The days flew by as the girls got used to their first week of campus life. Hyomin had been excited when she was allowed to select Photography as one of her elective modules. The class had been given a simple weekly assignment of taking a nature themed photoshoot and she looked forward to completing it on the weekend.

“Do you girls want to hang out at the park near my place this weekend?” Hyomin asked Eunjung as they met up after their last class of the week. After hearing about Hyomin’s latest assignment, Eunjung agreed and suggested a picnic at the same time. As Hyomin was about to answer, a tired Jiyeon hobbled in their direction looking like she was about to pass out. 

Concerned, Eunjung asked, “Are you alright, Dino?”

Jiyeon, who was now nicknamed Dino due to her eating prowess, nodded her head and proceeded to plop herself onto the campus park bench next to Eunjung. “Dance class was madness. Apparently the main instructor is on maternity leave so they invited a dance honours student from a neighbouring university to substitute her. The woman worked us to the bone,” Jiyeon sighed as she rubbed her aching calves. Trying to cheer the poor girl up, Hyomin offered her a chocolate bar which she had in her bag. Jiyeon’s face lit up and proceeded to rip the packaging like a starving dinosaur.

“Wot werh chu goise falking abaouth?” 

Eunjung gently knocked Jiyeon’s head and nagged her about eating with full before telling her about the plans for the weekend. Their maknae nodded her head excitedly and with a mouthful of chocolate, enthusiastically volunteered to bring the food for their picnic. Hyomin chuckled at her friends antics as an over excited Jiyeon started trying to plant a chocolate covered kiss on her unnie’s cheek and a horrified Eunjung started swatting her hands wildly in the Dino’s direction. Looking up to the clear blue skies, Hyomin smiled as she heard Eunjung scream something about Jiyeon not being hygienic.

“It’s going to be a good weekend.”

—————

Saturday arrived and three girls made their way out to the lake to start setting up their picnic under one of the large oak trees. Jiyeon had asked her mum to pack some food for them and excitedly pulled out some sandwiches along with a container full of steaming jajangmyeon. As Eunjung laid out the large checkered blanket they had brought in their picnic basket, Hyomin was messing around with her camera configurations and started testing her camera settings by taking some candid shots of Eunjung telling a hyperactive Jiyeon to slow down her biting down on the piping hot noodles. Her face broke into a smile as she continued to capture the poor Dino’s expression as she scalded her tongue slightly on the noodles and an exasperated Eunjung went to her rescue.

After about half an hour of laughter and feasting, Hyomin told the girls she would take a walk around the park to get started on her assignment. Strapping her Canon Mark lll around her slender neck, Hyomin made her way towards what looked like a small shack perched on stilts on the west side of the lake. 

Click.Click. Click.

Hyomin was firing her camera shutter at a pair of swans that were swimming closer to the bank of the lake. Squatting down, she zoomed in her lens as a small line of adorable ducklings swam closer to the pair of swans who were graciously dipping their heads into the waters in search of a snack.

When she decided that she had a few good shots, Hyomin stood up a little too abruptly and felt her feet slip on the wet grass beneath her. Bracing herself for the impact, she squeezed her eyes shut but instead of pain, she felt small strong arms catch her on the small of her back. Feeling her heart going a million miles per second, she slowly opened her eyes and gasped.

“We have got to stop meeting in awkward situations.”

A pair of beautiful curved eyes were smiling into Hyomin’s shocked brown ones. Sunny gently pushed Hyomin to stand up and moved to catch her again as Hyomin’s unsteady legs buckled, deciding they wanted to torture their owner. This time, Sunny had caught her with their stomachs pressed against each other. 

The pair stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity before Hyomin came to her senses first and made a movement to stand on her legs. A tinge of pink appeared on Sunny’s cheeks as she realized how closely she had been holding the equally pink cheeked brunette and quickly helped her to stand.  

“I-I’m r-really sorry-y,” muttered a shy Hyomin, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Looking up, she saw a smiling Sunny wave her hands telling her it was no problem. “I was actually watching you from over there,” she said while pointing to the small shack that Hyomin had seen earlier. “Thought you looked pretty familiar. I had just walked up to say hello when I saw you slip and well..” Sunny scratched the back of her head sheepishly. 

“T-thank you. If it were not for you, I would probably have joined those swans. But less elegant looking,” Hyomin said looking at her saviour. Sunny laughed loudly at the thought of this beautiful girl attempting to be elegant in the cold waters. Sunny extended her hand to her, “The name’s Lee Soonkyu but please for the life of me, call me Sunny. Is your name as pretty as your face?”. Hyomin blushed as she gently shook Sunny’s hand. “P-park S-sunyoung. But my friends call me Hyomin.”

Looking at the camera clutched in Hyomin’s other hand, “You have a photography assignment? Come on, I’ll take you to a spot with the most amazing view of the sunset!” Sunny had not let go of Hyomin’s hand and gently pulled her to follow her back to the shack. Hyomin meekly followed, secretly enjoying the warmth of Sunny’s palm against her own. 

