Ryujin had to admit she was, indeed, very lucky.

 

The girl was only eighteen years old, and yet there she was, working in one of the best photography studios to ever exist in South Korea. The young photographer was aware that she was one in a million, and she couldn't be more thankful for the amazing opportunity given to her.

 

To make things even better, the boss —   Im Nayeon, one of the most respected and popular photographers in the entire world  — absolutely loved Ryujin, always taking care of the newest member of the team like she was her own younger sister. Everything is so nice and calm that the pink haired girl even forgets Nayeon is her boss — but only  sometimes . Nayeon's naturally powerful aura still makes Ryujin sit like a statue during important meetings.

 

And, of course, Ryujin  loves  what she does. She loves when the studio is nothing but full and loud, popular songs blasting through the speakers as she easily finds the perfect angle to snap a legendary picture of the model sitting in front of her. She loves the praises, the warm hugs after a long and tiring session and the way Nayeon pats her head everytime she's passing by to see if anyone needs some help.

 

Not to mention the pretty girls.  Oh , the pretty girls are  great , and Ryujin loves to take thousands of pictures of them every single day.

 

Yeji, Ryujin's best friend, always tease the younger one by claiming she's only in this industry for the hot models. The pink haired girl always tells Yeji to   off , but deep down she's painfully aware of how much she enjoys having beautiful girls smiling  —   and sometimes, believe it or not, flirting  —  at her all the time. Her best friend is always begging her to make a move on one of those models, but Ryujin's not confident enough for that — she's more than okay with admiring from afar.

 

Or at least that's what she thought.

 

It was a typical Monday night when Ryujin came back to the apartment she shares with Yeji, being greeted by a tight hug from Jisu  —   Yeji's girlfriend and probably the sweetest girl Ryujin knows  —  and a slightly lighter one from her best friend. She was exhausted, yet happy and satisfied with her day at work.

 

The three of them spent hours talking about absolutely everything  —  from how Jisu was finally at the top of her class to Yeji's upcoming dance competition  —  as they filled their stomachs with the  insanely delicious  pizza Jisu had prepared earlier. Their conversation was flowing naturally as it always did, so to say Ryujin was surprised when Yeji choked on a slice of pizza when she revealed who she would be photographing on the next day was an understatement.

 

"Yeji,  what the ?! " Ryujin blurted out as Jisu desperately tried to get her girlfriend to stop coughing, without much success.

 

Eventually, the coughing died down, and Yeji could finally find the strength to look up at her best friend's face. "Did you really just say that you have a session Lee Chaeyeon and Lee Chaeryeong tomorrow?"

 

"Yes?" Ryujin answers, still confused by Yeji's exaggerated reaction. "I don't know who they are, I still have to look up for some pictures of them." Yeji nearly chokes again. Jisu sighs.

 

"You, out of all people, don't know who Lee Chaeyeon and Lee Chaeryeong are?!" Yeji asks incredulously, sounding almost like she's offended. Ryujin nods slowly, afraid that her friend will end up having a if she gives a strong reaction. "You gotta be kidding me."

 

"I'm serious!" Ryujin whines, and Yeji rolls her eyes. "What? Why am I supposed to know who they are?"

 

"I'm sorry, Ryujin, but everyone kind of knows them," Jisu explains awkwardly. Ryujin's still pretty confused, so the older girl continues. "They're probably one of the most popular models right now, like  —  they're just  really,  really pretty. Look them up and you will understand what i'm trying to say."

 

Ryujin sighs, stretching her right arm so she can reach for the phone lying over the table. She unlocks it and goes straight to  google , wasting no time before she finally searchs for images of Lee Chaeyeon and Lee Chaeryeong.

 

When the pictures show on her screen, goes dry.

 

"Holy ," She whispers as she scrolls even further, drowning into a sea of beauty. "They're beautiful, and they seem to be pretty popular too."

 

"Do you understand why I was so shocked now?" Yeji asks as she pouts, and Ryujin makes a disgusted face when Jisu leans towards the girl and kisses her friend's  ridiculous pout  away. Yeah, Yeji and Jisu are cute, but that doesn't mean Ryujin enjoys seeing the two making out all the damn time.

