candid clicks | lee heeseung

03: upcoming freshers' party

The sun peeked over the horizon as another day began at the university. Yeseul made her way through the bustling campus, her mind wandering as she mentally ticked off her schedule for the day. Chaerin, as usual, was by her side, chattering away about something or another.

"So, have you heard about the Freshers' Party coming up?", Chaerin suddenly brought up, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

Yeseul raised a brow. "Freshers' Party? I thought those were supposed to be boring."

Chaerin waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, the official one might be a snoozefest, but rumor has it that there's another, more exciting party hosted by someone with a shitload of money. It's supposed to be the real deal."

"And why should I care about that?", Yeseul asked, only half-interested.

Chaerin grinned mischievously. "Because, my dear friend, this might be your chance to loosen up a bit. Who knows, maybe you'll find someone interesting. Plus, I heard Sunghoon might be there too."

Yeseul's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Sunghoon. It had been a while since she last thought about her former crush. Although her feelings for him had faded, there was still a lingering sense of curiosity about what might have been.

"Seo Yeseul."

The teen girl turned around at the mention of her name, only to be met up with Lee Heeseung.

It wasn't even awkward between them, more like there was some sort of strange tension in the air that made it... simply unbearable for her.

Especially after she beat him in the annual photography competition during the sophomore year.

They were in now in their junior year but it seemed like his defeat stuck with him longer than she initially thought it would.

"Clean up the place and adjust those boxes, I've gotta head to the academy right now", the boy said casually.

"Those boxes-"

Bang.

"need to be checked out too...", she murmured to herself.

Great, she had the whole place to herself... to clean up.

"Maybe I shouldn't have won back then", she muttered to herself,  as she put in her airpods connected to her phone.

She began to play Conan Gray's album, 'Kid Krow'.

The music began to draw her out as she went through the old, somehow, antique looking cameras that must've belonged to the previous members.

She found those pretty, just pretty.

Most of them were beyond repair but they looked like those old pinterest cameras.

Somehow, her gaze dropped from the cameras to the half opened door. Heeseung...did he really have to be that insufferable?

He couldn't even bother to close the door properly.

Not even a second later, a strikingly familiar person entered the room, his snow skin putting summer to shame.

"What are you doing here?"

The girl couldn't hear him so she took one of her airpods. "Huh?"

"What are you doing here?", he repeated, leaning against the doorframe.

"Checking out these old cameras and adjusting these boxes", Yeseul shrugged, it wasn't their first meeting, his brother was somehow quite acquainted with her so Sunghoon got to know about her too.

Unlike him, Sunghoon was actually nice.. and good-looking too, of course.

"Heeseung left you to do all of this alone?", Sunghoon made his way towards her and placed another box on the table as he began to check out the cameras too.

"Said he was busy", she kept it vague, not wanting to elaborate further.

"He's not. Actually, I just saw him heading out with his friends, probably to the arcade."

"Figured it out, he has some grudge against me, as you know", of course, Yeseul knew it all.

"Mind if I help you instead of him?"

Yeseul let out a quiet nod, it wouldn't be that difficult, right?

He was just helping her... because he was nice, he was nice to everyone.

'But I think that it could work for you and me...'

'Just wait and see...'

She tore her gaze away from him.

She wasn't supposed to like him like everyone other girl did, she neither had the guts to confess nor the heart to accept the rejection.

Before Yeseul could repond, Chaerin continued. "You're coming with me, right? I mean, you wouldn't leave your best friend to fend for herself at a wild party, would you?"

Yeseul sighed, knowing that there was no point in arguing. "Fine, I'll go. But don't expect me to be your wingwoman all night."

Chaerin giggled. "Oh, don't worry. I'll be too busy enjoying myself to drag you around. But seriously, Yeseul, this could be fun. Who knows? Maybe you'll end up making some memories worth keeping."

Yeseul sighed faintly, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. "We'll see."

As they made their way to their separate classes, Yeseul couldn't shake the feeling that the upcoming party would be anything but ordinary. Little did she not know, this would just be the beginning of a series of a chaotic events that would turn her world upside down.

🎞˙✧˖°📷 ༘ ⋆｡˚