The next week passed quickly for Yoojin, and before she knew it, she was on her way to Myungsoo’s office for their final appointment. Sungyeol had nearly coerced her into covering his shift for the entire next day, but manager-nim had caught wind of it and instructed Sungyeol to cover Yoojin’s afternoon shift with no complaints. The weather had cooled down slightly, the temperatures dropping just enough to provide respite to outdoor pedestrians. Yoojin noticed that the customers at the coffee shop were generally more pleasant as well.

“Park Yoojin-ssi.” An expressionless Myungsoo greeted Yoojin at the front desk of his floor.

“Hello, Kim Myungsoo-ssi.” Yoojin bowed her head and followed Myungsoo to his office.

Yoojin shivered when she walked through the door. Despite the cooler weather, Myungsoo seemed to be keeping the thermostat at a frigid level. She rubbed her bare arms and watched goosebumps form.

When they had both been seated, Myungsoo wordlessly handed her a folder.

“Thank you.”

Yoojin flipped it open and found approximately five pages inside, each a profile and contact sheet for a separate photographer. Myungsoo watched her as she studied each page. After several minutes, Yoojin looked up with a frown.

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t think any of these are what my manager is looking for.”

“What?” Myungsoo’s eyebrows raised very slightly. “None of them?”

Yoojin shook her head. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Throughout his time at the company, not a single client had ever been dissatisfied with the profile lists he had compiled for them. That is, until now. And he hadn’t the slightest idea what to do about it.

Myungsoo’s thoughts traveled back to his apartment, where his camera sat on the shelf above his desk, gathering dust.

“Fine,” he said curtly. “I’ll do it.”

“Do what?”

“I have experience in photography. I can fit the style to whatever your manager needs. I should take the responsibility since the contacts were inadequate.” Myungsoo blinked.

“I...alright. Thank you,” Yoojin said, somewhat taken aback. The cold Kim Myungsoo had just offered to do something for her- or rather, for her manager- that wasn’t in his job description.

“I’ll contact you later to set up another meeting when my schedule is more certain.” Myungsoo took the folder back from Yoojin’s hands. “I’ll need to stop by the shop and get another look at what your manager is planning.”

“Thank you,” Yoojin repeated as she stood to leave. “Really, thank you.”

“It’s my job,” Myungsoo replied, and he took a sip of his ice water.

Later that afternoon, Myungsoo received a call on his cell phone from Hoya.

“Can you pick up some painkillers for me on the way home?” Hoya sounded tired.

Myungsoo stared at the wall for a moment as something clicked into place. “You aren’t...taking painkillers regularly, are you?”

“I’m not addicted, if that’s what you’re wondering. My joints hurt so much these days. I can barely do my job.”

“Alright,” Myungsoo agreed. “I’ll see you at home.”

Myungsoo entered the apartment carrying a plastic convenience store bag. He it toward Hoya, who was reclining on the couch next to Sunggyu.

“Here’s your medicine.”

“Medicine?” Sunggyu sat up. “Yah, Howon-ah, are you really sick or something? You’ve been taking a lot of medicine.”

Hoya shook his head, wincing slightly as he accepted the bag from Myungsoo. “It’s my joints and muscles. I’m in a lot of pain lately; I think it’s the heat.”

Sunggyu nodded in agreement. “It’s been really hot. Woohyun checked the temperature at lunch, and I think it was broken. It’s much hotter than the weather report said.”

Woohyun came out of his and Sunggyu’s bedroom and saw Hoya’s bag of medicine.

“What’s that? Medicine?” He sat down.

“I need to pick up some medicine too,” Sunggyu said. “My throat’s been bothering me. I can barely speak.”

“You sound fine,” Sungjong said, rolling his eyes from the kitchen table where he sat doing schoolwork.

“Yah! My throat really is bad,” Sunggyu protested. “Hey,” he waved at Woohyun, “tell him what happened during our presentation! It’s really bad!” He insisted.

“He’s right.” Woohyun said. “We were giving a presentation at work, and all of a sudden, Sunggyu-hyung couldn’t talk. I had to give him water.”

Sunggyu nodded, a satisfied expression on his face. “That’s right. I need medicine.”

“It’s because he’s getting older.”

“Yah!”

In the meantime, Myungsoo had wandered into his bedroom. First, he set his bag down on the desk. When he looked up, his gaze settled on the camera on the shelf. He used to take photos wherever he went. He had albums filled with pictures of his smiling friends and family, strangers in the streets, and the little moments of life that often went unnoticed. There was even a photo of his brother, Moonsoo, that had won an award when he was in high school. But somehow, he had become detached from photography, and what had once been a passion was now but a cold, vague memory.

Myungsoo stared at the camera and ran a finger over it, taking note of the dust that came off. It had been a long time since he had taken a photo, and now he was going to use his camera once again for a complete stranger. He shook his head in disbelief and stared harder at the camera. The object was covered with dust, he thought, gray dust, and the line that now cut through the dust...that was all because of Park Yoojin.