The image of that woman still plagued my mind as I walked the hallways of the gigantic campus towards the lecture room. I knew that I was over-thinking too much regarding such a mundane reason but I couldn’t help myself. There was just something about her. Her face…she was so damn alluring and gorgeous yet I felt like I’ve met her before. Oh great, maybe Tiffany’s influence had gotten the better of me. Sooner or later, I’m going to be the next one buying the next issue of Elle on a monthly basis. And I’m not even going to read most of the articles in there.

 

Pushing the door open and entering my class, I did my usual morning greetings while going towards my newly-proclaimed seat. Hyomin did the same thing the first time I approached her. Reading a book, although I couldn’t really see what the title was. But judging from the amount of cameras and colourful pictures in it, I’d say that it was a photography book or something of the like.

 

“Morning Hyomin,” I jovially greeted her as I placed my belongings down on the table. “What’cha reading?”

 

That reacted yet another startled response from her much like in the beginning. I’m still clueless whether she was just naturally tense around everyone she meets or if she didn’t want me to look at what she was so engrossed in. Whatever it was, she looked adorable being like that.

 

“O-oh, good morning Soonkyu,” Hyomin stuttered as she immediately blocked the book from my view. “I was just reading…stuff.”

 

“Stuff?” I suspiciously asked whilst quirking one of my brows.

 

“Yeah, stuff.”

 

“Care to be more specific?”

 

“Well…I don’t think it’s something that would interest you.”

 

“Try me then. Who knows, maybe it could be something I fancy in.”

 

She seemed hesitant for a while, but then succumbed to the puppy-eyed look I was aiming at her in the end. That always did the trick. Nobody could ever resist the puppy look. Well, except for certain people though. Especially the two gluttons I happen to live with. My bespectacled friend slowly revealed the book to me. It was indeed a photography book.

 

“I like taking pictures too.” I said while taking a peek inside it. The moderately thick hardcover book was filled with eye-catching photos of a variety of things from city landscapes, animals, people, and everything else that exists in this world. There were also articles and tutorials about the different functions of a camera and learning how to use them in order to get the perfect shot. “You wanna be a photographer in the future?”

 

“Kind of. It’s just something that I like to do in my free time,” Hyomin scratched the back of her head.

 

“That’s good. At least you have a hobby that’s productive, unlike me.”

 

Hyomin widened her eyes slightly when she heard that. “Really? Then what do you like to do as a pastime?”

 

“I play video games and sleep. Not really the healthiest hobby you can get yourself into, isn’t it?”

 

“True,” she lets out a small giggle. “But it’s kind of hard to believe that since you’re one of the top students in the class.”

 

“Nah, I’m not really a genius here. Apparently, the Kim gave me a failing grade for something I didn’t excel at.”

 

“Which is?”

 

“Social interactions.”

 

“Eh?!” the flabbergasted Hyomin stared at me in disbelief. “I should be the one getting that! Not you!” She then noticed how abnormally loud her voice was and proceeded to shut it up abruptly.

 

I was greatly amused at the amount of emotions that the usually shy and nervous Hyomin was showing.

 

“You’re socialising just fine with me in my opinion. Heck, you even offered to call you by your nickname on our first ever tuition class together.”

 

“That was…” Hyomin trailed her words and scratched her head again. “My real name is a bit of a mouthful to say. I was just being considerate.”

 

“How thoughtful of you, though your real name is perfectly fine, Sunyoung.” I said while giving her a sweet smile and returning back to the book in my hands. “These are really nice photos. Have you ever taken a shot and then thought that it was the best photo you’ve seen in your life?”

 

“I do actually. There’s a few of them I’ve taken in the past, but I don’t really have the time to capture new pictures nowadays.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Oh, just busy with schoolwork and all.

 

I noticed a hint of sadness in her voice when she said that and for a moment, it seemed like her mind drifted to something else which was bothering her.

