Bae Haneul.

The first picture in the book was his favorite. It wasn't anything fancy: no set up, no help from any staged equipment, no enhancement from some editing program or whatever. Just a candid shot of the girl with a smile on her face as she sat on a free swing watching the sun set. What a beautiful smile it was, along with the radiant glow from the scenery. This photo was his definition of natural beauty.

Each photo of her carried a memory, and these memories were ones he would never forget. Haneul was the only real friend he had, and she never failed to be there for him, as well as he was for her. He was never known to be an open person; no matter how many problems and pressures he had on his shoulders, he never showed even a hint of trouble. He never let anyone see the other side of him until she came along. Until this day, he's still unsure as to how she got through to him this way, but a part of him was glad she did. It wasn't easy functioning with such burdens weighing him down, especially with his dad on his back about the stupid med school.

Another picture meets him on the next page: her back is turned to the camera as she's facing the opposite way, the wind blowing through the long dark strands of her hair.

Their meeting wasn't so much of a plan. That was the day he finally got a hold of the camera he had been sacredly saving for. It was a special one to him, since he had used his own money this time. It was a Saturday morning when he decided to try it out with a few shots. He tried for the park nearby, hoping to find it empty. And he was right. It was way too early for any kid to come play. Walking closer towards the playground; that was when he saw her, sitting alone on a park bench with nothing but an iPod in hand. She didn't seem to be doing anything, although he wasn't able to get a clear view of her from the front.

She wore a white t-shirt that day. It looked nice surrounded by the freshly green leaves that rustled with the wind around the whole park. She sat perfectly still, while her hair flowed with the wind. She won't know if he snapped a picture. He was all the way back there.

Oops. Forgot to turn off the flash.

He was hoping that she hadn't noticed, but even in the bright daylight it was hard to miss. Lucky for him, the thought of her being the focal point of the shot didn't come to her mind, but it didn't last long when she suddenly seemed to take an interest in his hobby and asked to see the pictures he had taken.

He had expected a completely different reaction when he showed her the picture. He was waiting to be scolded, or have creepy remarks thrown at him, but instead she went on with compliments about his eye, and even asked for him to keep taking them.

"Are you a model or something?" was the first thing he said that made her laugh.

"No, but maybe your professional photography can make me look like one."

She may not have been a model, but she looked great in every shot. No retakes. He knew from that day that he wanted her to model for his future work, but wasn't it a little weird to ask a stranger he just met a few minutes ago? That's when she said another thing he didn't see coming, upon viewing the rest of the photos.

"From now on, I'll be your model until we both become famous!"

What an attitude this girl has, he chuckled to himself. It was a bit unusual. He couldn't say that he's ever met someone who spoke this way before even knowing their name, that was for sure. Maybe that was what left such an impression on him.

Meeting again on the first day of high school was completely coincidental. On the day they met, they had exchanged no other information aside from their names. He had the same math class with her, period two, as well as the lunch period right after.

He experienced an unexplainable excitement when she walked into the classroom (he also decided to stop expecting any more from this girl because it never becomes the right conclusion). But when she recognized his presence, she didn't seem too thrilled about it. She seemed almost shy, hiding her face within her long hair as she kept her head hung low, but every time she glanced over to look at him, he would continue greeting her with a smile. Feeling obligated to, she ended up taking the seat just behind his.

Jongin remembered greeting her with a friendly 'hello', only to get a cold one back.

This girl is really unpredictable..

The teacher had already called for the attention of the whole class before he could question her behavior any more, and before he could turn to even face her by the time class had finished, she had already zoomed out through the door.

He saw her again in the cafeteria that day. She was eating alone. Why not occupy the free space around her?

"Hey," he sat across from her, "you do remember me, right?"

She nods immediately, "Of course."

"Then why does it feel like you're running away from me already?" he raises a curious brow, but keeps a bit of a playful tone to keep everything to a friendly start.

"Sorry.." her nervous laugh trembling, "I just didn't expect to ever see you again. I wouldn't have acted the way I did at the park that day."

His head and his brows furrow, "What way?"

"I'm not really like that.." she paused to find her words, "..open.. to people. I only got confident because you were a stranger then. Sorry about avoiding you this morning.. It was just a bit embarrassing, that's all. Heh.."

Ah, so it was like that.

"Did.. you mean what you said then?" he was hesitant to bring up the topic, but he had been curious all summer. If it was an opportunity, why not take it? He needed a model anyway.

"About what?" her head moves back a little, but continued to chew on the bite she had already taken in.

"The.. modeling.."

"Oh, um.." she could feel her cheeks warming up, and he could see that this topic wasn't making her too comfortable. But it's already been said, "I didn't really think about that.."

The same awkward tension was back from the day they met, when he wanted to ask her the same question.

"Oh.." the silence between the two of them was becoming deafening.

"Did you want me to?"

He remembered the relief in his head, gratefully thanking her again for saving him the trouble of asking a second time. They were both interested in the deal of working together, but it took a bit of time to bring it up comfortable. It was no longer awkward with words by the time the lunch period ended, since he had managed to get her to agree to another shoot. A planned one this time. After the first, it became automatic. Whenever he needed shots, she was free, and after spending so much time together at work, it was no surprise they became the way they did.

There was more room on the shelf where he had the other books resting, but this one wasn't like those. The rest were just for display; he was never going to open those again unless it was necessary. He wanted to get back to this one. He wanted to keep her in his life somewhere. He brings back the book to the desk and slides it between the others already arranged on it, when another book catches his attention. This was probably the only fun part about unpacking and cleaning up. This one was his last high school yearbook. There wasn't anything written on it.

Taking pictures for the school yearbook and whatnot, he was known by a lot of the kids in school. Jongin, the guy with the camera. Of course, they weren't considered friends: just people who bothered to actually smile or wave when seen in the hallways in between periods. He was made to get around a lot, meeting people wasn't a challenge.