 

Ryujin ignores Yeji's question and continues scrolling through the results shining on her screen, accidentally finding a instagram account that seems to belongs to one of the Lee sisters,  Chaeryeong , who seems to be the younger one out of the two. The pink haired girl tries to hold back a tiny scream when she clicks on it, but ends up failing miserably  —  Chaeryeong was just  too  pretty.

 

As she scrolls through the model's profile, the photographer notices the girl used to have brown hair not a long time ago, and she's nothing but mesmerized by how good she manages to look with any hair color. Ryujin finds herself already imagining all of the amazing pictures she's going to be taking and the angles she's going to be using in the morning, and suddenly her body is hit by a wave of excitement and nervousness at the same time.

 

After she was done looking  —   drooling, to be honest  —  at Chaeryeong's feed, Ryujin did what she usually does before a photoshoot with someone new  —  she pressed the following button on both Chaeryeong's and Chaeyeon's instagram accounts. Ryujin believes it makes her seem approachable, a little less intimidating, and that it might make the models feel more comfortable and relaxed around her during the session.

 

What she didn't expect was for her phone to vibrate with a new notification just a few moments later.

 

01.ryeong followed you back

 

This time the scream Ryujin lets out is nowhere close to subtle.

 

"What now?" The photographer can tell by her best friend's tone she's annoyed by the fact that she had to stop kissing her girlfriend because of the loud sound Ryujin made. Jisu, on the other hand, is so red —   and embarrassed for some reason that the younger girl doesn't want to know at all  —   that Ryujin didn't have the heart to make fun of her.

 

"Chaeryeong follo—    !" Ryujin's sentence was cut by her phone vibrating one more time, but this time the notification came from a direct message.

 

01.ryeong

hello! i was just looking at your feed when you followed me, funny right? :)

 

Ryujin gulped as she looked at her screen, not being able to move a single muscle.  Why the heck was she so nervous about a simple message?

 

Maybe because she's gorgeous as hell and because she said she was looking at your pictures , she answers her own question. She closes her eyes and take a deep breath before typing out a reply to the model.

 

ryujinscamera

oh hi!! what a coincidence!!

can't wait to work with you and your sister tomorrow :)

 

Ryujin was so busy cringing at her choice of words and wondering why she used that smiley face when she clearly  never  does that she didn't even notice the moment when Yeji grabbed one of the pillows from the couch and threw the object straight at her direction, hitting her right on the face.

 

" Ow , what was that for?" Ryujin complained, glaring at her best friend. Yeji was nothing but unfazed by the younger's expression.

 

"You still haven't told us why you screamed and why you keep looking at your phone like an absolute fool." Ryujin glares harder, but she soon breaks into a shy smile as she shoves the phone into her best friend's face like a little kid.

 

"Chaeryeong followed me and texted me." The photographer answered happily, sounding a little happier than she intended to.

 

Jisu gasps. "Are you going to make a move on her?"

 

"Wait—  What? No, of course not. This is a professional instagram account, not  tinder ," Ryujin replies matter-of-factly. "And it's not like I would have the courage to make a move on someone as pretty as her."

 

"There she goes again," Yeji sighs, lazily wrapping her arms around Jisu's waist as she rests her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Ryujin, you're super  hot. Do you have any idea of how many girls in high school came to me to ask for your number?"

 

"I do, because you complained about it a hundred times."

 

"That's  so  not the point," The oldest member of their little trio whines, sounding defeated already. Jisu gently pats her girlfriend's head to show sympathy.

 

"I understand what you're trying to say, miss  Hwang I Know Everything , but that won't change the fact that i'm too scared to ask a girl out. Actually, why are we even talking about asking girls out?! I literally just got to know who Chaeryeong is."

 

"Because you clearly think she's cute." Yeji retorts. Ryujin scoffs and proceeds to roll her eyes for the nth time that night.

 

"Aren't  all  girls cute?"

 

"Whatever you say, miss  Shin I Love Changing The Topic ."

 

"Hey, that's  my  thing!"

 

—

 

It didn't take the three friends more than a few more minutes of bickering for them to call it a night, each one of them heading to your own bedroom. Well, technically Jisu went to Yeji's one, but at this point in their relationship Ryujin's pretty sure that room belongs now to the both of them.

 

It was midnight and Ryujin was completely exhausted, to say the least. The pink haired girl was so tired that she almost let her phone fall onto her face as soon as she laid down on her bed, managing to blurt out a frustrated groan when she realized she had gotten her own password wrong for the second time.

