Minnie turns the knob on her disposable camera left until it clicks; she takes a short breath and holds it in. She looks through the viewfinder, struggling to keep her hands still as the sound of heart pounds loudly against her chest. Like Miyeon strums soft tunes on her guitar, she seems to so easily play with her heart strings. Nonetheless, Minnie manages to steady her hands and find the perfect angle to shoot from. And in that instance, she pauses and waits for the light to shine into the room again. She then pushes down and the shutter snaps close with a familiar click.

She exhales.

“I like how even now,” Miyeon says, stopping mid-sentence to plop down next to Minnie on the carpet before continuing, “you’re still like this.”

“Like what?” Minnie asks as her eyebrows quirk up.

The other girl just relaxes into a smile, eyes curled into crescent moons and lips curved upward. Minnie feels her heart jump once again and she starts wondering if it’s normal to feel like your heart is playing jump rope. She finds herself raising her camera again, winding the film back, and clicking the shutter closed once more. Minnie is certain she has the image of her blissful carefree expression imprinted into her 34mm film. But she is unsure if she had captured Miyeon’s smile in her heart eternally, or if Miyeon had captured her heart with that warm smile of hers so momentarily.

“How you look at me with so much love in your eyes,” Miyeon tells her while her fingertips softly brushed against the Thai girl’s lips ever so slightly, “With your mouth slightly parted, as if you’re in awe.”

“That’s because…” the photographer attempts to explain herself but can’t seem to find the right words to describe the exact enamourment she felt.

Miyeon chuckles and remarks, “I think it’s beautiful, the way you look at me like that.”

Minnie blushes and utters something that Miyeon can’t quite catch. The slightly older girl shrugs and cups the blushing cheeks of her girlfriend in her hands. She stares at her teasingly and decides to swoop in for a peck on her lover’s rosy pink cheeks.

“Your cheeks are warm,” she coyishly notes before bringing her arms down to hug her girlfriend.

“Shut up,” the taller girl mutters.

“Hmm,” the other girl hums, “but you seem to like the way things are right now, don’t you?”

Minnie pulls away from her beloved and turns away, she refuses to confirm what Miyeon has just said. However, she can’t deny any of it either—that she secretly likes being teased. She doesn’t know why, but there’s something fun and endearing that she finds in it. But then again, that’s how she always feels when she’s with Miyeon. There’s always this certain coziness and happiness she feels around her. She finds herself trying to suppress a grin and decides to focus her attention on her camera again in an effort to divert her thoughts.

But, she knows that even if she tries her hardest, she can’t focus on her photos; she’s too aware of the beat of her heart. Like loud music vibrating through the walls, it quivers. Minnie sighs and sets her camera down, giving up. She leans forward to sink into her girlfriends warm embrace again and rests her head on her shoulder. The photographer melts in her arms; she lets herself loose and gently twirls the ash blue and blonde ombré locks of the other girl.

“You’re so pretty,” she murmurs to the light-haired girl, “and you smell nice.”

It’s Miyeon’s turn to blush now.

“You feel like home,” she continues to whisper.

“Why are you, all of the sudden, like this,” the previously coyish girl asks with a bit nervous laugh.

“Because I love you.”

Miyeon swears her heart stops then and there, her mind draws a blank. As if she is a daze, she foolishly sits there and stares into space. She swears she hears the click of a shutter as she’s frozen in place but perhaps that was just the gears of her heart starting up again.

“That’s not fair you know?” Miyeon says, breaking her moment of daze.

“Hmm,” her lover hums, “Like you’re anymore fair.”

“At least you admit that you’re not fair.”

“Admit what?” Minnie questions, finally removing herself from Miyeon’s warm embrace.

The shorter girl shakes her head and sighs, she leans back slowly until she’s on her back and rests her head on her lover’s lap. She stares at the ceiling, her eyes following a nostalgic pattern of lights dancing across the white paint. The windows are open, letting in a gentle breeze as the curtains flow back and forth like waves in the ocean. If it weren’t for the ray of sunlight shining a streak of blinding light down her face, Miyeon could’ve probably fallen asleep then and there. She felt so serene; like it was heaven. She lets her eyes drift a bit and she catches a glimpse of the disposable film camera lying on the table. Something she engraved deep into her memories makes her smile.

“Hey, Minnie,” she murmurs, “do you remember when we first told each other about our feelings?”

Looking down and her, the girl with bangs responds, “Yes?”

