“One, two, three. Pose!”

“One, two, three. Smile!”

“One more, let’s move to the left!”

Irene Bae.

The most sought-after model in all of South Korea; hell, she might as well go international with the chokehold she has on the nation. Her booker originally requested for Irene to go on the runway but her height couldn’t pass the requirement, much to everyone’s amusement. People usually say – Men want to be with her, women want to be her – but Irene? Everyone wants to have a piece of her, whether it’s for career or romance purposes… except for one person.

The most popular photographer for catalogues, magazines, papers.

Wendy Son.

For some reason, Wendy simply refuses to listen to her feedback or reasoning whenever she’s the photographer for her jobs. In fact, the two women have gotten into several disagreements because of that. Whenever the main model is Irene, Wendy demands for one particular angle.

Forty-five degrees.

Oh, none of these are actually facts, by the way. Most of this so-called feud is largely speculation and from nosy tabloids that can’t seem to do their job right, forming headlines that don’t even make sense. When it comes to news or gossip revolving around the fashion and entertainment industry, no one seems to care about facts obviously. The whistle-blower is still unknown, but Irene couldn’t care less if she was being transparent. In fact, there were multiple reporters who wanted to interview both the model and the photographer – whether together or separate, it didn’t matter – they wanted news.

Model Irene Bae and popular photographer Wendy Son at loggerheads?

Wendy and Irene… dispute at work?

Photographer Wendy Son, “I have nothing to say. Please ask Irene instead.”

“Face the ground, and then tilt your head slightly so your eyes meet mine.”

“I get it, Wendy. Forty-five degrees.”

The staff standing around can barely look away from the shoot, holding in their breaths unconsciously at the tension in the room. Whenever Irene’s turn comes, Wendy is coincidentally in a bad mood.

“Well, if you get it then why aren’t you doing it right?” Wendy groans, rolling her eyes behind the eyepiece. She doesn’t enjoy being on the receiving end of Irene’s snarky comments but a job is a job.

“Or maybe you’re just crap at your job!”

Before Wendy can get her hands on the model, she’s immediately grabbed by another staff member. She’s clearly upset and ready to lose it any moment now but thank goodness for her friend.

Irene, still obediently seated on the tall wooden stool, shrugs her shoulders when her booker gives her a look. She even raises her hands and does it one more time, although anyone with eyes can see that she doesn’t give a damn. This is a normal, regular occurrence anyway so no one is surprised but Wendy usually does not have to be calmed down. Their constant bantering was over-the-top but no one tries to get involved because it’s technically not a big deal. Sure, people do try to input their own opinions but the advice is never heeded anyway.

“God, I hate it here.” Wendy mumbles.

So much for trying to be ‘nice’, Irene glares at the young photographer.

“Ditto.”

Frankly, it’s no wonder why the news just doesn’t die off – it’s days like this that keep adding fuel to the fire. The number of staff members are enough to feed the press for at least a good six months or so. So many pairs of eyes and so many mouths that could very well distort the truth or exaggerate for the sake of benefits under the table.

Wendy doesn’t waste more time, quickly firing up the camera again. The quicker she gets the job done; the faster Irene gets out of her face. “Whatever. Cross your legs, and I want you to look alluring.”

“And she kept picking a fight with me when I was trying to get the angle right. Mind you, this happens every single time we have a shoot, not just this afternoon. What the hell is her damn problem?” Wendy complains, taking another shot of soju.

Talk about coincidence, fate, whatever word that can be used – because who should be sitting behind in the directly next to Wendy’s is Irene Bae herself. She would have opted to go into the next room and pick a fight with the photographer but she’s more interested in eavesdropping; who knows what kind of ammunition she might be able to overhear. It must be God’s will, putting their two private dinner rooms side by side and only separated by a wall so thin. The cherry on top is that Wendy doesn’t seem to realize how much louder she gets after some drinks, so Irene can hear everything.

“I have a question actually,” Bora says softly. She pours another glass for her friend, distributing some food whilst thinking of her question. “Why do you make her do so many poses but with the same angle? I’ve noticed it’s always forty-five degrees.”

Truth is, Irene is also curious about that.

If the two of them weren’t so hostile to each other during every single shoot, Irene would have liked to find out why. At first, she thought Wendy just preferred to have that angle for whatever reason but she never directs other models that way.

“Even you didn’t get that? I expected more from you, Bora.” Wendy teases, sticking her tongue at the woman. “Honestly, it’s not that I’m picking on her when it comes to that. It’s actually a very simple concept…”

Irene doesn’t even realise it, but she’s hanging onto Wendy’s every word.

“It’s her best angle.”