 

The protographer was ready to give up on her phone when something at the bottom of her screen caught her attention. Ryujin could swear she felt her bones cracking from all the strength she used to sit straight on her bed, not wasting any time before unlocking her phone  —   with the right password this time, that's the power of a message from pretty girl  —  and reading Chaeryeong's reply.

 

01.ryeong

we can't wait to work with you too! i've heard a lot about you!

 

First of all, Ryujin is shocked because  what is Chaeryeong even doing in the internet at such an ungodly hour ? Then, she realizes she should be asking herself the same question and decides to not to judge the other girl. Finally, the photographer completely loses her when her brain processes what the model had just said to her.

 

What did she even hear about me? Was it good? Was it bad? Did she find out about that one time I accidentally spilled coffee over a model during my first week at work? Or even worse, did she find out about the love letter I wrote to Kim Yongsun the other day? No, no one knows about that besides Yeji. Wait, did Yeji expose my secret —

 

Ryujin closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she goes fully insane.  It's just a message , she repeats to herself in a whisper,  from a girl you barely know. Be professional.

 

ryujinscamera

really?? i hope you heard good things about me then haha

 

Ryujin isn't entirely sure why she gets so embarrassed everytime she sends Chaeryeong a message, but she can't seem to find a way to control that feeling either. She's about to lock her phone and regret all of her life choices one more time when the object in her hands starts vibrating, grabbing her full attention.

 

01.ryeong

they were definitely good ;)

see you tomorrow, ryujin! we should get some rest now

 

The photographer only has the strength to type out a quick  good night  to the model before she lets her face collapse onto her pillow, screaming into it like a girl who just talked to her crush for the first time.

 

Her phone vibrates one more time and she doesn't even think twice before reaching for it, unlocking it in the speed of light.

 

loser

can you stop screaming?????? we're trying to sleep

 

Ryujin sends Yeji a  thumbs up  before properly laying down on her bed, ready to have a great night of sleep.

 

—

 

Ryujin slams the table where Yeji and Jisu are peacefully having their breakfast and the couple nearly passes out from the unpleasant surprise.

 

"Have you lost your damn mind?" Yeji barks and Jisu massages her temple, getting ready to sit through the entire typical morning fight between the two best friends.

 

"Yeji, i'm not fighting you today because I am, indeed, losing my damn mind." Ryujin simply replies, sounding nothing but defeated. She didn't even notice the strawberry juice —   the delicious and creamy one Jisu always prepares with so much care because she knows how much Ryujin loves it  — patiently waiting for her on the table.

 

"Is this about the photoshoot?" Jisu asks softly,  like she always does because she's an angel , and Ryujin can't help but to smile at her as she nods slowly, taking a seat on the empty chair beside the older girl.

 

"But you always  kill  on your photoshoots, Ryujin," Yeji says matter-of-factly, and Ryujin grins at her best friend before the older one continues. "Or is this about the cute girl?"

 

Ryujin goes red. Yeji and Jisu share knowing looks with each other. "Oh, definitely about the cute girl."

 

"Shut up," The protographer whispers as she hides her face on her palms. "What if I mess up in front of them? Even worse, what if I spill coffee over them?"

 

"Ryujin, we already had a talk about the coffee incident. It's  not  going to happen again." Jisu tries to reassure the helpless photographer. The pink haired girl can only sigh.

 

"I don't know, I guess i'm just nervous. This is a really important photoshoot, according to Nayeon," Ryujin explains. "I don't want to mess up."

 

"This is a really important photoshoot and you're a really amazing photographer," Yeji starts, squeezing her best friend's hand through the table. "You'll be just fine."

 

Ryujin hates Yeji most of the time —  spoiler alert, she does not  — but, in moments like this, she was glad that they were the best of friends. "Thanks."

 

"Alright, now go get your ready, we'll save some bread for you." Yeji shoos her friend away and Ryujin rolls her eyes, unable to hide the smile growing on her face.

 

Once Ryujin is completely out of their field of vision, Yeji turns to Jisu and whispers cautiously to her girlfriend, "She's so going to embarrass herself in front of Chaeryeong."

 

"Without a doubt, baby."

 

—

 

An hour later Ryujin finds herself in the studio, cleaning her lens and making last minute adjusts on the lightning and the scenario alongside the other members of their crew. Without making a sound, Son Chaeyoung, one of her closest friends from work, approaches her and elbows her softly.