Miyeon giggles and lifts herself up into a sitting position. She lifts an arm up and points to Minnie’s chest, giving her a look of warmth and love. In this moment of silence, the curtains seem to suspend into the air and the light seems to shine perfectly on them, creating a stage esque spotlight. It’s too bad all Minnie can really think of and say to her right now are these practical following words: “Why are you poking my left ?”

“You know what,” Miyeon exclaims, rolling her eyes, “I’m so done with you.”

The older girl then starts to get up and leave, only to hesitate as she hears the other girl start to sulk and whine. She somehow has found a way to infuse the voice of an annoying, but cute, five year old with her already extremely loud voice of her own. Miyeon truly does wonder how her girlfriend can have a voice of a dreamy angel when she’s singing but also have such a disastrous tantrum voice when she’s sulking. Clinging to her arm, Minnie continues to whine and complain about the other girl leaving her. 

“MIYEONNNN,” she cries out, “Nooo, don’t leave me; I’ll be sad without you. Please, I’ll be sad like a puppy—like Yuqi when Soyeon leaves to her studio and doesn’t come back for an eternity.”

The slightly frustrated girl takes a deep breath and sighs; as much as her girlfriend is annoying, she is cute but it’s not like she’ll give in that easily. Nope, she won’t budge, not until at least five minutes later because her girlfriend is cute even like this. She doesn’t quite know why, but she just finds her adorable when she’s mad. Perhaps, it’s because she’s so adamant about not wanting her to go and wanting to be with her. And there we have it, Miyeon’s resolution snaps the second when Minnie gives her the lost puppy eyes. In less than a minute’s time, she finds herself soothing the other girl with soft kisses on her hair and forehead, telling her that it’s okay.

“You really are hopeless when it comes to me,” Minnie teases her.

“Shut up.”

Minnie just laughs and Miyeon wants to elbow her in the stomach but she knows that she could never bring herself to do that so she just pouts instead. They sit there in comfortable silence for a bit until one of them decides to break the silence.

“I remember, you know,” Minnie softly tells her though, “The first time we told each other how we really felt.”

Miyeon opens to interject but looks at Minnie who looks like she has sparkles in her eyes as she stares into the distance. She looks like she’s lost in a trance, reliving a fond memory.

“I remember that first time we met,” she continues, “I didn’t think you would be friendly, you looked like one of those heartbreakers from a big-shot dance crew.”

“Hey!”

“I seriously did think you would break my heart though,” the photographer confessed, “I thought that you would somehow capture my heart through the camera lense and then shatter it all.”

The older girl’s heart softens.

“But Miyeon, I grew to like you so much back then. And for the longest time, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you,” she admits, closing her eyes and letting herself remember how she felt, “And no matter how many times I could think of saying ‘I like you’, I always thought of you.”

And there it is, Miyeon feels a pang of warmth in her chest. She’s sure some kind of invisible shutter had snapped shut, capturing her in the process. It’s not like she minded though. She was perfectly fine with having things turn out this way, ecstatic even. 

Miyeon feels like she’s fallen in love all over again. 

“I remembered that when I finally told you how I felt,” Minnie says, “how relieved I was because I really couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.”

“And you have no idea how grateful I am for that,” Miyeon quietly notes.

Miyeon remembers that they were in her studio when the confession happened, just the two of them in the cramped little room singing silly songs to each other and playing music together. But it never mattered where they were, Miyeon had always laughed so brightly with Minnie. She was happy to be around her, always. And because of that, she would find ways to spend more time with her. She felt like she was alive when she was with her, like she’s never truly lived before until she met her. It’s not like Miyeon had hated her life before, or wasn’t a person that strived to be continuously better and better, she just thought that she was better when she was with Minnie. 

So when she had found the courage to muster those three fateful words, so quietly but yet so filled with emotion, it was a moment of euphoria when Minnie had told her she felt the same. Miyeon doesn’t remember exactly how it happened, Minnie doesn’t probably either, but she’s sure that they’ll never forget how it felt or how beautiful the memory seemed. She replays everything in her head and she sees a blur of happy giggles and remembers sensations of soft shy touches. 

They really have come far, haven’t they? 

“I love you so much,” Miyeon whispers sweetly into Minnie’s ears.

It took not just a few days or even weeks, but months of wavering contemplation to fall for eachother. Yet, falling in love seemed to happen in one smooth motion at the same time. 

They clicked, they caught a hold of each other, and captured each other.

Miyeon smiles and takes the camera into her hands, she winds the film back and snaps a photo. 

“You’ve caught my heart in still motion.”