Mia Yun. She paid for them and left the store as she stuffed the bag of books inside her bag. She walked out of the mall and onto the streets again, 

Initially, she only wanted to buy necessary outfits, but Jessica ended up buying tees and sweaters because she thought they were cute, and bought only one blazer for work. "I still have a lot of office wardrobe," she reasoned. She didn't buy too much, though, just enough to fit one shopping bag. But still, it was a lot.

Jessica was heading to Caffé Bene while humming a tune from the pop song that was played in the store earlier, when she saw a familiar black van up in front of her with a busy crowd of people swarming around it. And then a familiar chocolate-haired person, leaning against the side of the van with his camera hung around his shoulder, talking to a few people in front of him, while smiling a familiar bright smile. It took a moment for Jessica to realize who that was, but when they unintentionally exchanged gazes, she became sure.

"Hey, Jessica!"

Dammit.

Jessica rarely cursed, she only does it when she's surprised, or really pissed off. And this was neither.

He came running to her, and she just wanted to turn on her heels and pretend that she didn't saw him. But, of course, other than will it be rude, it was also too late anyway. Jessica put up a small smile when he stood before her. "Jinki.. hi," she greeted.

"Didn't expect to see you here," said Jinki, still a little out of breath due to the running, but still smiling as usual. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Jessica lifted her shopping bags, gesturing an obvious answer.

"I see," Jinki nodded. "I thought you're here to see the photo-shoot."

"Oh?" Jessica's eyes widened with interest. "Are you doing the indie editorial photo-shoot here?"

"It's our third site, actually. We've been taking them in Kyung Hee university and a rented townhouse near Ilsan. It's going great."

"Good to know."

"Do you want to see the pictures?" offered Jinki, turning on his camera and switched to preview, showing the pictures he had taken. There was a total of 325 photos, and Jinki showed some from each site.

"Pretty models," Jessica commented, and Jinki laughed.

"That's not the point really, but yes, they are pretty," he said. "So, where are you going now?"

"Caffé Bene. I'm thinking about having some coffee before I head home."

"Oh.."

"Are you busy? Is the photo-shoot still going on?" asked Jessica. For once in her life, she thought that asking him to coffee wasn't a really bad idea. She might enjoy it like their first lunch. There's no harm in asking a co-worker to coffee after work, right?

Jinki turned his head towards the van. "No, actually, it's done. We're cleaning up before going to the next site. It'll be the last site for today," he said.

Jessica nodded in understanding. "Well, I should get going now.."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Jinki said. "I'd take you home, but, I still have work. Sorry."

"No, problem. I took a cab here, might as well go home with a cab too," smiled Jessica. "Bye, Jinki."

He waved to her as she walked away. "Bye! Go home safely!" 

Jinki kept staring at her back until he was sure she was on her way, as he grabbed his camera and aimed his lens at her, clicking the button which made the shutter go on. In split-seconds after that, Jessica disappeared into the crowd.

He pressed the preview button on his camera, to see the picture roll into the screen, and a smile spread upon his face.

Jessica got home at six from Myeongdong, just before she usually has dinner. After a change of clothes and putting the stuff she bought in her room, she took the sack of rice she had bought earlier, washed them, and cooked them in the rice-cooker. While waiting for the rice to be done, Jessica stored all of the food she had bought into the fridge and the kitchen cabinets. After that, she grabbed an egg and made an omelet as her dinner.

She had a quiet dinner, as usual, only accompanied by the sound of the TV. Jessica chewed on her food silently, finishing it quick. She made a cup of coffee since she planned to stay up late to do work. 

Jessica set down her mug on her desk, taking a seat in front of her laptop. For the night, she has to examine the layouts made by her employees. She downloaded the layouts that was sent through email, and checked on them one by one. It was nice, but she thought that it needed more indie feel.

She remembered that she had a few american magazine talking about indie before, stored inside an empty bedroom she used as her storeroom where old magazines, newspapers, unused stuffs and empty boxes are kept. Jessica got up from her seat and walked to the said room, searching for the pile of magazines. She found them next to the bed, tied up in a dead knot with a raffia rope, and she couldn't open it. Eventually, she took the magazines to her desk so she could find scissors to cut the rope.

Jessica opened every drawer on the side of her desk, and the cabinet next to it also, but she couldn't find it.

"Man, where did those scissors go?" she muttered as she went searching through her drawers again. "Ah! Here it is.."

It was inside the bottom drawer. Jessica grabbed it, and saw what was lying under it.

An old photograph. It wasn't framed, just a sheet of photo, dusty because Jessica rarely opens the drawer it was in. It was taken during her college days, in front of a statue in her art faculty's famous garden, with a friend. A blonde-haired guy, with a witty dinosaur-like smile and puppy eyes. She remembered him a lot–why wouldn't she? Together forever was how she would describe them. But it had to end. And now Jessica only wanted to forget him.

A sad smile formed on Jessica's face. She took that photo, and used the scissors in her hand to cut it in half, separating the two people in the picture, and then threw it away.

Jessica sighed, and looked at the pile of magazine. She remembered what she was supposed to be doing, reading the magazines. She finally cut the rope loose, and found the magazine she wanted. Jessica rubbed her tired eyes, and slumped back in her seat, flipping the pages of the magazine.

© hellopsr stories, 2012

Should've merged the third and fourth chapter together, too short boo-hoo. But anyway, I left you guys hanging...ish. Who's the guy in the picture and what exactly made Jessica threw it away? Meanwhile, Jinki remains calm.. but don't worry, the universe shall conspire again for those two. Gimme some love! ♥