Photographer ✰Hwang Hyunjin✰

s i x

"Did Johnny leave you?" Hyunjin asked

"Yeah" I nodded "He's not a big fan of art"

"I get it" he said "My members are exactly the same. That's why I always come here on my own"

"Me too, also because I like to take pictures of the paintings"

"We should go together then" he blurted out

"What?" I asked a bit taken aback by what I just heard

"Oh no" he started blushing under the face mask "I meant like... we're both alone, so we could go together so that we'll have each other's company"

"Oh" I said simply "Sure"

I gave him a small smile, which he instantly returned.

"There are just 2 more rooms, do you mind if we see them together?" He asked

"No, not at all" I replied

We spent the whole afternoon together. Even though there were just a few more paintings to see, it took us hours to get out of the art gallery.

We also talked a lot while observing all the art pieces. I found out that we're actually really similar. I could feel some strange kind of connection between us, we had met just a couple of days prior, but he felt like a close friend of mine.

I don't know what it was, but he had something special.

When we left the art gallery, the sky was starting to get dark.

Hyunjin looked at his wristwatch "It's 8 already"

"Really?" I exclaimed, totally surprised "It was barely 3pm when we met"

"Time really flies when you have fun" he said "We should get dinner. The members told me that they are going to order pizzas, you should come eat with us"

"Oh, no I can't" I said, shaking my head "They are probably resting and I don't want to disturb them"

"You won't disturb anyone, trust me" he stated, looking at me in the eyes

"Don't worry, it's fine" I gave him a shy smile "You can go and eat with them, I'll be fine"

I stared at me for a couple of seconds before saying something "If you don't want to eat with us at the dorm, then it's going to be just you and me"

"No, you sounded so excited at the thought of eating pizza. You should eat with them" I tried persuading him

"I don't care about the pizza' he said firmly "I'll just call Chan and then we can go somewhere to eat"

I tried to say something back but he instantly shushed me

"I decided, you can't persuade me" he said smiling

He then proceeded to call Chan. He just told him that he was going to eat dinner somewhere else and that he wasn't going to come to the dorms just yet.

The call lasted just a couple of minutes and when it ended, Hyunjin diverted his attention to me.

"What do you want to eat?" He asked me

"How about some ramen?" I suggested

"Sure, do you have any restaurants in mind?"

"There's one that shouldn't be that far away" I said

"I'll follow you"

I started walking and he jogged to catch up with me

"Don't run away!" He whined

"I'm not running away, you're just slow" I said back

About 15 minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant. As we walked inside, a waiter approached us

"How many of you are there?" He asked

"Just the two of us" Hyunjin replied

The waiter nodded and told us to follow him to a table.

We sat down and ordered a bowl of ramen each. The restaurant was almost empty, so that's probably why our food came so fast.

As we ate, we didn't talk much, but the silence between us wasn't awkward at all.
Even though we were silent, the atmosphere was really chill and comfortable, as if we didn't feel the need to talk.

The ramen was quite good, but definitely not the best one I ever had. Maybe that's the reason why the restaurant was almost empty.

When we finished eating, we went to the cash register to pay for the dinner.

I was about to take out my credit card, but he grabbed my wrist.

I looked up and our eyes met. I instantly looked away, he was looking at me so intensely that he could've probably been able to see my soul.

"I'll pay this one" he said, still not letting go of my wrist

"O-okay" did I really just stutter?

He was making me feel strange, his hand was still on my wrist, but his hands were really soft and his grip was extremely delicate as if a tighter grip could've shattered me.

He handed his card to the waiter and when he got it back, he finally let go of my wrist.

"Let's go home now" He said

"I'll walk you, it's late" he offered as we left the restaurant

"Thank you, but I can't" I replied "My car is still at the studio, so I have to get it"

"I'll walk you to the studio then" he insisted

"I'm good, really" I turned his offer down "It won't take me long to get there"

"Oh" he said, frowning a bit "Okay then, see you tomorrow"

"See you tomorrow" I said back

After that, we parted ways. I went left while he went right.

It didn't take me long to get to the studio, barely over 15 minutes.

I unlocked the car and got inside. I laid against the car seat, I was feeling very strange... I was somehow so ecstatic and I could feel something in my stomach... it's probably just the ramen, right?

I just brushed those thoughts away and started to drive home.