“What do you mean they want me to go for a photoshoot?” Miya blinked as Haneul nodded at her and shrugged.

“Management asked for very specific students. They’re making the university brochures and stuff. They’ll probably feature you in all the promotional material.” Haneul chuckled as Miya sighed. Not that she minded representing the university, it was just that this would eat into her classes and that wasn’t exactly what she had in mind when she joined the university - missing classes for pictures. Hopefully they would give her exemption for her classes, she wondered as she ate another spoonful of her lunch as Haru took a seat beside her.

“Bingbong is sulking, he’s missing his favourite class because the university recruited him for that funny promotional photoshoot of theirs.” she declared before promptly digging into her meal as Sanghyuk and Minah occupied the empty spots at the table.

“I’m assuming that Miya got selected as well.” Minah chuckled as Miya nodded in response. While she and Hongbin weren’t terribly close, they were often in the same group of friends and knew each other decently well enough but not particularly intimately.

“Hey guys,” a voice interrupted her thoughts as she looked up at a petite girl standing next to Minah and smiling a pleasant smile. Miya recognised her as Bora, who headed the ‘Foodaholics’ which was a club that often partnered up with the other clubs and prepared special food for their events “I’m looking for volunteers for the theatre club event, we’re doing some simple stuff, but I really need more people to help me out.”

“Sanghyuk will set your food on fire, don’t bother asking him.” Haru mumbled as Sanghyuk frowned at her.

“I can’t even boil water without making it poisonous.” Miya gave her a weak smile as Minah nodded, agreeing.

“I’d sign up, but I’m directing with Hongbin. So I’ll volunteer Haneullie here.” Minah said, waving her hand at Haneul who smiled.

“I’d be glad to help!”

“Excellent! I’ll add you to the group chat! Thank you! I’ll see you around!” Bora chirped before hurrying away to another table to recruit people.

“She’s stealing my friends as well!” Hakyeon whined as he squeezed himself in between Miya and Haru as the rest of the group sighed. Miya finished her meal and stood up.

“I’m done, I’ll head to the admin building and check out what it is that they want from me.” she said, picking her bag up and slinging it over her shoulder as her friends waved her goodbye. Hurrying to the administration building and trying to avoid the afternoon sun, she bumped into Hongbin who seemed to be headed in the same direction as her.

“Admin building?” he asked as he caught up with her and she nodded.

“What’s this about some promotional brochure?” she asked as Hongbin shrugged.

“Either they want to shoot pictures of us for it, or want us to shoot it.” he replied as Miya remembered that Hongbin had a passion for photography.

“But I’m not into photography.” she deadpanned as they reached the building. They spotted the dean of the college waving at them as they hurried towards her. Son Dambi had always been a bit of an imposing figure, but she wasn’t unkind. Indicating that the two enter her office, she walked into it as Hongbin held the door open for Miya and shut it behind them. Once they were seated, she took a look at Hongbin and Miya clearing .

“So, as you know, we’re planning on expanding the university so we wanted both of you to take part in the brochure making procedure.”

“How exactly do we contribute?” Miya asked as the two looked at her questioningly.

“Well, we take pictures of you and use them in the brochure.” Dambi stated as Miya and Hongbin pursed their lips. So apparently the rumours were right.

“Shouldn’t this be a community effort?” Hongbin asked as Dambi nodded.

“Yes, and the community voted the two of you as the most photogenic.”

-x-

Which was how Miya and Hongbin found themselves increasingly spending more time with each other.

The photoshoot in itself was rather simple. Miya and Hongbin had to pose for photos depicting life on campus. That meant pretending to concentrate while looking at an empty classroom wall or smiling into nothingness by the corridors. The awkwardness of the entire procedure wasn't lost on the two of them but they put on a smile for the shoot.

“Is it just me or is the entire process awkward?” Hongbin asked Miya. The two of them were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, waiting for the cafeteria scene to be set up. The food to be used for the shoot lay in front of them and they had snuck away a packet of chips to snack on as they waited.

“It would make more sense if there were more people involved. Our college strength must be 400 to 500 people and yet all you see in a brochure is a single student in a classroom” Miya said, frowning.

“True” Hongbin agreed.

“I’d do it pretty differently” he said with a thoughtful tilt to his head.

“How would you do it?” Miya asked him.

“Well, I would go with a group of students too. And I would focus more on the facilities in and around the campus. Like our labs and our sports facilities” Hongbin planned out. “We actually have good infrastructure and it would be a shame not to highlight it. Especially at this time of the day when they are well lit. And maybe a few department specific shots if it was in the brochure as well.”

“That’s pretty specific” Miya noted.

“That's an essential part of photography. You need to concentrate on how to present the final product too” he said, reaching for more chips.

“Oh yeah. I remember Haru mentioning that you really liked photography. Do you design your collections too?” she asked him excitedly.

“Yes. But they probably aren't that great” he said modestly.

“I'm pretty sure they would look great” Miya said with an encouraging smile. Hongbin thanked her, his cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment.

