Jungeun fell back and hung her head over the edge of the bed. She idly scrolled through her phone while Sooyoung paced back and forth across her bedroom.

 

    “You’re making me dizzy,” Jungeun said without taking her eyes away from her phone.

 

    “I can’t help it,” Sooyoung said. “I’m freaking out about this project. Also, maybe if you weren’t letting all the blood rush to your head you wouldn’t get dizzy so easily.”

 

    Jungeun groaned as she hoisted herself to a seated position and leaned against the wall instead. Sooyoung bit at her fingernails, a gross habit she picked up from her mother. She couldn’t stop thinking about Haseul sitting across from her with her perfect hair and perfect teeth and perfect hands just acting as if everything she did wasn’t a ploy to make Sooyoung suffer.

 

    “What is it about Haseul that makes you so nervous?” Junguen asked. “If you’d just talk to her like a normal person, you’d see she’s just like everybody else.”

 

    “No, Haseul is different,” Sooyoung said. “There’s just something about her that I can’t put into words. She’s so confident and nice to everyone and effortlessly beautiful. It’s unreal.”

 

    “I guess,” Jungeun said as she rolled her eyes. “She’s no Vivi, though.”

 

    “Nah,” Sooyoung said, shaking a hand at Jungeun. “Vivi’s cute, but she’s not Haseul cute.”

 

    Jungeun launched herself off the bed and grabbed Sooyoung by the shoulders to stop her from pacing and pay attention to her.

 

    “Vivi is a goddess among mere mortals,” Jungeun said, dramatically waving her hand in the air. “She’s ethereal. She’s leagues above all of us. And she’s got a nice .”

 

    Sooyoung pushed Jungeun’s arm and rolled her eyes. Jungeun was a complete ham, but Sooyoung loved her all the more for it. They had only been friends for a few months, but Sooyoung considered her to be one of her best friends. She was only person who knew about her infatuation with Haseul.

 

    “So why haven’t you put the moves on Vivi yet?” Sooyoung asked. “You’ve never had a problem talking to cute girls.”

 

    “I’m waiting for the right moment. It’s gotta be perfect, just like she is.”

 

    “Uh-huh,” Sooyoung mumbled as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

 

    She looked through her notifications until she reached a message sent 16 minutes prior from Haseul.

 

    Haseul: hey! i reserved some time after class tomorrow in the studio so we can work on the project. do you know what you’re going to wear yet? i want to make sure we have the right equipment checked out.

 

    “,” Sooyoung groaned as she sat on her bed.

 

    “What’s wrong?” Jungeun asked.

 

    “I let it slip that I used to do modeling in high school so now Haseul wants to make me the subject of this project and now she’s asking me what I’m going to wear and I’m--”

 

    Sooyoung groaned as she fell back onto the sheets and covered her face with her hands.

 

    “Wait, she suggested making you the subject?”

 

    Sooyoung nodded as she dragged her hands down her face, pulling the sides of down in frustration.

 

    “Dude,” Jungeun said. “She’s into you.”

 

    “I knew you were going to say that.”

 

    “It’s true! She’s basically given herself an excuse to stare at you for hours and she obviously thinks your face is worthy of submitting for an assignment. It’s so obvious.”

 

    “I don’t know, man. As much as I want to believe it, I just don’t think so.”

 

**

 

    Class was dismissed and before Sooyoung could put away her things, Haseul was right beside her. She didn’t say anything, but Sooyoung could see the familiar beat up checkered Vans and the small tattoo of a bird on her ankle. She took her time putting her things away, trying to buy time to prepare herself to look at her.

 

    “Can I carry anything for you?” Haseul asked.

 

    “N-no, that’s okay,” Sooyoung stuttered. “Sorry, I just didn’t realize we were so close to the end of class.”

 

    “No worries!” Haseul said as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

 

    Sooyoung stood up from her chair and finally looked over Haseul. She was wearing a black t-shirt half-tucked into denim shorts and an absolutely dazzling smile on her face. Sooyoung quickly looked down at her shoes and put a hand in her pocket to avoid staring.

 

    “After you,” she said with a wave.