*

Ever since that night at the restaurant, Irene tries her best not to be mean or argue back whenever Wendy directs her poses and positions. Sure, it might annoy her to death because wow, the small woman can be extremely domineering when it comes to her work. Irene can also admit that she hasn’t been the easiest model to work with because she also has certain angles she likes.

“Don’t you think she’s being very nice today?”

“Is she?” Wendy a brow lazily, still fiddling with the flash pieces of the camera. “I haven’t noticed.”

That’s a bold-faced lie.

For the entirety of this morning, Wendy has readied herself for the most ridiculous reasons and excuses about why Irene can’t adhere to her quests or demands but the woman didn’t retort any of it. In fact, their regular arguments about how Wendy is unwilling to compromise or Irene is terrible at being flexible never once came up today. Irene also took the initiative to adjust her position the moment Wendy’s expression morphed into something other than pleasant – on a normal day, she’d be throwing a fit by now. How can Wendy pretend not to notice?

If the staff members on both teams were shocked in any way, they didn’t express their feelings or say a word about it.

“At least she’s trying, right?”

“Whatever…”

And guess who’s standing in the changing room, behind the curtain.

Irene, again.

“Um, Wendy?”

“Can I help you? Your shoot was over two hours ago, right?”

The cold, steely gaze Wendy gives her is enough to send chills down Irene’s spine, which doesn’t happen often. More often than not, she’s the one inciting fear in people because of her expression, or lack thereof.

“Y-Yeah…”

Wendy stops rearranging her items and takes a seat on the ladder, gesturing Irene to make herself feel comfortable. She might not fancy being visited by the model accompanied by her entourage but it takes nothing to be a gentlewoman still. “I’m assuming you're here for something then? Do you want to see your pictures?”

Irene nods meekly at the question, eyes lighting up at how the photographer understood without her explicitly asking. She doesn't want to have to ask, for some reason she'd feel embarrassed. For all she knows, Wendy might laugh in her face and tell her that she should go to hell instead…. It doesn’t seem that unlikely, to be honest. With how bad of a temper Wendy possesses, she might even delete her pictures or get rid of her jobs without her knowing – industry people have their own ways. That would definitely set her off and before you know it, bad newspaper articles are penned and published.

“Although I’m not sure why you didn’t just ask your booker to get those from me like you usually do… just scroll through the photos,” Wendy walks away to make the model more comfortable, maybe a little privacy as well.

The moment Wendy steps a toe out of the room, Irene hurriedly minimizes the photo viewer and opens the full gallery. She finds the folder within seconds, the name taking her breath away.

45° of Irene

The title isn’t the most surprising thing though, by God – no, that honour goes to the fact that all the photos in this folder are of the same angle, yes but they’re all from different shoots and jobs.

What the hell?

There is one of Irene when she first got booked to do catalogues, so their first meeting which didn’t get off to a good start. The next picture is their second meeting, where Irene is wearing a trench coat and a pair of metal-framed glasses. The third one leaves a sour taste in Irene’s mouth… Wendy lost her temper because Irene was late but Irene didn’t bother to explain that she went to get the photographer a drink for arguing back on their first meeting. At least the fourth one is almost bearable, Wendy only had one demand and that was this angle, which Irene did very begrudgingly.

“IRENE!”

Oh .

Wendy scrambles to collect her things and slams her laptop shut so hard, it sounds like the screen might have cracked, but all Irene can focus on is how red the tip of the photographer’s ears are. She buries her face into her palms, wrecking her brain to decide what she should do now. If only she didn’t try to be nice and give Irene privacy alone, Irene wouldn’t have found out about this folder.

“W-Wendy…”

“I’ll send your photos and collections to your booker, Irene. I’m sorry for keeping those photos, I don’t mean to be a creep.” Wendy takes a deep breath while packing her laptop and cameras; it really is over now that Irene is probably going to get a restraining order against her. “I’ll excuse myself first. Goodbye, Irene.”

Before Irene can gather her thoughts and words, she is faced with an empty studio and a silence so loud, it’s piercing her chest.

***

“Irene, look here!”

“Okay, now turn to the window!”

“And we’re done. Thank you, Irene!”

It’s been almost a month since her photographer has changed, and Irene can’t help but feel empty inside. She never thought she’d say this with her own mouth, but Wendy truly is the only one who can bring out the most beautiful shot. All the photographers do tell her to change positions and every basic instruction in the book but none of them ever tell her to turn forty-five degrees. Normal people would be happy to get rid of someone they consistently fight with over the smallest issues but Irene… it feels as if there’s a void in her heart.

She might even say she misses her…

“Hey, are you feeling alright? You’re zoning out.”

“I’m fine, Unnie.” Irene says softly, letting the stylist remove the fur coat. “I just don’t feel accomplished at all. It’s been a whole month and I still haven’t decided on which shot I want as my next portfolio picture.”

