Instincts. Gut feeling. Sixth sense. People use these terms to describe the baseless sometimes inexplicable notions that humans are capable of perceiving. 

You once learnt during a photography workshop that some of the best pictures are not the ones which were taken after spending hours framing it, but are products of spontaneity. A good photographer is therefore not the one that can design his shots well, but one who has that baseless inexplicable tingly senses that can anticipate the iconic moment before it arises.  

—

“Finally found the both of you”, his tonality seems to never change but they sent tingles down your sides.  

“Hey Haejoong, I was just explaining to Y/N the situation…”, Jihyun perks up when she sees him in the room.  

Sudden echoes of the vibration from your handphone resting on a chair next to you startles you. You pick it up to see that Taehyung was calling.  

“Hey”, you answered the call.  

“Where are you?”, he anxiously asked without even a ‘hello’.  

“In the painting room. I’m here with Jihyun and Haejoong”, you see Jihyun’s eye flicker a little as she starts to have a hunch about who you were talking to on the phone. Haejoong on the other hand, continued to look at you with his usual gentle demeanour.  

You heard some mumbling from Taehyung on the other end, it sounded like he was swearing but you couldn’t hear him clearly at all.  

“What are you saying? I can’t hear you”, you quipped.  

“Wait there, I’m coming over”, he commanded.

Before you could object he had already hung up.  

You stammered awkwardly and looked at the two puzzled humans standing before you, “Umm Taehyung said he’s coming over… not sure why or what for but err…”

“Probably to pick you up”, Haejoong replied almost too nonchalantly before facing Jihyun and asking her, “would you rather leave or wait?” You wondered whether this was the same person you knew from a week ago.  

“Let’s go”, Jihyun answered exhaustedly.  

“Oh right Y/N, Hyesoo has been asking me whether we need to change our assignment group, given all that is going on right now. She said to let her know by this week. Maybe you could discuss with Taehyung and let’s come to a decision soon?”, Haejoong was suddenly reminded to ask you as he trailed behind Jihyun who wanted to leave before Taehyung reached.  

“Yeah, okay”, you barely managed to squeak out a response as the nagging tingly feeling keeps growing.   

—

You fiddled around with your phone until you heard footsteps stomping up to the door.  

“Hey”, he panted.  

“You ran here?”, you questioned.  

“Yeah, evidently”, he answered.  

“Why…”, you wondered, but suddenly you were reminded that perhaps you wouldn’t like the answer, “… no, don’t answer that.”

Taehyung tilts his head and his forehead lightly frowns in confusion, “Anyway, where’s Jihyun and Haejoong?”, his breath was still shallow.  

Did he run here to see Jihyun?  

“Jihyun left with Haejoong, I didn’t know if I should ask them to wait or…”, your words were just stumbling out of your mouth, “… I’m sorry, if I knew you wanted to catch her I would have-”  

“Hey hey, I’m not here to catch her”, Taehyung’s eyes were intensely observing you now.  

“Then why did you run all the way here? I thought it was because I mentioned she was with me”, your fingers pinched each other in this tiny moment of embarrassment and uncertainty. Embarrassed because you felt like you were phishing for an answer you wanted, uncertain because you still didn’t know if it would be the answer you wanted.  

“No…”, Taehyung hesitated, “… it’s because you mentioned Haejoong was with you.”  

Is this the answer you wanted?  

“Taehyung, Haejoong and I…”, you wanted to clarify that nothing is going on, at least not anymore.  

“Stay away from him”, Taehyung huffs.

“What?”, you were taken aback by his assertiveness all of a sudden.  

“Im Haejoong. Something’s up with him, I don’t know what… but Yoongi hyung just told me that he has always had a crush on Jihyun and even chose to take our pure arts class just to be in the same class as her… but he never acted that way… instead it felt like…”, his eyes quivered as he looked at you.  

“It felt like he liked me…”, you were shaking now. There were absolutely no signs that he liked Jihyun before.  

“Y/N are you ok? You look-”, Taehyung grew concerned.  

“He misled me to think that he wrote the post-its on my photos too…”, you mumbled.  

Taehyung’s eyes grew wider. Things are increasingly not adding up for this guy.  

“Just stay awa-”, Taehyung began.  

“I’m tired Taehyung, walk with me back to the hostel?”, you truly were drained by now.  

—

The journey was mostly undisturbed silence. There is a kind of connection in this world that need not be seen or heard.  

As the both of you strolled up to the hostel, a female voice calls out your name, drawing both of your attention.  

Turns out Helen from the student office had also just came around to look for you with a police officer in tow.

“Don’t worry, I’m just investigating into the matter. It’s really cold out here at night, is it alright if we head up to your room to have a chat?”, the investigation officer requested. You agreed and as the group of you were heading up, Taehyung almost too naturally follows behind you.  

“Mr. Kim, I think we are good here. Maybe you should consider heading back?”, there was a slant of insistence in her question.  

Taehyung eyes you worriedly and you gave him a smile, “It’s ok, I can handle this. See you tomorrow?”  