 

    Haseul skipped ahead out of the classroom and into the hallway while Sooyoung trailed behind and tried to take deep breaths. The photography studio was just down the hall, but it felt like years had gone by before they got there. Haseul held the door open to a completely dark room, but the lights flickered on as soon as Sooyoung entered the space. There was a long white curtain hanging from a rod attached to the ceiling and running along the floor. There was a lone stool on top of the part that was on the floor, and two softboxes on either side.

 

    “Did you want to head to the bathroom or anything before we start?” Haseul asked. “I have to set up the camera, so you have some time.”

 

    “Uh, sure,” Sooyoung said as she dropped her backpack on the floor. “I’ll be right back.”

 

    Sooyoung darted out of the room and across the hall to the bathroom. She stepped in front of one of the sinks and gripped the sides as she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked terrified.

 

    “Get it together, you weirdo,” she whispered to herself. “She’s just a regular girl.”

 

    Sooyoung knew no matter how many times she said that to herself, she wouldn’t believe it to be true. She straightened up, looked her reflection in the eye and took one long, deep breath. If she could just get through this and get the work done, she could probably get out of it without having to hang out with her ever again. Editing doesn’t need to be done together, after all. She nodded firmly and made her way back to the studio.

 

    “Perfect timing,” Haseul said as the door clicked open. “I just finished setting up the tripod.”

 

    Sooyoung smiled weakly and started to walk toward the stool, but hesitated at seeing Haseul look at her with slight embarrassment.
 

    “But, uh…” Haseul said as she rubbed at the back of her neck. “I’m still not too good at figuring out the settings. I’ve just been making Vivi do it for me. Do you know how?”

 

    Sooyoung felt herself relax a bit at seeing a shy Haseul. She was actually very confident in that aspect of photography.She nodded and stepped up to adjust the camera to the correct lens settings. She could feel Haseul’s eyes watching as she worked, but for once she didn’t feel panicked. She turned to Haseul, who indeed was watching very closely, and asked,

 

    “Would you like me to teach you?”

 

    “Oh, Vivi’s tried but I just can’t seem to get it.”

 

    “It’s really easy. The shutter speed is the most obvious…”

 

    Sooyoung went into a full speech, teaching Haseul about the difference between F-stops, shutter speed, and ISO, and how they work together to create the image you want. She took several photos of empty space to demonstrate how different settings affect the photo and what would be ideal for soft individual portraits as opposed to bright family portraits. Haseul nodded along and smiled increasingly wider the more Sooyoung talked, but she barely noticed in her tangent.

 

    Haseul laughed softly at a dumb joke Sooyoung made, and she felt her ears perk up at the sound. She lost her train of thought, and no matter how hard she tried to get back on track, the sound kept replaying in her head and soon it was all she could think about. She tapered off sort of abruptly, ending with her head down and her hands in her pockets once more. She was right back where she started, only this time she felt like she had made a fool of herself.

 

    “You’re cute,” Haseul said with a laugh.

 

    Sooyoung just barely raised her head to look at Haseul, looking for any hint of sarcasm, but she found none. Haseul was holding her hands behind her back and smiling fondly at her.

 

    “Sorry,” Sooyoung said, shifting her weight on her heels. “I got kind of carried away.”

 

    “No, it’s totally fine. I think I actually understand it now.”

 

    Sooyoung raised her head fully and grinned, trying her hardest not to blush. Haseul pushed her hair back and looked around for a moment.

 

    “We should probably get started,” she said gently.

 

    Sooyoung nodded and took her place on the stool. Haseul adjusted the camera height and took a few test photos to adjust the softboxes accordingly.

 

    “Okay, so I think we should probably get a few photos with each lighting adjustment so so that we have options. Does that sound okay?” Haseul asked.

 

    “Yeah,” Sooyoung nodded. “Should I pose differently for each shot?”

 

    “Do whatever makes you feel comfortable,” Haseul said with a shrug. “I’ll just make sure the camera keeps up with you.”

 

    Sooyoung nodded and adjusted her posture to the way she was taught. Shoulders back, neck high, stomach in, eyes open. Once she felt she was ready, she looked at Haseul and nodded. Haseul stared back for a moment, her lips slightly parted, before she shook her head slightly and bent down to put her eye to the viewfinder.

