Sojung hummed to herself as she sat in the back of the studio that the university had rented from the modeling department as SinB set up her camera. All the times she was at the center of that photo zone, rarely she had the free time to sit around the back and observe the place. The studio was spacious, not as big as one of her biggest shoots, but it was large for a practice run for solo shoots, usually this studio would be used for two people or even three people ones for clothing brands.

“Sojung unnie, could you help me out?”

Getting up and over to SinB’s side, she had some wires ed into her hands.

“These have to connect to the lights, so the flash has to work, but I have to get the extension cords, just stand there and wait for me okay?”

Sojung nodded and held very still, gaining a giggle from SinB before she left to find those extension cables. The studio was much quieter than she was used to, there wasn’t the sound of staff bustling around, moving props or anything, not even the sound of music to fill whatever void that happened to exist in a busy life. Whilst looking over the studio, SinB’s camera caught Sojung’s eye, it was a little scratched in places, but the screen looked fine besides the corner of it had a small crack.

“Sojung unnie!”

Looking up with a smile, Sojung greeted Yewon as she scurried over form her classmates. Her class must have walked over here together.

“Why are you here Sojung unnie?”

“U-um SinB asked me to watch, is it not allowed?”

“It’s totally allowed! Later we have to go to the catwalk anyways, but unnie can we talk about SinB?”

“SinB?”

Yewon scooted a little closer, speaking in a quieter voice.

“Her fear of other students.”

“Wait, fear of other students? What do you mean?”

This made Yewon puff her cheeks, did SinB not talk to Sojung? SinB already didn’t want to talk to her about it, and Yewon had hoped Sojung might have better luck, but it seemed that SinB hadn’t.

“I have a suspicion, unnie, that SinB might have been bullied or something similar in high school.”

Sojung nodded, this she had concerns about as well. In fact, she could tell when SinB would fake a smile, her eyebrows didn’t go all the way up like a genuine one.

“We should let her come to us.”

“I know unnie, but what if she needs help before she can come to us?”

Complicated. Sojung turned the idea over and over again in her head, but the sound of the doors of the studio opening broke her line of thought. SinB walked in, but she wasn’t alone. She also wasn’t smiling. Over her shoulders, was an arm belonging to a girl who was possibly shorter than SinB but wearing heels.

“Eunbi ah, I didn’t know you were going to be our camerawoman, you should have said something.”

“Unnie, it’s really nothing worth mentioning.”

Yewon muttered under her breath but Sojung caught it, “why would SinB call that upperclassman unnie when she was frozen stiff last time?” Which meant that this was the Jung Eunbi that rendered SinB powerless. Her grip tightened a little, Sojung took notice that it was irritating her more than she usually did but didn’t quite understand why just yet.

“S-sojung unnie, I can take those wires now.”

Sojung obediently handed SinB’s wires back, but didn’t budge from her spot, forcing Jung Eunbi to look up.

“You look familiar.”

“I get that a lot sunbaenim.”

“Eh? I’m sunbaenim? Eunbi ah, this tall lady is funny!”

SinB just shrugged and focused on putting her workspace together, the students in Yewon’s class were playing rock paper scissors to see who went first.

“Sojung unnie you can go sit down, Eunbi unnie, please step away from the equipment. I need to start work now.”

It was a robotic response, if SinB reacted this way to Jung Eunbi, then how in the world did her arm end up over SinB’s shoulders? Still, Sojung watched from her seat in the back as Jung Eunbi floated around SinB as she worked.

Yewon plopped down next to her, giving her a fright before apologizing.

“Unnie, it turns out that Jung Eunbi sunbaenim is also in the modeling department.”

“Modeling? That short stack?”

Yewon giggled at Sojung’s spite filled remark.

“It was because of her dreams and well, her parents I heard. Either way, she was the one who allowed us to rent this place. She does have a nice body line, and well, she offered to give us some guidance.”

Sojung nearly scoffed, the way this Jung Eunbi walked, was no where near professional walking. She almost wanted to out herself just to see the look of amazement on her face. But she wasn’t Sowon right now.

“Anyways, we need a plan to convince SinB that holding it in isn’t healthy.”

“Uh huh……wait what?”

Sojung watched as Yewon giggled again, what was so funny she couldn’t grasp but well, Yewon was cute so it was okay.

“Unnie needs to relax too, I can tell you’re tired.”

“Eh? Does it show that easily?”

She had thought she had done a great job masking it with makeup and keeping a good smile.

“I just know.”

Watching from the back was a new experience, the rookie students doing their best to look nice before SinB’s camera, Sowon twitched every once in a while, when she saw a bad pose. The way SinB helped them pose better, or gave them encouragement, the itch to get up and shine like she used to made her shuffle.

“Take five!”