 

"Big clients today, huh?" The short girl says and Ryujin laughs nervously, nodding as naturally as she can. Chaeyoung narrows her eyes at the younger girl, but she quickly drops the topic when Mina calls her from the other side of the room.  Whipped , Ryujin thinks as she smirks at how quickly Chaeyoung reacted to their colleague's call.

 

The young photographer takes the sudden moment of peace inside of the studio to connect her phone to the speakers, quickly preparing a playlist with some powerful songs to fit the mood they're going for today. She watches as everyone in the room starts jamming when  Snapping 's first notes blast through the speakers and she can't help but to laugh at the funny view in front of her. She  loves  her job.

 

But her laughter quickly dies when the door opens revealing Nayeon, a few other well-dressed ladies she doesn't know and, of course, Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong.

 

Ryujin feels dizzy and she feels like she needs to sit down for a bit, but she sees Nayeon coming towards her direction with that beautiful smile of hers and she realizes she's screwed  —  this is the moment where she's supposed to politely introduce herself to the models and she's totally unprepared.

 

"H-Hello, i'm Shin Ryujin and i'm going to be working with you guys today." Ryujin curses herself internally for stuttering, but the photographer manages to recompose herself and stretches out her hand to Chaeyeon, who takes it a  —   way too beautiful  —  smile, then she reaches out to Chaeryeong and the moment their eyes meet Ryujin feels like she's going to fall dead on the floor all over again.

 

What did their mothers even eat when she was carrying them? Because holy  —

 

"I'm sure you'll do a great work." Chaeryeong says charmingly as she takes Ryujin's, shaking it softly. The pink haired girl feels like she just got hit by a train.

 

"Come on, girls, i'll introduce you to our stylist!" Nayeon exclaims happily, and Ryujin can't help but to smile at the way her boss lights up everytime she talks about her  soon-to-be-wife , Minatozaki Sana. They've been engaged for a month now and the photographer swears she's never seen any of them this happy. And let's be honest, Sana is  always  happy and excited about something, so the young girl believes they're really meant to be —  like soulmates.

 

Ryujin wonders if someone will ever make her this happy, too.

 

"So," Chaeyoung sings as she gets closer to Ryujin again, Mina trailing just behind her. "Did the great Shin Ryujin stutter or was I only imagining things?"

 

Ryujin glares at her tiny friend. "Shut up."

 

"She's really pretty, and she seemed to like you," Mina says softly and the way she speaks reminds Ryujin a lot of Jisu. How the her  idiotic , annoying  and  useless  friends always managed to get the sweetest girls? "You should try to talk to her, I mean, after work."

 

"I appreciate your concern, Mina, but I would only end up embarrassing myself again." The photographer explains and she can see Chaeyoung suppressing a laugh behind her fist. "What's so funny, midget?"

 

"No, it's just that," Chaeyoung has to stop mid-sentence to regain her breath. Ryujin is slowly starting to lose her patience. "You had to see your face.  You looked like you were hit by a train ."

 

"I am fully aware of that, thank you very much," Ryujin groans, thinking about how stupid she must've looked during their small conversation. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have plenty of work to do."

 

As soon as she turns around, Ryujin can hear the sound of Chaeyoung finally bursting out in a laugh behind her. The worst part of it is that she can clearly hear Mina laughing too, which means she might've really looked like a total clown minutes ago.

 

The photographer wants nothing but to hide under a rock forever.

 

—

 

When the Lee sisters return, the place is much more calmer and organized than it was when they left. Chaeyoung is moving her body to the rhythm of  Movie Star  as she finds a better angle for the lights, Mina is already sitting in front of the computer to edit some pictures and Ryujin has her camera perfectly adjusted and ready in her hands.

 

And it takes Ryujin all of the strength in her body to not let her camera fall from her hands when her eyes land on Lee Chaeryeong, wearing a black dress that makes her look like a goddess, staring right back at her with a smirk  —   one that Ryujin is pretty sure it's illegal  —  on her face. Come on, Ryujin, you can't die. At least not before this photoshoot is over.

 

The young photographer clears and awkwardly gestures for the two sisters to take their respective places. Ryujin watches as Chaeyeon tries to hold back a laugh when she looks at her sister, and is intrigued by how the younger one between them seemed to be unfazed by it. It makes her feel weird and shy, but she quickly puts on her professional posture and starts doing what she knows best.

