Longing eyes stared at the white mannequin that stood behind the transparent glass doors of the boutique, proudly displaying the clothes to passing pedestrians. A fifteen year old black-haired, even though he had no purpose to be straying around the area in the first place, stood in front of the window display, not at all bothered by the lady constantly staring at him behind them—be it for his extreme good looks even as a young lad or for his staring, Wu Yi Fan did not pay her any attention at all.

xx

“Chink!”

“Hey, pretty boy!”

Many retarded and insulting comments flew to Wu Yi Fan’s direction as he arrived at the vicinity of his school for yet another pointless day of learning. It was something he had grown used to, for most of them were merely used to attract his unjustified attention to themselves, people rarely got to see Wu Fan talk except for a few he found precious to him. The best option was to always ignore them whenever they started calling but some would just never stop. And it was during these cases, Wu Fan would occasionally snap.

Kris’ school memories weren’t exactly filled with bright days where rainbows would appear over the sky, making things beautiful and almost perfect. In fact, it was just the opposite.

xx

People walked here and there, staff of the event running to and fro to make sure everything was in order and nothing would go wrong. One particular room was filled with tall, beautiful people whose jobs were to well,—look beautiful. Many of them were having their clothes changed in a hurry, one after another when they would come back from the stage; that is the catwalk. In busy times like this, no one would have the time to ogle at anyone, being too occupied with dressing up as quick as they can for their next turn to walk once more. Usually, one would be awed by the perfect bodies the many men in the room possessed but this was definitely not the time for it.

Kris hurriedly put on the suede jacket one lady put over his hands while inserting his foot to shoes another held for him on the floor, everything at the same time, it was almost like chaos. But Kris was used to it. After hastily (but neatly) unclasping the belt a different lady passed on to him, he jogged out of the room to wait for his turn again.

Ah, two people were waiting. Good enough to catch his breath.

Kris watched when the last model walked down the stage and just like him before, jogged away to the dressin room in a hurry for another change of clothes while the first in line appeared on the stage. It was only a short while to the participants more than the audience whenever a model would walk on  stage, and definitely more nerve-wrecking as well.

One guy appeared behind Kris, sending him  a small polite smile while adjusting his shirt as the last person stepped forward to the stage. It was always the same, no matter how many times his feet had landed on the stage, no matter how many times he would be waiting behind the curtains of the stage, his heart would always beat excitedly. He took the time to compose himself while taking slow breathes and before he knew it, it was his turn already, once again.

This was his life, being a model.

He took one step forward.

Kris appeared to the stage, standing at head of the stage, strawberry blonde hair styled to ultimate perfection, completely bringing out his beautiful good looks while sporting a piece of one of Korea’s top-notch designers. His face remained stoic; showing the composure the man possessed in him before walking onward.

The feeling of being watched at by the audience, be it because they were amazed of the attire he was dressed in, or because of his (might he say, he was very confident to say this) looks. But that was the harsh reality; you needed to be beautiful to be accepted by this kind of society. It was a harsh industry, but Kris was used to everything. Not everything in life is beautiful.

But at least for one moment, when he would step on the stage and make his walk down the runway, all eyes would be on him and just for a few seconds, Kris would forget everything in his life with the spotlight on him, full attention towards himself.

He loved it.

The blonde stopped at the end of the stage for a few seconds to give the audience a still view of his attire, while white flashes appeared from all corners to get a memoir of the moment where it would be published in fashion magazines, blogs, websites in just a few days’ time. After that, Kris made a swift turn to the head of the stage once more, with no ounce of confidence decreased at all before disappearing behind the curtains, away from the previous bright setting.

He took a deep breath as he took his time to a less crowded and hassled waiting room, filled with the models who had walked prior to himself. The set of clothes they wore were the last of the batch and all they needed to do was wait for the remaining models before making a last appearance with the designer. Kris sat on one of the provided seats while still being careful to not wrinkle his outfit before heaving a sigh. The bustle behind the scenes of the runway was always rowdy and troublesome, but it was a part of what Kris liked best, because it distracted him from everything.