As they neared the shack, Sunny pointed out that the path to it had been blocked by a fallen tree branch that had soft vines growing over it for years. Pushing the vines apart like a curtain, Sunny gently guided Hyomin over a small wooden bridge and into the shack’s interior. Hyomin stared in amazement as there was a large part on one of the walls that had rotted out to reveal a beautiful landscape view of the lake framed by trees on the banks. 

“Hyomin-ah.”

She turned around, unaware that Sunny had already moved to sit down on a blanket on the floor and leaned against the wall opposite the magnificent view. Sunny patted the spot next to her. Hyomin moved to sit next to Sunny and the both of them shared a quiet moment to admire the sight in front of them. 

It was awhile before Hyomin spoke, “Do you come here often?” Sunny turned to Hyomin and smiled. “Yeah. I discovered this when I was younger. I was out exploring with one of my closest friends and came across this place. She doesn’t like coming here cause she says it feels too lonely but it’s my favourite spot.” Hyomin nodded, “Was it that girl from the store?” Sunny’s eyes widened in surprise but quickly curled when she smiled. “Taeng? Ah. I almost forgot that you saw her at the store that night. Yes, she’s a childhood friend of mine. We both stay at a dorm together along with a few other girls.”

“How about you? You from around here?”

Hyomin shook her head, she started to tell Sunny about her new friends which had surprised Sunny when she heard about Jiyeon. Gaining an entry to a university at a young age was no easy feat. Hyomin continued telling her about taking the Arts and Theatre degree in Sungkyunkwan University. “You go to that university?” Sunny said with her eyebrows raised. Hyomin nodded in confusion as she watched the smile on Sunny’s face fade and Sunny turned her face to the ray of orange light seeping in to the shack. She quietly observed Sunny’s face as her eyes held a slight tinge of sadness. Hyomin nervously reached out and held the small hand resting next to her. Sunny spun her face to see deep brown eyes staring straight into her soul and her breath caught in . In all her life, Sunny had not seen anyone with a smile so beautiful that stopped her heart from beating.

Wait. Was she leaning in closer to Hyomin’s face?

“She has really pretty eyes,” thought Sunny as she leaned in. They were slowly closing the gap between that Sunny could feel Hyomin’s sweet breath on her lips and as the tips of their noses touched, Sunny heard the sharp intake of Hyomin’s breath when-

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGG!! 

The two girls jumped apart like they had been electrocuted. Red faced, Sunny quickly fumbled through her pocket and pulled her phone out of her shorts. “WHAT,” Sunny barked, clearly annoyed that her friend had ruined the moment. “Aish, can’t you ask the two shikshins to go and get the groceries instead? How about Pany? Seobaby?” Hyomin felt a pang of jealousy hearing the term “baby” as she watched Sunny fall silent for a moment and sighed before continuing, “Alright, alright Taeng. I get it. But you owe me one for this.” Sunny hung up her phone before turning to smile apologetically at Hyomin. “I’m sorry, but I have a couple of shikshins that are in dire need of food at home and apparently there’s no one home so they’ve been constantly bugging Taeng on the phone.” 

Hyomin smiled, “No problem, it’s getting late anyways. I better get back to my friends.” Sunny nodded and stood up while offering her hand to Hyomin who had a little trouble trying to stand while gripping her heavy camera. They both looked at each other, not knowing what to say. “Well, I’d better go. I’ll see you around Hyomin.” Sunny said as she moved to the door.

“W-wait.”

Sunny turned and looked at Hyomin who was blushing furiously. Without warning, she felt Hyomin’s lips touch her cheeks briefly and she blushed for what seemed to be the hundredth time in the day. “T-that’s for s-saving me e-earlier.” Hyomin mumbled shyly. They both stared at each other’s smile for a moment before Sunny turned to leave the shack.

Realizing how quiet the shack was now that she was alone, Hyomin quickly snapped a few pictures of the sunset just beyond the lake. Sunny was right, the sunset was amazing. When she had gotten the right shot, she stepped out of the shack and headed back. As she reached the place where she had left Eunjung and Jiyeon earlier, she smiled as she saw her two friends fast asleep on the blanket and Jiyeon was clinging onto Eunjung’s arm like a baby. Snapping a picture of Eunjung’s weird sleeping face, Hyomin gently shook her two friends awake and they groggily got up while Hyomin moved to clean up the remainder of their picnic.

—————

Hyomin placed her camera back in its display and proceeded to load the memory card on her laptop. Sitting down with a cup of coffee in hand, she scrolled through the photos she had taken. A small smile crept up when she stopped at the picture of the setting sun. Meeting her angel would easily be her favourite memory of the park. She was already starting to miss her blonde haired angel when Hyomin suddenly let out a large sneeze. “I should really dry my hair before I fall sick,” she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she realized something as she stood up to reach for her towel and distress hit her.

“I FORGOT TO ASK FOR HER NUMBER!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author’s Note:

Hey guys! Once again, big thank yous all around to all those who’ve read, subscribed, voted and commented.

I hope I paid my dues to my fellow Sunbyung shippers with this update.

The next chapter will have a slightly different focus on it so do stick around for it.