Chapter 4: Photographs
 

By heart, Ten loves to take pictures of nature. That’s why he loves to frolic in the forest, there are so many beautiful things there that’s often untouched by human or the movements of time. The second thing he loves is to take pictures of his friends.

On his right side, the basketball team are practicing for the upcoming game. On his left, the cheerleaders are practicing to support the basketball team for the upcoming game. Beside him, Johnny is busy munching his kimbab with a laptop placed open on his lap.

“Which should be the better headline? Cheerleader Son Naeun caught up in a heated kiss with nerd Lee Taemin? Or the Promiscuous Relationship Between Hottie Naeun and Nerd Taemin?” he asks.

Johnny is a part of the school’s newspaper team and he’s in charge of the gossip session—which, he uses an alias called DungeonBoy, which is really stupid, in Ten’s opinion.

“Ugh,” Ten scowls, picking up his camera as he follows Taeyong’s movement. “Both are disgusting, when are you going to quit?”

“Quit?” Johnny asks incredulously. “Why quit when I can spill everyone’s tea and cause drama every now and then?”

Ten ignores him and takes a perfect shot of Taeyong doing a slam dunk. Johnny has asked Ten if he could use Ten’s photo for the school newspaper, to which Ten vehemently rejects.

“Ah, shame.” Johnny says as he takes a peek at Ten’s camera. “That Taeyong shot would melt dozens of girl’s heart. I’d pay for that, just so you know.”

“No.” Ten deadpans. “These are not for ing sale.”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to repeat it.” Johnny grumbles. His eyes travels from the basketball players to the cheerleaders on the other side of the field.

“Well, well.” Johnny murmurs.

“What?”

“Seulgi sparkles.” Johnny mutters. Ten looks at him in disbelief and Johnny snorts. “I’m serious. If you can get over your ridiculous hate for her for a minute and just look there, you’d see how pretty and how picturesque she is.”

Ten clicks his tongue but do as Johnny says anyway. He follows Johnny’s gaze and spots the golden-haired girl in the midst of the cheerleaders.

And he almost can’t look away.

She’s standing on top of tiny pyramids which consists of her on the top, Seungwan on the bottom right and Mina on the bottom left. The sky is clear today and the sun is out and her hair just glitters under the bright sunlight.

She is unfair.

Kang Seulgi is sweaty, probably smells, too, and her training uniform is all drenched (she looks even more sweaty than the rest of the cheer team, what the heck did she do anyway?), her ponytail is a bit messy and her face is flushed. But she’s smiling so bright and her eyes forms crescent and Ten hates to admit it but she does sparkles.

He raises his camera and takes a perfect shot of the golden-haired girl.

In a second, he instantly regrets his decision because Johnny’s laughter is right next to his ear and he nearly drops his precious Nikon.

“And I thought you hated her. Boy, you should’ve seen the look on your face. You’re starstruck!”

Regaining his composure, Ten frowns, forcefully tearing his gaze away from the perfection that is Kang Seulgi before glaring at Johnny. “I am not starstruck.” He retorts.

“Sure you do.” Johnny smirks. “Ten you’re the densest piece of in this entire ing universe.”

“Shut up, you .” Ten hisses. “I took her picture. So what? Big deal.”

Johnny shakes his head, staring at Ten in disbelief. “Yeah, but you said you either only took picture of nature or your friends. So where does Seulgi lies then? I’m one hundred percent sure she’s not a ing herb though.”

“She’s in the miscellaneous section.” Ten replies, gritting his teeth.

“What, because you call dibs on her?” the brown haired guy grins. Oh, he enjoys teasing Ten so much. It is so much fun seeing him slip from his usual poker-face, disinterested, calm façade and have him scrambling off to collect himself. “Or maybe you’re going to create a new section for ‘crush’ then?”

“No.” Ten replies seriously as he opens his camera menu. “She’s in the miscellaneous section because she’s not as pleasing as nature and she’s definitely not a friend.”

He deletes Seulgi’s picture then, much to Johnny’s dismay.

***

Afterwards, the group hangs out at Jung’s, again. As usual, Seulgi sits comfortably between the window and Ten. Her hair still looks luscious and smooth despite all the sweat-fest before and she still smells like citrus and flowers.