Still, she had promised SinB that’d she’d be here as support. Crossing her arms, she leaned back and closed her eyes, unknowingly giving off a powerful ‘do not disturb’ aura. SinB hesitated, but since she knew Sojung, or at least, she could guess that Sojung wouldn’t treat her too badly, she sat down next to Sojung. A sharp glare shot towards her before softening quickly.

“Oh, SinB yah.”

“Hehe, you looked a little angry.”

“Maybe I was. Weren’t you supposed to enjoy this?”

SinB twiddled her fingers, showing a crooked smile. Sojung was being nice, letting her know that she was supposed to be doing what she liked the most.

“I am, and I will. I was just a little preoccupied.”

“By that sunbaenim?”

SinB quieted immediately, Sojung hesitated to put an arm over her shoulders, but kept still.

“Maybe I was.”

Recognizing her own words, Sojung chuckled a little, her personality slipping a little.

“Unnie, are you feeling alright though? You really do seem a little cranky.”

“Mm, as much as I like watching you work, it’s a little boring to watch for a regular person like me.”

“Sorry, I was being selfish wanting to show you my world, I was just trying to become closer? If that’s alright with you.”

Sojung paused, the innocence in intention was so pure in SinB’s apologetic voice. Giving a soft smile, Sojung sat up.

“How much closer?”

“Ah uh um, n-not too close I guess?”

Sojung wanted to , it was so easy to.

“You don’t want to?”

“I want to! I mean, that…we…could we be best friends?”

This caused Sojung to giggle, a high-pitched tinkling that SinB hadn’t heard before. The mere fact that SinB had made Sojung giggle made her insides warmer. A bright smile spread on her lips as she watched Sojung giggling.

“I might be weird and troublesome, but I’m in your care.”

“Same here.”

A shadow watched from around the corner.

“Sowon, have you prepared for the walk this weekend? It’s a day away.”

Sowon shuffled her feet, unmoving from her seat. Her talk with SinB after viewing the shoot left her thinking. She had kept thinking all the way through their mock runway performance, which amused her greatly. The students had a serious run, then was told to act more natural which then caused some students to make funny poses, things that would be frowned upon by the modeling industry, a lot of bottom wiggling and the like. But again, the feeling she had when watching SinB take pictures, the way she made her models feel special. It made her crave it once more.

“I’ll do my part.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m going to shine.”

Her manager smiled, was Sowon finally feeling better? Either way, this was the most compliant Sowon had been with him all month. Sowon grinned. Talk about stoking a fire, that fire being her passion for modeling.

“What do I have next week?”

“Three shoots. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The Wednesday one is with an idol.”

“Which idol?”

“Some boy group’s main visual.”

Sowon hummed, it’s been a while since she had a duet. Especially with one of the opposite gender, but a model doesn’t complain, they shine.

“What is the one on Friday?”

“A commercial for lotion.”

Lotion? That almost always asked for exposure, she grimaced but didn’t decline. It wasn’t the first time she had to show her bare shoulders whilst covering her front. She did wish that not all the photographers in her line of work weren’t men, not that all of them were bad, they just tended to have very obvious…. Sowon shuddered and added her schedules to the planner in her phone.

“Don’t be late picking me up.”

“Of course.”

SinB sat at her desk, both hands busy with her laptop as she edited her work from today. Even if it was a volunteer job that gave her some experience, she shouldn’t skip out on editing practice. And well, the professor added it on as an extra job that she couldn’t get the right opportunity to decline. She hadn’t planned on editing all the photos, just the ones she found best and well, Yewon’s of course, but the professor wanted the students to see their edited photos and reflect on what to do better. Although SinB doubted the students would be able to tell that they had been altered, some blinded by their ego, some just plain blind to her edits. Not that it mattered to SinB anyways, finishing up the amount that she had planned for tonight, SinB stretched her arms over her head.

She unplugged her camera and moved to put it back on its place on her shelf, but as she held her camera, her mind wandered to when Sowon was giggling. She really wished she could’ve taken her picture then, but her camera had been on the desk up front, transferring the images to the cloud on their borrowed computer in the studio, because her memory card had run out of space.

“Expressions.”

They really changed a person’s appearance. They were always the important part of an image, what messages can you convey with a look, a sparkle glancing off your eye, or the typical teeth digging into the bottom lip y stuff that SinB found boring. The key to iness was in the eyes! SinB blushed when her mind caught up to what she was thinking of. Hurriedly placing her camera away, SinB laid down on her bed, closing her eyes.

Opening them as a thought passed through her daily reflection time, how upsetting that an Eunbi other than herself would still be plaguing her thoughts. She had tried to look at it from a further place, that it was really not that Eunbi’s fault. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong name. SinB placed her arm over her eyes with a deep sigh.

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SinB's camera work could make Sowon feel special! She could want to be a model again! And it was completely unintentional to match Twice's song but well, they're good girls too why not