Her portfolio profile pictures have always been chosen by Wendy or her booker; it’s the forty-five-degree angles that really stand out from the other collage of pictures. Now that Wendy is no longer her photographer for any of her jobs, the comparison is starting to become strikingly obvious. As picky and demanding as she is, she definitely gets the job done.

Irene sighs at the thought of a possible unproductive shoot again this Friday, it’s not even new anymore. At this point, Wendy is avoiding her for sure.

Wait.

“Unnie! Do you have that photographer’s number?”

“Wendy, you mean?”

The teasing expression on her booker’s face makes Irene blush, the model unable to stop herself from bouncing on the balls of her feet. She doesn’t know why it’s embarrassing but the one thing this changes for the people heavily focused on them is that the feud isn’t real after all. Before today, Irene thought publicity is always advantageous, whether good or bad publicity… until she saw this one article with a disheartening headline last week – Irene Bae, not shining as bright as before? Her photos lack the spark they used to have.

Believe it or not, Irene isn’t just looking for that spark or something that could help her get back in the higher ranks of models. She genuinely misses the photographer more than she ever thought possible. The bantering, bickering – hell, even the fighting – Irene wants it back.

At one point, Irene wanted to get Wendy fired.

“You keep demanding for the same angle! What’s wrong with you?”

“I can’t get the photos done if you don’t finish off with that!

“Your photos aren’t even that nice anyway!”

“Maybe because my model is UGLY!”

That short banter was enough for Irene to almost draft an email to the company, but her booker claimed otherwise. If Wendy was truly as terrifying to work with as Irene claims, models and their companies wouldn’t wait for months just to have their photos taken by her. The news articles and netizens’ reactions will only backfire on Irene and she’d be the one paying the consequences.

How the tables have turned…

Irene doesn’t waste time in getting home; the quicker she reaches the safety of her apartment, the more freedom she has to consider her course of actions. What she doesn’t expect is to have an envelope in her mailbox, and it’s addressed to her birth name at that. She gently unseals the brown envelope, a small binder with a post-it posted on the front falling out of it.

Dear Joohyun… haha, can I call you that?

I know it’s been a month and that we haven’t worked together on any job ever since that day but um… I can finally return these photos to you. The truth is, whenever you’re at a forty-five-degree angle, I don’t think you realize how well it brings out your features. So… I decided to compile an album for you. I wasn’t using it to be creepy if you thought that was the case, which I can’t blame you for but um, I hope you understand after seeing the binder.

I submitted a copy of all your best angles along with a few others to Vogue and Cosmopolitan, because I think you’re capable of reaching greater heights than just the same few brands.

“Oh my God…”

While Irene is fairly popular and a household name in Korea, she hasn’t had the opportunity to shoot for Vogue or Cosmopolitan yet and those are really big names in the industry. She doesn’t know how Wendy found out about her hidden dream but either way, this is insane. How can someone who detests her so much be so thoughtful and true to the profession?

This only makes Irene miss her more.

text message to: taeyeon-unnie

unnie, please give me wendy’s number

i need to talk to her

***

6 months later…

Irene Bae’s big break internationally, soon to be on the cover page of Vogue and Cosmopolitan’s October and December issues respectively!

Sitting with the tripod in between her legs, the photographer calmly snaps a couple more photos of the model in front of her. She has a cherry-flavoured lollipop between her lips, a denim jacket thrown around her shoulders and a pair of combat boots to match. It’s been half a year since she moved to the US branch for photography, personally invited to work here by Vogue magazines. Truthfully, it was a terribly tough period for her. Too bad their only condition of considering her recommendation was for her to come and work for them… if not she wouldn’t be here at all.

Then again, it was a smart career move and a blessing in disguise eventually. Just from today alone, she has finished with three models and is now waiting for the last one to arrive.

“S-Seungwan …”

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Superstar in Korea!”

Irene doesn’t even mind the cheeky comment, her eyes welling with tears at the sight of the familiar photographer. She takes big strides towards Wendy, completely unbothered by the other models standing around.

“Irene, what has gotten into you?” Wendy whispers softly, arms still by her side even though Irene is in her arms. She doesn’t know if hugging back is appropriate by any means after the way they left things.

“I know everything…”

Right after Irene requested for Wendy’s phone number from her booker, the calls didn’t go through and the number itself was unavailable for a good week or so before Irene gave up trying. She hated herself for trying to dig into Wendy’s gallery of photos; maybe the woman wouldn’t have started avoiding her or even left her job there. Long story short, it was an extremely torturous seven months for Irene. No one bickered with her, guided her to optimal angles, displayed the same amount of respect for photography as Wendy did.