“Maybe we could suggest it to the admin? Wouldn’t many friendly faces invite more people as compared to just both our faces?” Miya asked, reaching for a chip from an empty packet only to frown and wave the packet around making him chuckle.

Apparently having the college wide approved photogenic faces really helped with convincing the admin panel to include far more people in the project. The two were now in charge of making a brochure and thus Hongbin’s visions were coming true.

“Taekwoon, you’ll need to shift closer to Minah, you guys are in the same department, can you please behave like sunbae and hoobae?” Hongbin said as he took pictures of different students from the various departments. Both his friends were camera shy and thus looked awfully awkward when he asked them to pose together.

“Wouldn’t it be better to capture them on the sports field?” Miya suggested as Hongbin considered it for a moment.

“Genius! Why didn’t I think of that?” he looked at her as she grinned back at him.

“This is better for Haneul and Wonshik. They’re a lot less awkward and they’re in the same department.” she said, noting it down to ask them.

Work often went on till late in the night. They had officially found themselves a spot in the library discussion room working with music on and their new friend Bora supplying them with either coffee or hot chocolate based on her mood since they had taken pictures of her club at work. Minah would drop by every now and then with snacks and updates on the state of the play the three were working on. Haneul would come by to make sure that everything was running smoothly and to ask if they needed any help. Hakyeon kept a close eye on them incase Bora was trying to ‘hijack’ them (Hongbin chased him off saying that she had already done that, except Hakyeon was holding a mug of Bora’s hot chocolate himself). Sanghyuk was banned from entering and being a pest and Haru was in charge of keeping him away. Jaehwan often dropped by to help with some of the creative work and Sooyeon came along with her books to sit there and study while Jaehwan worked.

Hongbin found himself getting closer to Miya and increasingly becoming attached to his partner in this project. She understood him well and he could open up easily to her and she would open up to him as well - late in the nights when they would climb up to the library roof for a breath of fresh air, when they would gaze at the stars, when she would doze off only to wake up suddenly and realize that the brochure was still waiting for them.

Maybe things worked at their own pace, just like they did. Over infinite pictures of smiling faces, splashes of colour, fingers grazing over each other’s inadvertently as they steadily worked - passing pictures, cups of hot chocolate and coffee. Ignoring Haneul and Sooyeon’s reminders for them to sleep because it meant a few more minutes of comfortable silences, inside jokes, stupid pranks, cringing at some of the most cliche pictures with equally terrible captions that the college administration had provided.

“Hey! This is a nice picture.” Miya grinned, turning her laptop to show Hongbin a picture of the two of them from the previous shoots. There was a candid smile on her face as he looked down at her softly as they sat at the cafeteria, that moment where she had told him she would help him execute his idea of changing the brochure. And here they were doing the same thing.

“I’m making it my wallpaper.” she declared to no one in particular, making Hongbin grin.

“Send it to me won’t you?”

-x-

Sometimes work meant going to the city to pick up supplies. Haru and Sanghyuk would tag along because the large lump of human was often useful when it came to carrying things except the two would disappear to god knows where, leaving Miya and Hongbin alone. Sometimes they'd get Jaehwan along only he'd get distracted by the supplies themselves and end up picking up more than what they needed. Hakyeon would often drive them over and go to a coffee shop and wait while they bought the stuff just like a mother.

“You sure this is the light you need for this shoot?” Miya asked as she gaped at the tall light fixture which Hongbin intended on renting from the store. When she tried to pick it up, it wobbled and Hongbin quickly caught hold of her hand and pulled her away from the stand and closer to him.

“Yes, it's the perfect lighting for the evening outdoor shoot.” his deep voice filled her ears as her ear was pressed against his chest. She moved away, blushing and looking down.

“Any other lighting you might need?” She asked as he shook his head.

“Nope, we're good, now what would you like to have for dinner?” He asked as the walked out of the store, the lights would be delivered to campus since they were far too heavy and it was too early to get back to campus.

“Dinner?” Miya asked wide eyed.

“We have a lot of time left till the bus gets here, why not spend some time together where it doesn't involve work?”

Miya couldn't help but give in to the dimpled smile. Hongbin gave all the necessary details to the manager before turning to Miya. “My lady” he said, dramatically bowing to let her go first.

“My lord” she replied, trying not to giggle. She walked out of the store with Hongbin following her, talking about nonsensical things in the theatrical voice.

“Would my lady prefer some confectionary? Or is she perhaps in the mood for some spicy ddeokbokki?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Miya laughed a little at the theatrics.

“Oh god, you are horrible” she told him, shaking her head.

“Also very hungry” he added, dropping the act for now.

“Then ddeokbokki sounds like a better choice. Where would we get ddeokbokki though?” she wondered. She smiled at the children who ran past them, blowing bubbles in the air. She looked in the direction they had come from and saw a vendor loudly advertising bubble blowers. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the cute bubble blowers.

“Hongbin look! Can we get some?” Miya asked, excitedly.