“I’m so tired.” Seungwan groans, resting her face on the window beside her. “I think I’ll go straight to sleep after this and wake up, like… a week later or something.”

“That’s Seulgi’s line.” Wonwoo snorts. “Should’ve seen how she sleeps, even earthquake won’t wake her up.”

“Yeah? Well, you talk in your sleep, Wonwoo, just so you know.” Seulgi retorts, pointing at her twin with her chocolate-covered spoon.

Seungwan chuckles at the sight of the two and shakes her head. “Seulgi’s a heavy sleeper then?”

“Yes,” Seulgi admits before Wonwoo. “And Wonwoo talks in his sleep.” She adds, emphasizing on Wonwoo’s habit.

“You don’t need to say it twice.” Wonwoo protests.

Taeyong chuckles. “He does? Since when?”

Seulgi smirks and stares at Wonwoo, as if challenging him. “Ever since he could form words with his mouth, Wonwoo has been sleep talking. It’s honestly very, very funny to watch.”

“Oh, hardy har.” Wonwoo replies.

“Anyway, I saw you two were watching the practice.” Seungwan says to Johnny and Ten. “And you brought your camera, Ten, did you take pictures?”

“Ten takes pictures?” Seulgi pipes in. “Wow, I didn’t know you like photography.”

“He does,” Johnny chirps. “And he did took photos of you guys.”

“Really?” Seungwan exclaims, eyes widening in surprise. “Oh my God! Can I take a look? Did you take any pictures of me? Oh, God, I must’ve looked so hideous.”

Ten chuckles, “Relax, Wan. You’re not that hideous.” He jokes and ducks when Seungwan tries to hit him with a fork.

A groan is audible then from the other side of the table. “Aw, they forgot to add more milk in my coffee, I’m going downstairs.” Wonwoo says before excusing himself from the table, his cup of coffee in his hands.

“Wait up, I’m going to the toilet.” Taeyong says as he trails behind Wonwoo, leaving just Johnny, Seungwan, Ten and Seulgi on their table.

“So you dance and takes photos?” Seulgi says, playing with a strand of her hair. “Did you take pictures of everyone?”

Ten nods, trying not to remember the deleted picture of her. “I did.”

“Are there any pictures of me?” Seulgi asks, smiling coyly at him.

Johnny locks eye with Ten before shifting his gaze to Seungwan’s blue nails, wanting nothing to do with Ten and Seulgi. He had been berating Ten for deleting Seulgi’s picture out of nowhere, calling him childish and overly judgmental and clearly discriminating Seulgi and Wonwoo over the rest of them, that he’s going overboard by still not accepting Seulgi into his circle of friends. Ten ignored him.

“Oh, Seungwan, you nail is so nice, where did you do it?” Johnny asks, as if he is so interested in Seungwan’s manicure.

“Huh? Oh, I did this with Seulgi last week, when we’re going to Ms. Park’s salon.”

Ten rolls his eyes before returning his attention to the blonde beside him. “Uh, no?” He answers, staring at Seulgi. “I only capture important things.”

No, he certainly does not feel bad for saying it.

He certainly does not feel bad when Seulgi’s eyes widen just ever so slightly and he does not feel bad at the look on Seulgi’s face, nor he feels bad when Seulgi distances herself just ever so lightly away from him. Ten does not feel bad nor does he care.

“Just asking.” Seulgi says, shrugging as she shifts her attention to her chocolate cake.

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Kang.”

Nope.

Ten certainly is not thinking about the deleted shot of Seulgi, he certainly does not think Seulgi looked stunning at the practice, he certainly does not regret deleting Seulgi’s picture and he does not regret saying those words to Seulgi.

***

Ten watches the next practice. Basketball team on his right, cheerleaders on his left and Johnny isn’t around.

He takes pictures of Seulgi; of her bright smile, of her flushed face, of her golden hair dancing in the wind.

Yet still, no pictures can satisfy him as much as the previously deleted picture.

***

Author’s note:

Fourth chapter is up! Thank God weekend is here bc this week has been HELL for me.
Anyway, how was your weekend guys?
I love love loooveeee reading your comments, it honestly motivates me so much
to write an even better chapters in the future and inspires me on what I should write next :”)
Once again, thank you guys! You are the MVPs, your encouraging words is what makes me keep on going <3