If only she realised that earlier, maybe the outcome now would be different.

“You… You even took the job here at Vogue for me…” Irene mumbles into Wendy’s shoulder, tightening her grip on the shorter photographer. “I know we’re usually at each other’s necks but I’ve missed you. I missed the arguing and I miss the bantering. It’s like something’s missing and I can’t even fill the void because it’s in the shape of you.”

Wendy gestures to the other models to clear out, not wanting them to spread baseless rumours after witnessing a mere five-minute interaction. She knows how things work in the industry on a deeper level now, especially after having experience in both Korea and the United States.

“Look, you would have been on Vogue sooner or later but I wanted your big break to come sooner. You have the talent, Irene.”

“Joohyun. Call me Joohyun.” Irene pulls back, lifting her hands to cup Wendy’s face. Funny, she never noticed how pretty Wendy’s eyes were till this very moment. “The Vogue job… the secret portfolio… what else have you done for me that I don’t know of?”

Placing a hand on her chest and closing her eyes dramatically, Wendy makes a cross on her heart, “nothing else, your honour.”

Standing face to face with one another like this, Wendy can’t help but notice that Irene has lost some weight. She frowns a little but tries to keep it to herself; it’s clear that those are some consequences of her just dropping everything and leaving without telling Irene much. Although the people around her tried to persuade Wendy to just stop avoiding the model and take a chance, Wendy didn’t want to risk breaking off the work relationship either. Every other day, she was happy to see Irene back at her studio – even if she never expressed it.

Perhaps they’re very similar in that aspect.

The bickering, bantering and constant arguing over that stupid forty-five degrees… It became a part of their routine.

“I thought you hated me all these years, Wendy. I don’t understand why you’d do something like that for me.” Irene runs her fingers through her hair, looking up at the ceiling to stop herself from shedding tears.

“Don’t be silly. I’d never do so much for someone I hate.” Wendy leans in and flicks Irene’s forehead, chuckling when the older woman pouts at her. “Sure, we argue like divorced housewives at the grocery store but I’ve never hated you. In fact, I… I just didn’t know how to express myself. I wanted to tell you that you looked beautiful at that angle but we already had an argument on our first day and we never stopped fighting since. How could I bring it up?”

“Plus… I wouldn’t have accepted Vogue’s offer if they didn’t ask me to in exchange for them to consider your portfolio, which was dumb because they eventually chose you over the others.”

Irene’s eyes widen in surprise, butterflies gathering in her tummy at the way Wendy can’t seem to look straight at her while she quite literally admitted her true feelings for Irene. Suddenly, everything makes perfect sense – Wendy compiling her photos and accepting a job elsewhere just for her to achieve her dreams, being so particular about her angles because she wanted Irene to look her best at all times. For a photographer of Wendy’s status, she had the luxury to pick and choose which model she wants to work with but never once did she try to stop their partnership.

“Ever since you left, I stopped changing my portfolio pictures because I couldn’t find a suitable one. Whenever I had to change it, we always go through one round of arguing before I eventually use the photo of your choice… it’s been so difficult without you.”

Wendy swallows nervously, taking Irene’s trembling hands into her own. She knows there’s no way she can turn back now, not after exposing herself and how much she cares for Irene.

“Can you come back to Korea with me?” Irene shakily breaths out, pressing her forehead against Wendy’s. Her teary eyes are enough to convince Wendy instantly; it breaks her heart. “What’s the point of being on Vogue’s cover if you’re not by my side? You’re the one who helped me achieve my dreams… but I have a new dream, and that’s to be with you.”

“Let me show you something.”

Irene follows Wendy into the room hidden by the curtains and she gets her breath knocked out of her chest, her eyes completely fixated on the huge frames of pictures on the wall.

Wendy rubs the back of her neck bashfully; she never thought she’d be able to show Irene this ever. “I was told to put my proudest work up as a form of inspiration… and no surprise here, it’s forty-five degrees of you. I have one of you when you were upset, happy and when you were told you’d be on Elle Korea for the first time…”

Before Wendy can finish her extensive history of her very own collection, Irene has decided on what to do. She leaps into Wendy’s body and wraps her legs around the photographer’s hips, pressing their lips together without hesitation. She doesn’t need to hear more to know that her heart is Wendy’s, and has always been ever since their first banter.

If the Korean press were here, maybe they’d finally get a scoop that’s actually truthful without distortion…

Irene Bae and Wendy Son, formerly model and photographer, set to tie the knot next fall!

From enemies to lovers, a modern-day love story between Wendy Son and Irene!

From Elle Korea to Vogue to Cosmopolitan, Irene sweeps the magazine covers with her very first photographer, Wendy Son – now as soon to be wives!

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