 

“Hey,” I caught her attention back by closing the book and giving it back to her. “When we’re finished with this current thesis on our hands, how about we hang out? We can go places and take pictures. You know, to clear off the stress that college keeps pushing onto us. What do you say?”

 

She perked up almost immediately after that suggestion, but then had a second thought and looked at me incredulously.

 

“You…really want to do that? W-with me?” Hyomin questioned whilst pointing at herself.

 

I quirked my eyebrows at her disbelief.

 

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I? Why would I kid around about this?”

 

That react a third thought about it and she finally made her decision by nodding her head and smiling gratefully.

 

“Then it’s settled,” I exclaimed and then extended my pinky finger towards her. “Promise?”

 

“Promise.”

 

We both made the childish pact with amused faces but with great intentions. The reason why I suggested the idea was because I wanted to get to know her better. Find out what makes her tick and what doesn’t. And also because…

 

She seemed lonely.

 

From what I’ve recalled, I had never seen her talking with the rest of the class. Nobody else seemed to be willing to make small talk or strike up a conversation with her. Was it because of her personality? Yes, I do admit that Hyomin was not much of a talker but I couldn’t say for certain when I only interacted with her for a few days. Maybe she’ll open up more when she feels more comfortable around me.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

After another mundane day in school, Hyomin said that she was able to free up some time to let me teach her more. I happily accepted the request and we decided to go back to the park which she was so fond of. The bench which we sat on last time was unoccupied so we took the seat again without much thought. The tutoring was pretty much the same as how it went the week before: Me patiently teaching while my friend diligently listens and jotting down notes with a focused mind. Of course, there were some moments of distraction like a hot jogger passing by, someone feeding  the ducks at the pond with a bag full of breadcrumbs, or yet another couple shamelessly being lovey-dovey nearby. Most of those things mentioned were noticed by me, and it was the student who had to bring me back to the task at hand, and not vice versa.

 

Some tutor I am.

 

“You don’t look like the type to get so easily distracted,” Hyomin mused while tapping her pen on her chin. “Are you sure you’re my tutor?”

 

“Of course I am! I’m the best tutor you’ll ever get.”

 

“Sure you are,” she said as she inspected my face with much scrutiny.

 

I knew she was just playing with me though. The gratuitous staring match we had made us temporarily forgot about the papers we were supposed to write. I stared back intensely at the bespectacled woman with the geeky glasses in front of me. Hmm, come to think about it, she would look even prettier if she took those specs off and change up her style a little bit.

 

But wait a minute.

 

Something came back into my mind.

 

It was that model again.

 

The image of that woman…

 

Hyomin…

 

H.M…

 

…

 

HyoMin.

 

That sudden thought hit me like a brick wall.

 

“I win!”

 

Hyomin pumped her fist into the air after I finally blinked, claiming her victory. I broke out from my reverie but the dumbstruck expression I had was still plastered on my face. That made her noticed my strange behaviour.

 

“Soonkyu, are you alright?” she asked, concerned.

 

“O-oh, I’m fine. Just a...little surprised that someone can beat me in a staring game,” I sheepishly lied. “This is the first time I lost.”

 

Hyomin grinned after hearing that response. “Finally met your match, huh?”

 

“Nah, best two out of three. But we can do that some other time. Right now, let’s continue with the lesson.” I acted calmly and tried to get my head back onto the thesis, but my suspicions regarding the model being right in front of me kept plaguing the back of my mind. My eyes kept darting back and forth from the paper and her. Hyomin did have a similar face profile just like the model in the magazine. But then again, Tiffany’s model heartthrob also held a resemblance between the two. With the high numbers of people doing plastic surgery in this country, there would always be some similarities here and there. Anyone with the money could easily pay the surgeon to make himself or herself become the long lost twin of another person. And when it comes to the fashion industry, people will just turn a blind eye since it was considered ‘normal’.

 

The standards for beauty changed significantly because of that.

 

When the tutoring was finally over, Hyomin thanked me once more for taking the time to teach her again.

 

“Are you sure you understood everything I told you?”

