Minju has an assignment due in two weeks and Chaeyeon just wants the girl to drink sweeter coffee.

Minju has always liked taking pictures. Growing up in a household filled with picture frames of landscapes, people, and countless memories, she learned to appreciate the art at a young age, finding comfort in every shadow, detail, blur, and angle. Minju thinks it's only natural that she's pursuing photography; it was something she loved doing, something that just felt right for her. "There's...some sort of magic to it," Minju had told her parents when they asked her why she wanted to major in photography. "Something about being able to capture the beauty in almost everything."

Minju finds herself thinking back to that time; she groans internally at the fact that she is attending yet another boring lecture. Minju loved taking pictures, but she wasn't too keen on technicalities and all the fancy terminologies that came with her course. She preferred to do things her own way, with her own feel, at her own pace - but she had requirements to fulfill and a future to build for herself, so she chooses to endure the boring lectures instead. 

(It's not so easy - Minju admits she's been a bit short on inspiration lately.)

"...that's the assignment. Class dismissed." 

It's only after she hears chairs being pushed and sees people leaving when Minju comes back to her senses, noticing Chaewon waiting for her behind the room's door. Minju hurries to fix her things and almost trips on her way to her friend, laughing awkwardly. "Hey."

Chaewon is a close friend of Minju's, has been since her first year at university. She was another photography major who shared the majority of Minju's ideals and opinions, so they got along rather quickly. Chaewon was mostly quiet and reserved around others, but Minju takes pride in being one of the few who has seen the girl at her wildest.

(Photos were taken, of course, and Minju swears she will never let Chaewon forget that night.)

Chaewon raises an eyebrow at Minju, crossing her arms. "You don't know what the assignment is, do you?"

Minju smiles, confused, her eyebrows furrowing together. 

"There's an assignment?"

Chaewon chuckles, shaking her head. The two walk arm-in-arm to the canteen and sit down at their table, the noise building up as their other friends soon join in. 

"We're supposed to take photos related to human habits, and make a montage out of it," Chaewon says, scrolling through her phone. Minju nods, remembering that their professor had said something about making a montage earlier.

"Extra points if you can add," Chaewon puts her phone down and does air-quotes, "'making a living' in as a theme. It's due two weeks from now, so, next next Friday."

Minju purses her lips in thought. Human habits was an easy enough topic - she could take a picture of the old man who always waited by the bus stop near her apartment complex, or the kind lady who gives her kimchi every other two days because she knows Minju can't make time to go grocery shopping. She thinks about it some more and decides on going for the extra points; she needed them anyway, she was kind of losing focus and she needed to bring her grade up. She'll think about how 'making a living' can fit into the equation later.

-02%-

It's Saturday morning when Minju is at her favorite cafe, waiting in line for her mandatory cup of black coffee with her camera in hand. She had decided to walk around and look for potential subjects today, and the cafe was a near perfect setting for the themes she needed for the assignment. Minju had planned it all out - she would only observe and take test shots for the first week, and then ask a potential subject to work with her for the second week. 

(Minju had praised herself for thinking of this plan. It seemed very foolproof.)

When it's Minju's turn to order, she can't help but notice that the cashier is someone she's never seen before - must be new here, she thinks.

"Hello! Can I get your order?" the cashier smiles brightly, eyes turning into crescents and teeth almost blinding. Minju looks at her name tag and sees 'Lee Chaeyeon' written on it. Minju finds her a bit too enthusiastic, but cute.

"Yes, uh, I'll get a cup of black coffee, please." Minju smiles politely.

Chaeyeon punches in her order and gives Minju the receipt, another blinding smile sent her way. Minju swears her heart did something at that moment - but she blames it on the cafe's far-too-warm temperature setting. She mutters a 'thank you' before going to find a table where she can get a good view around the place, not forgetting her assignment.

Minju is cleaning her camera lens when she notices Chaeyeon looking around with a cup of coffee in hand. Someone else probably took over cashier duty, Minju reasons. Chaeyeon spots her and smiles yet again, hurriedly walking over to her table. 

Chaeyeon places the cup of coffee in front of Minju, tapping a tune with her fingers on top of Minju's table. "Here you go. Enjoy!"

Minju nods and smiles at Chaeyeon, eyes fixed on the girl's retreating back. Minju chuckles internally, finding Chaeyeon and Chaeyeon's enthusiasm really cute. Minju takes a sip of her coffee and sighs, the familiar silky bitterness waking her up instantly. She takes one last glance at Chaeyeon and considers her to be her potential subject number one.

-05%-

When Minju comes home that afternoon, she isn't surprised to see her roommate lying down on the floor, a lunchbox labeled 'Minju's' placed on the sofa and the TV blasting pop music - typical Yujin.

(Minju had thought of making Yujin her muse for the assignment, but turned the idea down when Minju realized that Yujin's habits weren't exactly what she'd call 'making a living'.)

"Hey," Yujin greets, still spread out on the floor.

Minju shakes her head at the girl, tiptoeing around the area Yujin was splayed out on.