Moments later, the room began to fill up until finally they were all called out for the ending, and Kris joined the other models for the last stage with the designer up front, enjoying the claps and attention he was getting. Obviously, he wouldn’t? What he and the other models had on at the moment were of his creations, and cost a ghastly amount of money one would think about before spending.

xx

Park Chanyeol was his name, with light brown tresses that adorned his feminine facial features—looking more beautiful than handsome that earned jealousy from not-so-few females most of the time. Women would think the God was so unfair for blessing a male with features that far exceeded in beauty from any female, men would question their uality at times but for Park Chanyeol, he took pride in everything about him. For him, there was nothing to embarrassed about—lanky giant figure and all—because to this twenty-two year old, there was always beauty in everything, no matter how small and unsighted it would be.

There would always be a bright smile adorned on those facial features of his, one that radiated so much sunshine and rainbows it was almost like a deadly virus. Well, not so deadly as to kill someone, but point was, you couldn’t resist smiling when Chanyeol would be around. Even on the most tiring of days, a small smile would still lace the man’s lips, a form of encouragement to himself and everyone around him. At times, when Chanyeol had little or nothing to do, he would roam around the building with the signature DSLR around his neck, snapping candid photos of the office, “for his personal collection” he would say. Candid-taken pictures were always the best in his opinion, as it showed the real expressions of a person.  And it was this particular habit that made the staff often yell at him in embarrassment or frustration, as it was often their picture ended up looking awkward and ugly—disadvantages of taking pictures when the people are unprepared. But like typical cheeky boy Chanyeol, he paid no heed to their complaints and continued to do it as hobby, like he was doing right now.

He was about to snap a picture of one designer hard at work in front of a mannequin that had on a beautiful red gown, while she pinned up some areas. Fashion design was not his expertise; Chanyeol was a director for photoshoots and handled most of the models for it. Sometimes, he would be the photographer as well, but most of the time they were provided and all he needed to do was direct a shoot.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, startling a devious Chanyeol that let out a low yelp (which of course alerted the designer too, who only shook her head and yelled at the man for his sneaky activities once more, which Chanyeol replied with a sheepish grin) and turned to the man behind him.

“Chanyeol-ah, taking those pictures again? I seriously wonder what fun or art you find in taking such pictures,” said a middle-aged man with sleek black hair that held a light brown portfolio in hand. He eyed the younger boy with judging eyes.

“Aish!” grunted Chanyeol, and even though he was grunting, a laugh left his lips. “No one does, ahjussi. I just really like it when I see pictures of them hard at work, and this way they see how ridiculous they can look!”

Addressed older male shook his head at the younger boy’s antics before handing him the folio. “Whatever makes you happy, Chanyeol. Here, the boss wants you to direct this shoot with a rookie model that’s been rising in the industry lately. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Kris Wu.”

“Ah, Kris!” Chanyeol nodded while he opened the folio and flipped through it a little, scanning bits of texts quickly to catch the main idea of the shoot and a few photos of the said model. Damn, he was gorgeous alright. “Definitely. He’s been appearing really often on the runway, impossible not to spot that face. He really stands out!” He laughed again, with the elder of the two not really understanding what was so funny.

“Alright, it’s scheduled for tomorrow. Be sure to be at the address stated.”

“What!?” gasped Chanyeol, staring at Mr. Kim with bulging eyes, obviously devastated at the close date. “That’s too quick!”

“I would have handed it to you earlier if you had come to the office from days before. Where have you been? The boss was furious at your sudden disappearance… again.” His tone was still kept professional despite how casually Chanyeol conversed with him, and also for how long they had known each other. Mr. Kim was one who tended to separate “personal business” from work ones.

“Appointed myself a holiday, that’s what,” grumbled the younger of the two as he snapped the folio shut. The only thing he could look forward to at the moment was the handsome model. At least he was pleasing to the eyes. At that thought, a smile that most people deemed creepy appeared, earning another shake of the head from Mr. Kim.

xx

“This way, please.” When he stepped out of the car, Kris was led to a homey café, where earthly tones and wooden furniture dominated the interior of the place and to Kris’ delight, there stood a shelf of books at one corner of the room. He asked the name of the café to his manager and etched it in his mind for personal reference; maybe he would visit for a quiet and relaxing time.

“Stranger in French, Etranger.” Replied his manager, not looking up from the schedule notebook opened that lied on his lap. It wasn’t an odd name to Kris who was familiar with foreign languages so the name was easy to memorize, with a name as distinct as that, it wouldn’t be hard.