“Bubble blowers? Do you want bubble blowers?” he asked, surprised at her enthusiasm. She nodded and he smiled. She looked really cute and how could he say no to that? The two of them walked over the vendor.

“Hello! Would you like some bubble blowers?” he asked Miya who was pouring over the collection. Hongbin enquired about the cost while Miya searched for one that she liked. There were fruit shaped bubble blowers and minion shaped. There was a Pikachu too! There were some simple loop bubble blowers and bubble guns. Miya cooed when she found one that was shaped like Stitch from the Disney movie.

“That’s cute” Hongbin said, leaning over her shoulder.

 “Yeah! Everything is really cute to be honest with you” she confessed, causing him to chuckle.

“Do you want me to buy you the whole collection?” he .

“I think I’ll just get this one” she told him. She picked it out for the vendor who billed it for her. She held it up proudly as she walked along the road to the food stalls.

“You are such a kid” Hongbin said shaking his head.

 “Bubbles are fun!” Miya protested.

 “Only for children” Hongbin argued.

“I am sorry if my youth offends you grandpa” Miya said crossly. “And to prove to you that bubbles are indeed fun, I am going to blow some right now” she said childishly.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise that I was here with Jaehwan and not Miya” Hongbin said, as Miya shook the bubble blower.

“Jealous” she mouthed to him as she set the bubbles going. She held it up above her head and giggled as they blew in the wind. She turned it towards Hongbin who protested and cringed while trying to avoid soapy water.

“Okay okay! I lose you win” he conceded when bubbles burst on his head. “Now let’s go get something to eat. I am starving” he told her.

“Yes please. I think I used up all my energy” Miya said, taking a moment to catch her breathe.

“Spicy ddeokbokki, here we come!” he sang as they walked down the road to the food stalls.

The sun was low in the sky and everything around them reflected golden light. The food stalls were brightly coloured and there was a sound of laughter in the air. Hongbin watched Miya tie her hair up and cheer herself on for eating the spicy ddeokbokki. They shared a look of encouragement which turned into laughter and indignant cries of how spicy the ddeokbokki actually was. Hongbin grinned to himself as he listened to Miya talk about all the spicy food that this ddeokbokki reminded her of.

The moment was picture perfect to him.

-x-

After easily over a month of preparing, shooting, editing and pasting. It was finally ready. Hongbin had been extremely secretive about the cover much to Miya’s frustration. He and Jaehwan had been hard at work on it and Miya suddenly missed spending time with Hongbin over the brochure. Was this what they meant by distance makes the heart grow fonder?

Miya watched as Minah lay down on the library floor, having given up on her assignment as Haneul worked on her own, ignoring the idiot friend who was now lying on the floor and taking a nap. Everyone had gotten used to Minah’s sudden eccentricities at this point. Bora had decided to join them and she eyed Minah suspiciously, but noted that no one else seemed to particularly care and therefore returned to her television show that she had been watching. Something about these moments felt like Miya had fallen out of a time continuum and into a different world and she would return to that frozen time space when she was with Hongbin.

She looked down at her phone to see a message from Hongbin

“We’re done! Come take a look!”  

Miya suddenly stood up, startling her friends and hurried to her treasured spot in the library. The moment she opened the door to the discussion room, she easily slipped back into the frozen time she had with him.

“Well? Are you finally going to show me the cover?” she asked as she rested against the back of his seat and peeked over his shoulder into the laptop screen. What she saw made her do a double-take as Hongbin sat silently trying to gauge her response.

It was their picture from the cafeteria which was her wallpaper. It had been slightly tweaked which made them glow a little more. But there was something intimate about the picture, something she couldn’t entirely put her finger on. She turned to look at Hongbin who looked down as the keyboard, not entirely sure as to where he should be looking.

“Wh-” she began, but the blush that was creeping up his cheeks gave pretty much everything away. Miya didn’t know what to say though but her arms wrapped around his shoulders and hugged him. Maybe it was better to show in action what she couldn’t in words and if his hands slipping up to lace his fingers with hers over his racing heart was an indication of anything, then Miya was happy.

Maybe that was Hongbin’s superpower - freezing time. Be it with his ability to capture it on film, or simply freezing it every time Miya was around. Everyone felt the magic the moment they touched the brochure, the moment they set their eyes on the photogenic love and support right on the cover. Hongbin knew that Miya was the reason that superpower even came to light.

“This is wonderful work you two.” the dean, Dambi announced, holding the brochure up to them as they grinned back, happy that this had finally worked out. Hongbin squeezed her hand in his under the table and Miya couldn’t help but shoot him that secret smile of hers which Hongbin had burned in his memory.

It was magic frozen in time when they first kissed; lips burning from spicy deokbokki in celebration of the success of the brochure. The way their bodies fit close together like a puzzle. Their lips moved and glided against each other, giggles erupting between them when he nipped at her lip and she squeaked in surprise only to have him kiss her against soundly under the starry night on the terrace of the library.