He sighed reluctantly but gives you a brief nod, “Call me if anything happens”, he nagged before turning to head off.  

This was still the same caring man that you knew since day one.

—

After a round of questioning in your room, the officer was mostly satisfied. However, he stood up and headed to your window, parting the blinds to peep out into the opposite building, where Jihyun’s room was.  

“Is everything alright?”, Helen asked.  

“It’s just that, no matter how I look at it, it will take a really powerful camera zoom to get the kind of image in the videos. Ms. Helen, you too know that we have been to each room in this building, no matter how I see it, the angle just doesn’t seem right from any of the rooms either”, he muttered thoughtfully.  

“Well, how else can someone get a photo or video from this high a height? We are eight floors above ground, officer”, Helen was seemingly annoyed that she was still stuck here at such an hour.  

“What if it wasn’t taken from a building…”, the officer mumbles.  

Helen was right about to scoff when you suddenly bolt up from your bed, where you had been sitting during the questioning.  

“Maybe… a drone?”, you implored.  

It need not be seen or heard, but the connection had been drawn. The officer’s face hardens as he demands Helen bring him all the CCTV footages surrounding the hostel area, this time not just for the entrances of the hostels.  

—

“We need to talk”, you messaged Haejoong the next day after classes were done and you ended up meeting him at the rooftop where he was trying out his new Holga. 

“It’s you, isn’t it?”, you sputtered, feeling rather apprehensive.  

He turns around to face you while packing up his things. “What do you mean?”

“You took the photos of Jihyun and posted them online… right?”, you fought on.  

“Why would I do that?”, it sounded as though he was refuting your allegation but at the same time it also sounded as though he was challenging you to find out the answer yourself.  

“Exactly, why? My gut feeling says it’s you, but I just cannot logically figure out why you would do it. Especially, now that I know you actually like Jihyun, I just can’t understand what you are trying to do. Why did you get close to me, when you like her? Why-”, you ranted.

“How did you find out that I like her?”, he was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered, “Regardless… tell me honestly, did you at any point think that I liked you?”

It hurts your pride to admit it, but with the way he acted, how could you not have thought that way?  

Your silence though, was enough of an answer to the mild-mannered man.  

“I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you, but you had to be Taehyung’s ex-girlfriend, I had no choice”, for once there was a desperation starting to bloom in his voice.  

“You had no choice but to use me?”, your words were filled with exasperation.  

“I needed to show Jihyun that he doesn’t like her, that when he is forced to make a choice between you or her”, his eyes hardens and he does not complete that previous sentence, “It is obvious that his heart is still with you.”  

“That is not true, you just haven’t seen the number of times Taehyung-”, you argued back.  

“He doesn’t love her. If anyone’s using anyone, it’s not me, it’s him. He’s using her to get over you and I cannot watch that happen to her”, he raised his voice at you just enough to show his disapproval.  

Your head was quivering in disbelief, “You couldn’t watch that happen to her but you went and posted those photos and videos of her?! I just don’t get it…”

“That is not me”, he replied coldly.  

“You are lying”, you insisted.  

“It’s not me”, he takes another step closer to you and puts his hands into the huge side pocket of your winter coat. He pulls out your handphone revealing that it was recording your conversation this whole time.  

“It’s not me”, he repeats for the third time, slowly, enunciating each word, as if making sure that the recording will pick up his words loud and clear.  

He stops the recording and you demand for your phone back as sternly as you could.  

“I thought we were at least friends, this is disappointing”, he blinks at you.  

He unexpectedly turns his back and starts to leave. You lunge at him to grab at your phone which he was now shoving into his own pocket. The moment you grabbed his arms he hurls you backward and you stumble back onto the concrete floor.  

“Like you said, if you can’t figure out the logical reason why I would do it then do you think anyone else would be able to come up with one? There is no use in just insisting that I did it, Y/N. In the end no one will believe you”, he surmised almost emotionlessly.  

You collected yourself and scrambled up but Haejoong casually walks through the doorway leading to the rooftop. He spins to see you dashing towards him again and promptly shuts and locks the door from the other side, leaving you in the freezing exterior.  

“IM HAEJOONG!”, you screamed. “Open the door now!”

“This is your time to make a choice Y/N. Will you take my side?”, Haejoong asks cryptically.  

“Are you freaking crazy?! Let me out now!”, you whimpered as you banged against the cold hard door.  

“I’m asking you one last time, will you take my side?”, there was even a coldness to his words now even though you could barely hear him through the thick barricade.  

“Haejoong-ah, stop it now please. You are going down the wrong side, you still have a chance to turn around now”, you tried a different tactic, pleading to him now.  

“You are wrong. If you are not on my side, all of you are wrong”, he bellows suddenly and crashes one of his fists into the door, shaking it so hard causing you to jump back. Immediately after was an eerie silence, with lingering echoes of the door being rattled.  

Some people are like photographs, they exhibit an image, which they spend time developing, but their true self is captured on film as negatives, which is the exact opposite of what they portray.