Quite the opposite of Haneul.

She had never been open to meeting new people. Despite the first impression she left on Jongin, she was a sure introvert. One to keep to herself, she really only communicated with others when there was an important reason to.

Sometimes he felt the need to ask himself if he was at fault for the way she turned out. Had he let other people approach he first that day in the cafeteria, preferably a group more socially active than he was, would it have been easier for her to make more friends?

Did it matter? Through all of his high school years, there never was a problem with the two of them.

"What's the point of having so many friends? It adds so much more complication."

She had a point. Wasn't it better to have someone you really trusted rather than taking control of a bigger group, and being unsure about what goes on while you're at it? They both believed it, so they stuck together.

Haneul was the first and probably the only person who really knew him. The real him. You could say that she was a big part of the reason he's here, continuing his hobby as a career.

"You're not really into this, are you?"

No he wasn't. "What?"

"Jongin. are you really going to Jeong Hee?"

"Yah, what's with the sudden seriousness? It's only the second year."

"But you're preparing yourself now, with all your science classes and all that."

"Better prepared sooner, right?"

"Prepared for the right path?"

"What's with the interrogation about me?"

"Because I know it's not your thing. You've been attached to a camera since the day I met you, you can't leave that as a hobby forever."

Her words weren't any more special than anything else she had said to him before, but it stuck with him through all those years. It just took it's time to seep in.

Haneul wasn't too interested in the same field as Jongin. She was a writer, specializing in fictional works. The girl lived in fantasies; that was probably why she never really opened up. But that didn't stop her from getting by. They weren't taking the same classes but it was all going to work out after high school. Well, it was supposed to.

Yeonwoo was a placement-based school, which offered both media arts and creative writing. High school was irrelevant, and all she wanted to do was graduate and get out of it already. The girl was ambitious, he gave her that. There was not one day where she skipped out on a complaint about a teacher or a class or the general student population. It was kind of funny; the contrast between her shy public image and her real self. Not a lot of people were familiar with it. Actually, he was the only one who was.

"I just spoke with my counselor," she hopped towards him at his locker, "and she said I'm all good to apply for Yeonwoo!"

"Really? I thought you still needed another language credit," he tilts his head at the question. She had been worrying about the issue all year and there wasn't a lot of time left to rearrange the rest of her semesters to complete the requirements for application at Yeonwoo.

"She made some adjustments or whatever to my credits," she shrugged her shoulders, leaning against the locker doors as he continued to shuffle through his books, "I forgot the things she said when she was clicking stuff on the computer but it's okay because I can go to Yeonwoo! Jongin! I'm going to Yeonwoo with you! Isn't that awesome? We're finally getting out of this stupid school and we're going to our dream school. Ah, one more year.."

He hadn't even realized that he had moved from the desk to his bed now. This sudden meeting with memory was taking longer than he expected. But it was quite nice looking back at them. It's been a while, and he missed her. Haneul was the closest person he has ever had in his life, and she was the reason he was still able to smile even through the endless amounts of pressure coming from his parents. So why wasn't he smiling now?

Oh right. Because he was only remembering one side of the story: the good memories. Side B, however, took a whole different turn.

Maybe it was too late when he finally let it sink into his mind, or if he had just forgotten about the level of friendship that existed between the two of them, but he was the only person in Haneul's life. Technically. No, literally. When she said she wasn't open, she meant it. One friend was enough for her, and because of that, it didn't take long for her to get too attached.

Usually, people have what you would call an escape from the rest of the population. Most of the time he would rather spend at home in his bedroom than out socializing or whatever it was people did these days. And living in a fortunate household, it was easy to find time alone, since both of his parents were always to occupied with work. They never had the time to come to their son and bother with what was going on in his life. He wasn't complaining, though. He liked it that way. But it wasn't the same for her. It wasn't easy for her to escape at home as much as she tried. She never talked about her home with anyone, not even him.

She only mentioned the basics: how her father abandoned them just a few years before they met, and left such damage on her mother that she had to resort to alcohol almost everyday. Financially, they got by alright on average standards, nothing fancy like he had She had no other family members around, so she didn't have anyone else to go to.

They had the same relationships with their parents when it came to bonding, but unlike his parents, Haneul's mom never even tried.

"Can we talk about something else? I don't want to bring her up when it's not necessary."

So he never asked for any more details. That's why they always hung around his place instead. Come to think of it, he had only seen her home twice, both days when her mother wasn't home.

11:39 pm. His first class starts at nine. Better get some sleep before I regret waking up tired tomorrow.

He didn't want to think about her anymore. The good memories were over, and the band ones were starting to come. But it was too late. It was already in his head, and he can't get it out now.

"What?"

"I'm going on Sunday."

"This Sunday?! B-but.. what ab--"

"I'm sorry, Haneul.."

"You said you had it all planned out!'

"I-I couldn't say no.."

"You're coming back, right..?"

He doesn't answer. She doesn't make a sound. The silence was deafening again.

"It's getting late. Let me take you home."

"No. Don't"

"What?"

"Don't.. If you're going to leave," she breathes out, "then there's no point."

That was it. That was the goodbye. He hasn't seen or heard from her since that day. He tried everything from phone calls to visits, but after every attempt to get in contact before he left, there was never an answer. 

If only he knew that she only did this because she knew what would happen to her if they parted with a proper goodbye. She knew how attached she had gotten, and she knew that she would need her time to get used to him being so far away to study. At least this way, she could only have herself to blame for taking the initiative to cease their meetings and start becoming familiar with a life without him by her side. Maybe this way, she could get a head start on this sudden turn.

But he didn't, and all he continued to do was wonder.