♥ Chapter 3

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            Weeks had passed since the first day of college and now my class is doing our 1st monthly evaluation. For this month’s evaluation, we were given a theme few weeks before to present to the whole class – our work were to be reviewed and criticized by fellow classmates. After all this time, receiving praises from people around me - people who didn’t have the basic knowledge about photography – I was pretty confident with my work. I displayed the first picture I ever took – the picture which moved me to pursue this field. The canal bank view.

            All morning, the thought of being showered with praises for my work made me giddy with excitement. I woke up, opening the blinds I usually kept closed. The rays of light burst into the once gloomy room, filling it with the sun’s warm embrace. I made my usual morning coffee and got ready for my usual breakfast with Yoochun.

            “Why do you look so happy? Did something good happened?” Yunho asked. He probably noticed the change in my morning attitude – from my habitual grumpiness to the exceptional happiness.

            “Hmm,” I let out a small hum. “Maybe... I won’t tell you.” I jerked my eyebrows, “I’ll tell you later, okay?” I’ll definitely boast to him about my praises in class later.

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            I heaved out a heavy sigh, feeling drained from our previous discussion. The outcome was not something I imagined. I felt like a fool for thinking that my work was good enough. Images of me being so proud in front of my roommate flashed in my mind and I couldn’t hide the embarrassment I felt. Walking back to the dorm with my head hung low, it felt like the people around me were making fun of me – for the vain confident I had. I turned my feet around, heading towards the darkroom – lab, as I would call it. Lab is like my safe haven – doesn’t matter if it’s the institutes or mine. I felt calm being in there. The serenity in the darkness blanketed me with warmth I couldn’t comprehend.

            I took out a camera – not my DSLR one but another antique camera – the one that used photographic film. The camera I used to take the picture of my roommate under the moonlight before. It was a gift from my dad, right before he died - he was so against my interest in photography, it was ironic. Right before he died he said to me, “I’m sorry I couldn’t look through your world with my own eyes. I hope with this, as a replacement, I would be able to understand your world – seeing them from your own perspective.” I’ve never cried so hard in my life. I held his words in my heart, capturing the beautiful images I had saw – thinking he had witness the same view as I did.

            Maybe that’s why I love being in the lab. Maybe it felt like my dad was with me – watching me making print of the sight we saw together. I sat at one of the tables, staring through the collection of my photos. Most of them were of sceneries and landscapes, except for one. The picture of Jung Yunho. I didn’t noticed when I dozed off but the next thing I knew, my body was shook hard. I opened my eyes and saw Yunho’s worried face. He broke in cold sweat, panting hard as if he had ran all the way here.

            “What’s wrong?” I said with my sleepy voice. I rubbed my eyes, bewildered as to why he was in front of me.

            “I thought something happened.” He paused. “I was so worried. That… You collapsed before too and I thought…” Yunho trailed off, the grasp of his hands around my arms weaken.

            “You really do like to worry about others.” I chuckled, hiding my mischievous smile behind my hand. He was a good man – a human with the heart of gold. I always see him running around, helping other people. Not worrying about his own