 

    “Do you want, like, a countdown?” Haseul asked from behind the camera.

 

    “No one does countdowns in the modeling industry,” Sooyoung said playfully. “They just take photos and shout things like ‘yas’ and ‘beautiful, darling’ and ‘gooooood, good just like that’.”

 

    “Do they actually?” Haseul poked her head up with a furrowed brow.

 

    “No,” Sooyoung said with a laugh. “I mean… sometimes.”

 

    Haseul squinted in disbelief and nodded before returning to the viewfinder.

 

    “Okay, here we go.”

 

    Haseul’s photo-taking wasn’t nearly as aggressive as what Sooyoung was used to. She took several photos, and Sooyoung adjusted to different poses every few flashes. Haseul adjusted the lighting quickly and silently, and she never really looked at Sooyoung unless it was through the viewfinder. Sooyoung was too focused on holding her head the right way and trying to remember everything she learned as a teenager to notice the silence. Somewhere between lighting adjustments and when Sooyoung’s jaw had just started to hurt, Haseul paused for longer than usual.

 

    “Can we take a break?” Haseul asked. “Do you need a break?”

 

    “S-sure,” Sooyoung stuttered.

 

    She was honestly grateful for a break, but Haseul seemed troubled. She took such a long drag from her water bottle, she had to gasp for air. Sooyoung only sipped from her own, watching Haseul carefully.

 

    “The pictures are coming out great,” Haseul said before taking another long drag. “The camera really loves you. I can see why you were a model.”

 

    “Thanks,” Sooyoung smirked at the compliment.

 

    Haseul stared at nothing in particular and nodded. She still looked like she was going through something traumatic.

 

    “Are you okay?” Sooyoung asked.

 

    “Mhm,” Haseul nodded aggressively and took another sip of water. “I”m fine. Totally fine. Shall we continue?”

 

    Sooyoung narrowed her eyes at Haseul, but she returned to her seat nonetheless. They went back to working in silence, the only sound in the room coming from the shutter of the camera and the flash from the lights. Eventually, Haseul moved the light to the complete opposite end of where it had started.

 

    “Last set,” she said plainly.

 

    With a few more flashes, Haseul straightened her back and stretched her arms above her head. Sooyoung relaxed her shoulders and rubbed at her aching jaw. She had been more tense than usual for the second half.

 

    “Would you like to see them?” Haseul asked.

 

    Sooyoung nodded and stepped off the stool and behind the camera. Haseul stretched behind her as she clicked through, inspecting each photo for only a few seconds before moving on. Surprisingly, Sooyoung didn’t find anything wrong with any of the photos. Sooyoung was typically very critical of photos of herself, but these were different. There was something about them that just felt totally unlike other photographers she had met.

 

    “These are amazing,” Sooyoung whispered.

 

    “I had a good subject,” Haseul said matter-of-factly.

 

    “No, but these are next-level, Haseul.”

 

    “I’m telling you, Sooyoung. It’s all you. I did nothing but push some buttons.”

 

    Sooyoung turned to argue, but Haseul looked at her very seriously.

 

    “You’re ing stunning.”

 

    Sooyoung felt her face heating up and she felt the compulsion to run away, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Haseul. The tension between them was more intense than she thought possible. She felt herself gravitating forward, and she watched as Haseul’s eyes fell to her lips. Her heart was racing at a thousand beats per second and she swore she could hear Haseul’s too. She inched forward ever so slowly, until a pounding at the door startled both of them out of the moment.

 

    “Hey, time’s up! Room’s ours now!” A voice called from outside.

 

    Haseul cursed under her breath and started to pack up the lights. Sooyoung helped with the camera and grabbed both their things before heading out the door. The couple that had manipulated their way into being in a group together were standing outside looking annoyed, but Sooyoung pushed past and headed toward the photo equipment room. She dropped off the camera and put down Haseul’s bag as she stepped in herself.

 

    “Sorry,” Haseul said. “I didn’t notice the time.”

 

    “It’s okay,” Sooyoung replied without looking at her. “Let me know what else I can do for the project.”

 

    She hurried out of the room before Haseul could get in another word. She pulled out her phone and started typing a message to Jungeun.

    Sooyoung: