Byun Baekhyun had been in the highlight for a while. He had been on the news the night he won the Golden Polaroid Award- an international competition which took place annually and took in consideration portraiture, and fashion photography. At just 23, he was not only the first person from Korea to win this, but also the youngest in the world. It was a big thing, and in Baekhyun’s eyes, it was all like a dream. He had entered the competition on a whim, and only expected to make it to the finals. Instead, he won the award, which is inferior only to the Platinum Polaroid Award. In a matter of weeks, however, the news fizzled out, and things went back to normal. But, a few things did change. One could say, in video game language, he levelled up 10x at one go.

He had been working for SM Entertainment, for the last eight months. It had already been over a year that he was in this industry, by that time. But, SM Entertainment believed he was still too young and inexperienced to be working as their Director of Photography, the post he kept applying for. He was always assigned as the “assistant photographer” which involved nothing much at all. Winning this award brought the big break in his career. In fact, every big company now wanted Baekhyun to be their Director of Photography. Too bad, SME employed him earlier than the rest.

Baekhyun did not regret it. After all, his favourite idol group belonged to this company.

As Baekhyun walked home from work that night, he thought about them. Their beautiful forms, and their graceful stance on stage. Their perfectly sculpted faces (and bodies, huhu) and mesmerising smiles. Their presence on stage, and the way they carried themselves better than any other idol group he had seen. He thought about it all, and sighed to himself.

‘I’m really going to work with EXO tomorrow. Aren’t I?’ he smiled.

EXO. His bias group was EXO. The manager had called Baekhyun that day itself, to let him know about their current portfolio. Baekhyun had been shivering in excitement to know how they would be, and how it would feel to work with them. One of Baekhyun’s short time goals was to be able to photograph these men. To be able to catch them glistening like Gods under the flashing lights, was what he dreamed of. And now, would this dream come true?

‘Ohhhh yes! My time is finally here. Byun Baekhyun, get ready to shin-’

What he had forgotten, however, was that his ultimate bias, Park Chanyeol was also going to be there. And it struck him like a lightning bolt the moment he spotted the perfume advertisement featuring Chanyeol, far off on a tall building, which was visible from his street (he had thanked the Lords the day they put it up).

‘Oh . . No no no no. This is so not happening.’

Being a fanboy is not advisable for a career such as his.

In that moment, he regretted all that research, the MVs, the CDs and the TV Shows. But, there was nothing he could’ve done now. The man had already occupied a space in Baekhyun’s heart, and, it was impossible to remove him.

As he lay in bed that night, several thoughts crossed his mind. ‘Would I be able to keep up with them?’ ‘Would I do justice to the group?’ ‘How would they be, as human beings?’ ‘Would I get well along with them?’ He tossed and turned, and finally stopped, lying flat on his back. His heart beat like a train, as he thought about Chanyeol. He sighed. But it was mostly the excitement of his dream come true. With these thought running through his mind, he quietly fell asleep.

Or, perhaps, tried to.

Turns out, Baekhyun couldn’t sleep at all. He tried to walk around his apartment, took a walk on the rooftop, drank water, and counted sheep. But, nothing worked, so he decided to soak himself in a warm bath, hoping that’d take his tiredness away.

But, alas, it didn't.

“.”, he cursed out as he looked into the mirror to look into his tired face. His puffy eyes and dark circles were a proof of the fact that he had gotten little sleep last night. Staring at himself for a little longer, he finally decided to ditch the contacts, and wear his glasses instead.

And so, with his round rimmed glasses, he paired a simple white sweater, black denim, and navy blue converse. He was all set.

Baekhyun arrived pretty early, and an entire zoo had been rummaging through his stomach the entire journey. Even though he had been in this building before, things were different today. He took the usual stairs to the fourth floor, and walked into the studio. For the first time in SME, he was in-charge of something. It made him swell with joy, and his cheeks hurt from smiling. His hands went cold, but he took three deep breaths, and returned to his confident self. After setting up the studio with the help of two others, Baekhyun sat in the lounge sofa, playing games on his phone.

“Excuse me, Baekhyun-ssi?” It was manager hyung. “We’re ready for the shoot, now.” He smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Baekhyun-ssi. Let’s get along well!”, a soft voice spoke from behind manager hyung.

It was Kim Junmyeon aka Suho, the leader of the group. He looked taller in their MVs, Baekhyun noticed, but in reality he was smol, like himself. Not to mention, what beautiful skin, and bright eyes. Baekhyun’s eyes brightened as he walked behind them. "Y-Yes, nice to meet you, Junmyeon-ssi. Glad to be working with you today." The two bowed several times. Baekhyun realised he had stuttered for the first time in his entire life.

"You're​ so young, I thought maybe you're a trainee yourself, haha" Suho said, without looking back.

Baekhyun laughed awkwardly, as he complemented Kim Junmyeon. He received an expressionless ‘Thank you’ in return. All this time, Baekhyun thought that something was weird. The manager didn’t smile when he talked, and Junmyeon-ssi seemed a little distant as well.

After a while, Suho continued, "So, you know the concept, right?"

Baekhyun nodded. Their concept was about their past friendships, and how them leaving, led to chaos, sadness and struggle in the rest. The concept was to be shot in black and white, but Baekhyun was a connoisseur in colour compositions. So, they agreed to do both.

“About the astronaut suits-” Baekhyun was about to say, but he was interrupted by manager hyung.

“Oh, about that. Other than Sehun, Chanyeol agreed to wear them too.”