Moments later, he was led to a private room where he had his make-up done before the stylist changed his clothes. Fit for a magazine photoshoot—GQ Korea to be specific—he was dressed in fit camel-colored khakis that stopped just above his ankles (a current trend, the stylist said, but for Kris, it looked ridiculous because of his height, he liked having his ankles covered, thank you very much) and a fitted elbow-length shirt that showed his upper body, much to the delight of the female staff of the photoshoot. The stylist handed Kris a brown blazer to hold, and said it would be his choice to wear it or not. Kris opted for the first at the moment, but it would depend on the director’s wishes later during the shoot.

He was soon called to the set, where a table was set up with coffee and a few treats on top of it. There was one thing Kris was glad about, and it was being alone for the shoot. God forbid him from socializing with people, let alone a woman, for it was essential that they show a connection or chemistry during a shoot and it was what Kris did not excel at, at all.

With the blazer held in his hands, he stood in the middle of the set amidst the sound of busy buzzing and people setting up the lighting and cameras, all doing their jobs when someone approached him. He was obviously making his way to approach the blonde but all Kris did was stare at the coming male before the male stopped in front of him. A warm smile (or grin) appeared, wider than before (he was already smiling when he was walking towards Kris) but Kris remained stoic. However, that didn’t discourage the boy at all when he introduced himself in a light and happy tone.

“Hello, Park Chanyeol’s my name!” introduced the boy, earning a small nod from Kris. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kris Wu. I’ll just go by Kris, alright? I’ll be the director—“Kris widened his eyes at those words, not expecting such a young and cheery looking guy to be his director for the shoot “—for this shoot and I expect your full co-operation. Hi-five!” Chanyeol raised his hand for one with that signature happy expression on his face, while Kris stared at him oddly for a few quiet awkward seconds before raising his hand up slowly to meet the other’s for a ‘hi-five’. It wasn’t a rare thing to meet people his height in the modeling industry but he hadn’t foreseen the fact that the director would be almost his height, and a young and beautiful one at that. Wait, he did not just call his director beautiful; he shook his head inwardly at the thoughts before a small professional smile appeared on his heart-shaped lips. “The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Park,” was his only short reply. He couldn’t help but notice how their hands were nearly the same size, almost like they were fit for each other or something. Okay, it had to be the something—thought Kris in his over thinking mind. Kris might not be one to voice his thoughts or opinion a lot, but he sure had a lot of them in his mind, where nobody could never guess or tell whatever the blonde had in his mind and behind his stoic face. To most people, Kris Wu was a mystery.

Despite that being the only response he got from the blonde model, Chanyeol smiled (which Kris kept wondering why he was so smiley, wasn’t work supposed to be serious?) before patting his shoulder in encouragement and walking back to the seat next to the photographer who was setting up his camera. Just a few moments after Chanyeol walked away, the stylist ran up to him carrying thick black-rimmed glasses and put it on him saying it would be a nice touch to the whole outfit and setting of the shoot before scurrying away to watch from a distance. 

Chanyeol; who was already seated, signaled for Kris to take his position next to the table and told him to ‘go do his thing’ which was obviously Kris’ job. Chanyeol gave him the freedom to do whatever he liked, with his directions only being ‘to look like a young man that was content and successful with his life’.  Kris decided to lean against the table while titling his spine forward and facing the camera in a sideways position with the blazer thrown over his shoulder for the first few clicks.

Click, click click went the camera.

Most of the females at the set would agree that Kris was doing a wonderful job, looking as perfect as ever with a number of good poses that even the photographer looked satisfied at. With each click, the blonde moved his body a little each time, be it by tilting his body more to the side or shifting his sight to camera, wall or any other direction. At one point, he even lifted one leg that rested against the table’s own which earned him an approving thumbs-up from the photographer. All was going well, until—

“Stop!” yelled Chanyeol, suddenly, surprising everyone on the set, including the model himself.

The photographer, who was content with the model himself almost jumped from the director’s yell, obviously very alert. “Is there something wrong?”

“Obviously,” answered Chanyeol, eyes set on the blonde model that stared back at him confused. “I don’t think Kris is giving off the right vibe and emotions.”

“Excuse me?”

omg i am so sorry for the super late update ;-; i'm just a ty, slow writer like that ;n; I wonder if you will all keep up with me! I hope the first chapter wasn't too boring anda lal klsjkalj please do comment and let me know what you think! and super thanks to regulus for the poster, it looks so beautiful ;u; <3