"Make sure you clean up when you're done, okay? And stop eating my food!" Minju tells her jokingly and she hears a "yes ma'am!" from Yujin before she enters her room. She takes her camera bag off of herself and plops down onto her bed to check the test shots she was able to take. One was of a customer who Minju was familiar with, having seen him at the cafe a couple times - he always had his mysterious briefcase and laptop with him, typing away while only the left side of his headphones was on his ear. 

She cringes internally at how she notices these things, but she's always been observant and this assignment needed her to be just that.

The next photos were of Choi Yena, a senior at Minju's university. They had spoken once, when Yena suddenly came up to her and asked her what time Jo Yuri's classes would end. Minju didn't know, but she said a random time to not appear rude to her senior - magically, she was correct, and later that day Yena sent her a friend request on Facebook. Yena must have gotten to Yuri on that day because in the photos were Yena and Yuri, enjoying their cakes and drinks. Yuri probably said something to tease Yena because a lot of the shots were of Yena pouting - the habit part, check, but it wasn't really a way to make a living.

Minju smiles at the pictures, mentally noting that she should tease Yuri about Yena later. 

Minju goes over a few more test shots, always getting the 'habit' theme down, but finding herself unsatisfied with her lack of portrayal of 'making a living'. She starts thinking to herself that maybe she should just go with the habits theme, but a smile makes its way to her face when she reaches the latest photo in her camera.

It was of the cashier, Lee Chaeyeon - a bit out of focus, since Minju was getting ready to wrap up and leave by then - but one could clearly see the big smile on Chaeyeon's face and the way her fingers tapped on the customer's table. Minju remembers how she did the same when she was given her order, and chuckles. 

Minju sets a reminder on her phone to go back to the cafe tomorrow.

-10%-

"Hello! Can I get your order?" a smile automatically makes its way on Minju's face after hearing the greeting, recognizing the look in the cute cashier's eyes as surprise because this was the second day she'd seen her already. Minju orders her classic black coffee, getting another cheerful greeting from Chaeyeon.

It's not Chaeyeon who gives her her coffee, and Minju admits that upset her a bit. She thanks the server and takes a sip, looking around for the possible test shots she could take for today. Her eyes naturally shift to Chaeyeon and she notices her fingers tapping away at the counter again, patiently waiting for a customer to enter the cafe. Minju finds it very endearing - it's a cute little habit and it makes Minju want to get to know Chaeyeon more, to see what other cute things the girl did. Minju scolds herself mentally for sounding creepy and focuses on cleaning her camera lens and taking test shots instead.

When she points her camera to where Chaeyeon is, she's surprised to find the girl looking at her as well. There's a look of confusion on Chaeyeon's face before it's replaced with the brightest smile Minju's ever seen, making her heart all warm and her stomach all fluttery. She takes the shot and tries to play it off coolly by taking pictures of other things in the cafe, the huge grin on her face giving her away. Meanwhile, Chaeyeon finds herself chuckling at the pretty customer with the cool camera, remembering their encounter from yesterday.

When Minju's done with her coffee, she immediately fixes her things and gets ready to leave, not without taking one last glance at Chaeyeon. Minju thinks - knows - she'll be a great subject, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself and decide right away when it's only the second day. She leaves the cafe, having walked quite a distance already while thinking about visiting the nearby park to look for more possible subjects when she notices that her camera bag wasn't in her right hand. Minju curses under her breath and turns around to go back to the cafe when she sees Chaeyeon running toward her, her camera bag in Chaeyeon's hands.

"Hey," Chaeyeon pants, "you - phew - you left this back there." Chaeyeon hands her the camera bag and sighs, trying to catch her breath. 

Minju stands there blankly, mouth agape and unmoving, unable to process what's happening. Chaeyeon nudges her with the camera bag and that snaps her out of it, Minju taking the bag quickly and bowing to Chaeyeon as a sign of thanks. "Thank you!"

Chaeyeon smiles. "No problem," she holds out her hand. "I'm Lee Chaeyeon."

Minju takes her hand, shaking it. "I'm Kim Minju. Thank you again, really, I don't know what I'd do without this..."

Chaeyeon waves her off, laughing. "It's nothing, really. It's a good thing I got to it before anyone else did."

Minju nods. She fiddles with her fingers, not knowing what to say next. Chaeyeon seems to have noticed this, scratching the back of her nape while speaking shyly. 

"I guess I should get going now."

"Ah, right," Minju says, "sure thing. Thank you, again."

Chaeyeon smiles and waves goodbye, turning around to go back to the cafe. She looks back after a few steps, seeing Minju still holding onto the camera bag as if it had been touched by a celebrity.

Minju raises her head and their eyes meet.

Chaeyeon smiles.

-25%-

It's Wednesday when Minju notices that someone has placed a pack of sugar and creamer next to her cup of black coffee; every day she's been at the cafe, she's only gotten her black coffee and nothing else, so she finds it strange that they decide to offer her the sweeteners now. She picks up the small packet of sugar and studies it as if it were something she'd seen for the first time. 

"How weird," she mutters to herself, turning the packet to read the labels. When she sees handwriting instead of the usual printed words from the manufacturer, she almost drops the packet in her coffee. After the mini heart attack, Minju reads the writing.

"'coffee is better sweet', huh?" Minju chuckles confusedly, staring at the small smiley face beside the handwriting. She looks around to see which worker