Chanyeol. The name made Baekhyun’s insides flip.

“Okay,then.” Baekhyun nodded, and began to concentrate on the shoot.

As they entered the shooting area, Suho introduced everyone to Baekhyun, and they bowed to each other. Baekhyun’s eyes would occasionally glance towards Chanyeol, but he did not let that distract him. The group shoots went unexpectedly smooth. ‘That’s what you expect from veterans’ Baekhyun thought as he smiled to himself. They didn't need to be told anything at all, unless most of his previous clients. They just knew what to do. Kim Jongin, aka Kai had a beautiful form, and even the most random poses had a flow to them. They didn't give Baekhyun break for once, and he couldn't afford to miss a single moment, to even look at them, or lose them to nervousness. Because then, he'd miss that shot, and it'd never exist. After the group shoot was over, it was turn for the individual shots. But before that, everyone decided to take a quick break, both for a retouch, and change of sets.

"Hey, do you mind showing us the samples?" Kim Jongdae, the lead vocalist of the group said. Baekhyun was startled for a minute, but Jongdae's kind smile took it away. "Oh, sure.", he said as he began to show him the pictures straight off his camera. 

"Whoa. This is nice." Chanyeol said, appearing out of nowhere, and peeking from above. This was the first time Baekhyun was so close to both of them, and there was pure chaos in his gut. Chanyeol kept mumbling stuff to Jongdae in his deep voice, and laughing in intervals. Baekhyun had been looking elsewhere all this time, but now he wanted to look at their faces. They were here, they were real. And they were just beside him. Just when he looked up- "These are really good. You're really good!" Chanyeol said out, as he turned towards Baekhyun.

Their eyes met, and Baekhyun looked at him for a couple of seconds, then turned away.

‘Something’s...off..? Or maybe it's just me.’ 

"Thank you so much.” Baekhyun said, awkwardly, itching his ear. “It makes me happ-”

"What are you guys doing?" Sehun interrupted.

"Sehun-aah, come check this out. You look so good in this. Hey, but honestly, why a whale?"

Suddenly, they were all huddled around Baekhyun, and began to talk and laugh to each other. All this time, Baekhyun couldn’t say a word because he was observing. Something was off, he definitely knew. He didn’t know what was. Soon after sometime, the shoot resumed.

At the end of nine hours, the only person left to take photographs of, was Chanyeol. The other members except Kyungsoo and Jongin, had already left. Baekhyun was so tired that he wanted a cigarette break. But, he knew he had no time to waste because Chanyeol and the rest hadn’t eaten anything for a very long time. Chanyeol too, appeared a little tired.

Baekhyun’s photographs weren’t coming out as great because the expressions on Chanyeol’s face appeared dull, and empty. He was getting slightly irritated but then he gathered himself. He sighed, and said, “Sir, are you okay?”

 “Me? Of course!” Chanyeol tried to smile his biggest smile. “Just a little tired, I guess?”

Something tugged at Baekhyun’s heart as he heard Chanyeol say that. “Would you like to rest a little-”

“No, no, it’s okay. Please. Let’s get over with this today.” Chanyeol spoke in a calm, yet stern voice.

“Alright, then let’s finish up with the spacesuit?”

The shoot ended, and Baekhyun bowed to the three. He collected his equipments in an empty room. He had asked the “assistants” to leave early. Then, he went to the washroom to freshen up.

He splashed his face with water, and his tiredness seemed to wash away with that. Knowing today's day had come to an end, a sense of relief came over him, and he smiled. Baekhyun walked back, wiping his face with his handkerchief. In a few steps, he collided into someone. Like something out of a novel, it turned out to be Chanyeol.

"I AM SO SORRY." he said while bowing a thousand times.

"It's okay, it's okay." Chanyeol said, smilingly and walked away. Baekhyun’s heart beat so fast, it was unreal.

"Aah, by the way." Chanyeol said, turning back, "It was great working with you, today.”

Baekhyun smiled. "Thank you, Sir. The pleasure was all mine.. I'll be looking forward to work with you- I mean all of you- again.”

"Yes, yes. We will, we sure will. Baekhyun, right?"

Poor Byun’s heart skipped three beats as he heard him call his name.

Baekhyun nodded and smiled, "Yes, sir."

"Hey, please don't call me Sir. I feel old." Chanyeol said, laughing a dry laugh.

"Oh, no. But I-" Baekhyun tried to say. 

"Just call me by my name. We're almost the same age anyway, aren't we?" Chanyeol said out. He knew Baekhyun was 23 years old. He had been following the news. "Anyway, see you next time, Baek." Chanyeol waved as he walked off. 

Thump. 'Did he just...call me Baek?' Baekhyun thought he heard something wrong. But, he hadn't. He knew it too. But he would never accept it.

With that, Baekhyun’s first shoot with EXO ended, and so did his life. ‘What a pleasant death’, he thought to himself. 'I'd die everyday, if it was Park Chanyeol' Baekhyun thought. Then he realised what he just thought of. '....I must be sleepy to think of all this. Why am I even thinking of Chanyeol'. He didn’t have much left, in terms of energy, to think about it any further. He crashed into his bed, and immediately fell asleep.

In his dream, he felt large beautiful hands quietly cafuning through his soft, brown hair, while he lay on the grass, his head on someone's thigh. The sun shone above his face, and he couldn't see the face, just the arms. As he looked up, he noticed there was something written, in cursive. He read it aloud.

Si me amas, serva me.

(If you love me, protect me)