 

“Positive,” she nodded jovially. “I guess you’re right. You are the best tutor I ever gotten.”

 

“Yah, don’t flatter me too much or else it’ll go up to my head,” I joked whilst packing up my stuff. At that moment, I recalled something that I had almost forgotten. “Hey, since we’re going to be seeing each other for quite a lot of times now, can I like…you know…have your number? So that it’ll be easier to keep in touch with you.” For some reason, it felt like a cat got my tongue when I uttered that sentence out. I might’ve looked completely pathetic to her.

 

“Oh, s-sure,” Hyomin stuttered, slightly taken aback by my sudden request for her number. She hastily took out her phone and we exchanged numbers without any problems, if you didn’t include the awkward moment we experienced in between switching our phones and silently tapping in the numbers. Once that was done, we exited the park and headed towards the bus-stop.

 

“See you tomorrow,” my friend said as she turned to board the bus which had arrived.

 

After waving goodbye when the bus drove off, I walked my usual route towards the dorm, with my brain still thinking about her.

 

When I climbed up the steps leading to my room, a short heavy vibration went off in my bag. Hastily searching through the contents of the bag, I fished out my phone and checked it for a new notification. It was a message from Hyomin. A curve of a smile went onto my lips as I read what she’d written.

“Hey. Just wanna thank you again for the lesson. You should really consider being a teacher next time after we graduate ”

“Daww~ really now, I’m not that great. What kind of teacher gets distracted so easily anyway?  ”

 

 

The conversation continued throughout until dinnertime, in which I had to deal with the two gluttons. During that time when I was texting Hyomin, there was an urge in me to ask her if she ever wanted to be a model but decided against that before my fingers pushed the ‘Send’ button. I should wait until I had any circumstantial evidence before jumping to conclusions about it.

 

But then, I pictured her without the glasses and her sense in nerdy fashion.

 

She’d totally make anyone turn their heads and take a second look if she walked by.

 

‘Not bad,’ I thought.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

It was already nearing the weekend and we have made small but certain progress when it came to the tutoring. We decided that every day we would free up some time after school to get together and get some lessons done. I was quite surprised that Hyomin was so hardworking and eager. Usually, suggesting having tuitions every day after school would be an all-kill to a person’s energy. Laziness too would kick into gear.

 

But not for her.

 

I was utterly impressed. It made me envy her.

 

To be honest, I wasn’t all too keen to do this so often but for some reason…I really wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

 

We’ve gotten to learn a little more about each other for the past few days. Underneath that shy and timid exterior was a funny and weird girl. Weird in a good way, of course. Her witty jokes never failed to make my abdomen have a workout as I burst out laughing without a care in the world.

 

But I wasn’t able to enjoy her dorky antics for a little while longer.

 

“Did something happen?” I asked in concern when I saw how she was rushing to pack up her belongings in a hurry the moment the last class of the day ended. From what I could tell, she looked pretty stressed out.

 

“Huh? O-oh, I have to go somewhere. Something urgent came up,” she blabbered out, stumbling a bit as she tried to awkwardly push past me. Giving me an apologetic look and a prolonged hold on my wrist, she said, “Sorry Soonkyu, we’ll have to postpone today’s meet-up till next week.”

 

“Okay then,” I muttered dejectedly. “Bye…”

 

A feeling of emptiness took hold of me as I stared off at the brunette’s back until it disappeared amongst the sea of students rushing towards the exit.

 

I wondered what had happened.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

"Tell me again why you had to drag me all the way to the beach? It’s not even summer vacation and I have a load of things I need to do,” I voiced out my complaints to the oblivious girl who was peeking her head out from the corner of the shore-house where we were conspicuously hiding behind. “And this ain’t a good hiding spot just to let you know.” I said as the owner of the mini kiosk in the shore-house kept sneaking a glance at us behind the newspaper he was supposedly reading.