 

Both of them have beautiful smiles, Ryujin notices, and the lipstick their makeup artist chose for them makes it shine even more. She's also mesmerized by how professional the two of them are, showing the camera an entire universe of different expressions without Ryujin having to ask to. The photographer only has to talk when it's time for them to change positions, and the pink haired girl is more than thankful for that because she's afraid she's going to end up becoming a stuttering mess again if she says too much.

 

Soon it's Chaeyeon's turn to get ready for her solo shoot, and everyone has ten minutes to rest. Ryujin can see Chaeyoung sitting on Mina's lap as the older one starts editing some of the pictures the photographer just took, and she's so curious about her job that she can't help but to join the two girls in front of the monitor.

 

"These are incredible, as always," Mina blurts out, amused. "You and Chaeyoung make the perfect team."

 

"We know, we know." Chaeyoung says nonchalantly, patting her own shoulder. Ryujin giggles at her friend's antics.

 

"Thank you so much, Mina." Ryujin smiles softly at the older girl and decides to leave the couple alone for a while, sitting on the floor next to where her phone is charging.

 

What the photographer doesn't expect is for someone to sit beside her just a few seconds later. Someone being Lee Chaeryeong, to be more exact.

 

"Hey," The model starts, the breathtaking smile never leaving her face. "Do you mind if I sit here for a while?"

 

"Oh, yeah—  I mean, no, I don't mind."

 

Ryujin's pretty sure her face is red by the way her skin is burning and she wants to run and hide again.  There's a billion of other places to sit, why here, why next to me —

 

"I really liked it here," The blonde says, looking around. Ryujin follows her eyes. "It makes me feel like i'm not really working, you know?"

 

"Yeah," Ryujin lets out a small laugh, looking at the ground. "That's kind of our goal here, to make everyone feel comfortable."

 

"You guys are doing a pretty amazing job at it, then," Chaeryeong gets closer to Ryujin. "Especially you."

 

Ryujin's jaw drops as she watches the model get up as if nothing had happened, as if she didn't make the photographer's heart race to the point where she was starting to feel weak. She needed some water. Yeah, Ryujin definitely needed some water.

 

"You're pale," Chaeyoung comments when she passes through the younger girl. "Did you see a ghost?"

 

"You have no idea how I wish it was just a stupid ghost."

 

—

 

Shooting with Chaeyeon went just well. It was quick and the pictures Ryujin got were close to  legendary , so she can say she's satisfied with her job. Now she had to get her mind ready to work with the younger Lee and she was  freaking out . Chaeryeong was too dangerous for her poor, weak, little lesbian heart to take. But there was no other way, and Ryujin was awfully aware of that, so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and begged the heavens to get her through at least that session. Just a few more clicks and she was free to go back home and fully ignore Yeji's questions about how did it go with the  hot model  for the rest of the day.

 

It's hard, Ryujin admits, to act like she isn't affected by the way Chaeryeong is looking at the camera, exploding with confidence everytime she hears a new  click . And to Ryujin's surprise, it gets impossibly harder when the model decides to start playing with her, winking at her direction and making her lose balance.

 

It's the sound of the camera falling onto the floor that breaks the photographer out of her daze, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to accept what just happened.  It's definitely broken , Ryujin concludes, and she doesn't have it in her to open her eyes and see her precious little camera shattered into pieces.

 

Ryujin doesn't realize how long has it been since she closed her eyes before Chaeyoung coughs awkwardly beside her, nudging the photographer with her elbow. The pink haired girl counts to three before opening her eyes, feeling like screaming and crying at the same time at the moment her eyes land on the precious object scattered all over the floor.

 

Yes, that camera costed a lot, but it also held a special meaning to the girl. It was with that camera that Ryujin proved to her parents that yes, she had a talent and that no, she wouldn't give up on her dreams just because they wanted her to be a doctor. Ryujin secretly started to save money when she was only fifteen and a couple of years later, on the day where she turned, she eventually got what she wanted.

 

And now all of her hard work was gone. All because she was stupid and too weak for pretty girls.

 

Talking about pretty girls, Ryujin noticed how shocked  Chaeryeong was and how guilty she felt from the look on her face. It was cute, really, and Ryujin would've laughed if she didn't feel like throwing herself from the ta