Jongup smiled at the beauty hanging around his chest. He grabbed it and stared into the lens checking again if something had smudged the crystal clean glass. He smiled again when it seemed perfect and let it dangle on the strap hanging around his neck.

Jongup had loved photography all his life. Ever since he was little he had always had a knack for taking pictures of everything and everyone. When he was in middle school his father had let him use his camera on special occasions because it wasn’t just a digital camera you could get at any store. It was a very special professional camera and it was very expensive and as much as his father loved Jongup, he wasn’t always the smoothest. He just didn’t want his son to break his camera.

In his early years of high school, his parents had bought him a really nice digital camera for Christmas one year and Jongup had gone through the whole memory card within a month. Once college had started Jongup sadly had to put down the camera and pick up the textbook. Too many classes and constant dance practice sadly didn’t leave him much time with his camera and if he did get alone time it’d be to sleep or do some things that he needed to do.

But now school was over, Jongup had lots of free time beside when he was working and he had recently saved up to buy a new camera. It wasn’t as fancy as he’d like but he did what he could with the money he saved up for it. He’d only had it for a little bit but he used it any second he got.

Now he was strolling through the park, one of his personal favorite places to go with his trusty camera. He snapped a couple pictures of the trees, the flowers, random crowds of people, the children’s playground and even asked a couple if he could take their pictures while they were lying down near a tree.

Jongup was about to go look over all the pictures he had taken but noticed a man sitting on one of the park benches. His legs were crossed and he had a book in his lap and a coffee in his hands that he took sips from occasionally or would just bite on the straw. He wore a white sweater, blue jeans and printed loafers. His brown hair was perfectly splayed across his forehead and it looked even better when the wind tousled it slightly. He looked so beautiful and picturesque: Jongup wanted to capture the beauty of the man.

Usually Jongup would go up to a person or persons before taking their picture out of politeness but when the handsome man smiled slightly at the words he was reading in the book, Jongup held the camera up, pointed and:

Click.

He took the picture and before he realized it, he was taking many more. He took lots of pictures of the man at slightly varying different angles because anything too obvious would make the man uncomfortable and would make him notice. Some were close-ups and some were half shots while others were full body. Jongup, browsing over the last couple shots he took and being content with the images of the man, was about to go and ask if he would not mind that he had taken them. But when he looked up the man was gone, as if the wind had blown him away.

Jongup sighed dejectedly. He felt bad now. He had just taken probably about thirty pictures of some random stranger without his permission and who knew if he would ever see him again. He wondered if he should just delete them all but going through them again he thought it would be a waste to get rid of such beauty. Instead he just went home.

When he got home, the first thing he did was upload the pictures onto his computer. He stuck the memory card into the slot on his laptop and impatiently waited as they loaded onto the screen. When they finally loaded, Jongup skipped through all the flora and fauna and went right to the man. Looking at each picture carefully and clicking the next photo he stopped at a certain close up. He was pretty far away when taking the pictures so his close-ups weren’t the best but now that he could see the stranger’s face on a larger screen he could see the beauty that he held. He so wanted to see the perfections and imperfections of the man’s face in person and he wanted to see every detail. Every curve, every dip and every sharp line: he wanted to see it all.

Jongup went to bed thinking of the man from the park bench and desperately praying to every god that he would be able to see the man tomorrow.

Jongup woke up late. When he realized the time it was almost lunch and he thanked the lord that he didn’t have work today. Quickly getting ready he grabbed his camera and headed toward the park, just like yesterday, hoping to have an encounter with the handsome stranger.

Going to the same park bench the man was at yesterday he was disappointed to find that an elderly couple was there instead. But never throwing away a perfectly good chance he asked if he could take the elderly couple’s picture. They agreed and Jongup got a wonderful shot and the couple liked it very much when he showed them. Thanking them, he walked off to go waste some time because he just wanted to see the man and he wasn’t here so there was nothing for him to do.

Taking some more pictures he eventually found another park bench to sit on and went over the shots he took today, smiling again at the elderly couple. When he looked up from his camera he smiled because there he was. The beautiful stranger was sitting on the park bench across from him, not ten feet away, the same coffee and book in his hand.

Today the man was wearing dark skinny jeans, a white v-neck and a black jacket over it. It was simple but it looked so good on him and Jongup loved this simple style that the man seemed to have. The small man was even happier when he realized he was directly in front of the stranger instead of diagonally to his left. Jongup would get different angled shots and he was even happier because he could see the man’s face even clearer because he was not only closer but at an better position.

Not even bothering to ask the stranger, yet again, Jongup raised the camera to his face. Aiming toward the man’s frame he held down the button until it focused then pressed it down fully until the shutter sounded. But he didn’t realize the shutter sound was so loud and the stranger looked up at him.

See, this wouldn’t be so awkward but Jongup still had the camera up and pointed at the man. He slowly lowered it and was about to stutter out a response but the stranger spoke first.

“Did it turn out good?”

Jongup was startled by the man’s voice. It didn’t fit his face at all. His face was soft and delicate while his voice was harsh and deep. But whether it matched his appearance didn’t matter; Jongup liked it anyhow.

“W-would you, uh, like to s-see it?” Jongup stuttered while walking over to the other male and sitting down next to him. He showed the screen to the man with him and he smiled slightly. Jongup now noticed that this man had no flaws. He was perfect sharp lines along his jawbone and nice curves around his cheeks. His nose pointed perfectly and his lips were a delicate pink.

“It’s nice.” He said.

Jongup nodded, not exactly sure where their conversation would go from here.

“So you took pictures of me yesterday as well?” He asked, turning to Jongup.

Jongup blanched and his mouthed opened, “How did you know that? I didn’t mean to, it kind of just happened and I’m sorry…”

“Well you just told me so I didn’t exactly know. I just put two and two together. So do you take pictures of strangers often?” The man laughed and Jongup liked the sound.

“Ah, I, uh, actually do. I usually ask them first but you looked so peaceful so I was going to ask you when I was done but you left and I was hoping to find you today but I ended up taking another picture without your permission and I probably seem like a stalker and I’m-“

“Himchan.” The stranger interrupted. Jongup looked confused so the stranger clarified, “My name is Himchan.”

The stranger now known as Himchan smiled and Jongup mimicked his action, “I’m, uh, Jongup.”

Real smooth, Jongup.

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cliche ending is cliche...please leave me nice comments~

~Kim <3