“Shh! Look, there she is!” Tiffany hushed me up and made me look at the direction she was pointing at. From a distance, there was a group of people congregating by the shoreline of the beach. They appeared to be handling quite a range of equipments which looked to be devices intended for use at a photo-shoot. Come to think of it, there were some holding DSLR cameras with huge bazooka lens that could whack anyone’s head off if one was unlucky enough to stand right next to the cameraman when he was about to turn. I squinted my eyes against the blazing glare of the hot sun to get a better look at what was going on. Beads of sweat were trailing down the back of my neck and spine. At this rate, I won’t be surprised if I melted into a puddle. It was so damn hot, even though it wasn’t the summer season. Curse you global warming...

 

“Who? I can’t even see anything. Those cameramen are blocking the way.”

 

“Didn’t you listen to me throughout the whole time we were getting here!? It’s Jessica!”

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“By her legs.”

 

“Oh, for the love of-“

 

“Hey, I can see her clearly now!”

 

I looked back up again and like heaven’s light breaking its way amongst the clouds, the almighty Jessica Jung whom Tiffany had been gushing about, in all of her bikini-clad glory could finally be seen after some of the crew members walked away. All I could say was...

 

“Wow.”

 

“I know,” Tiffany replied while looking through her binoculars that she brought along.

 

No wonder she was all hot and bothered about this woman. The photos in the magazine didn’t even come close to the real thing right in front of our eyes.

 

The photo-shoot was about to begin and the model was ready for it. After the cameraman’s signal, the light-brown haired woman started to pose in a really...let’s say sultry manner on the sandy beach. I could tell that Tiffany was trying her best not to squeal like a fangirl as she covered tightly with one hand when Jessica was being all y with that half-gaze on her flawless face.

 

“Oh my god...” Tiffany openly gawked, “she’s so beautiful.”

 

“You’re drooling.”

 

“What!?”

 

“Just kidding,” I grinned.

 

My stalker friend turned to give me the stink-eye then went on back with what she was happily doing. “If you’re not going to enjoy this moment with me, feel free to do whatever you want as long as you don’t leave this place and ditch me out here.”

 

“Don’t worry,” I nonchalantly replied while choosing a vanilla ice-cream from the freezer at the kiosk. “I’m just gonna hang around here for the time being till you finally calm down from your Jessica high.”

 

After paying the stall-holder, I stood to the side and leaned against the wooden walls of the shore-house, my ice-cream boringly as I waited for Tiffany to end her spectator’s view. I could hear her mumbling to herself from where I stood. Probably spazzing about her crush. It was quite amusing to watch, actually. I was about a quarter into my frozen treat when Tiffany suddenly burst out in her loud voice.

 

“Whoa!”

 

“What is it? Her bikini slipped off?”

 

“Soonkyu, don’t take me for a ert! It’s H.M!”

 

When I heard those initials came out from , my legs automatically rushed by Tiffany’s side and my free hand snatched her binoculars from her grasp. She lets off a yelp when her head yanked towards me since the binoculars were hung around her neck.

 

“Yah, you’re choking me!”

 

I ignored her noisy complaints and scanned the site of the photo-shoot like a hawk hunting for its prey.

 

“I don’t see h- Oh, there she is.”

 

And what a stunner she was. Clad in an outfit (or lack thereof) much like Jessica Jung, the woman known as H.M had her side viewed towards me as she was chatting with one of the make-up artist touching up her facial features. She then turned towards my direction to talk to another staff member. That familiarity I sensed in this gorgeous woman returned yet again when her face was in full view. And as if by luck, her eyes glanced up and they locked onto my own behind the binoculars.

 

I gulped.

 

I could feel my half-eaten ice-cream dripping down my hand and landing onto the sizzling sand below.

 

No doubt about it.

 

I knew this woman.

 

I tutored her for the past several days.

 

And here she was, in all her half- glory, staring back at the lens of the binoculars I was holding.

 

H.M was Hyomin.

 

Hyomin was a model.

 

Quiet and quirky Hyomin whom I met at school and started to get to know more of was a model.

 

A really, really... y model.

 

And all I could say was...

 

“Hot damn.”