Lights, Camera & Action

Sip Hok

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A soft breeze tumbled across the streets of Paris, gusting passed the bustling townspeople and tourists, calming the seemingly fast lifestyle of the city. 

Lingling wrapped herself in her beige hued trench coat, glad that Junji forced her to wear it out of her hotel room. 

Lingling felt a bit silly, wearing a coat with rounded, over sized sunglasses in October, but while the sun was beaming through the clouds, the weather was fair, and honestly, beautiful.

In a fit of tourist syndrome, Junji woke Lingling up early that morning by laying on top of her and poking at her cheeks, insisting that they spend an entire day sightseeing. 

Lingling obliged, even though Junji practically had pushed her out of the house, and picked up Engfa on the way. Their first stop was to a bakery located in the outskirts of the city, and Junji had insisted on ordering everything herself, surprising her two friends with French goodies.

Engfa tapped away on her iPhone, and Lingling could see that she was on Instagram, swiping through the filter options for a photograph.

"What are you posting?" Lingling asked, leaning her elbows on the table so she could get a closer look.

Shielding her phone away, Engfa replied, "Just a cute candid of you."

Lingling gasped, "No don't! I look like a piece of wood with legs," Lingling commented, pulling her sunglasses down off the bridge of her nose.

Just then, Lingling's phone buzzed with an Instagram notification, telling her that she had been tagged in a photo. 

Lingling swiped right on her phone, and the picture revealed itself in front of her. The photograph already had a couple hundred likes, and Lingling eyed herself, sitting pretty in the patio chair. 

The sun hit Lingling's face in the most perfect way, and her semi short, black hair swept over the shoulder of her trench coat. Lingling's sunglasses sat perched on her button nose, her lips parted slightly as she watched unknowing pedestrians. The picture seemed so posed, but Lingling couldn't be caught more off guard.

"How do you do that, Ling," Engfa questioned, shaking her head, "If I get caught behind the scenes, I literally look so bad, like I have to spend several minutes finding a good angle and pose," Engfa pouted, and Lingling scoffed.

"Engfa , you're the queen of selfies, be quite girl," Lingling teased, grinning genuinely.

Beaming with her, Engfa commented, "Hey, there's that gorgeous smile. I missed it Lingling , I miss you," Engfa said, suddenly causing their conversation to get rather sad, "You haven't been the same ever since you and Orm split," Engfa frowned, and a pang of sadness rushed through Lingling's heart, "You were so happy with her, more alive than I've ever seen you before."

"Well, I guess that's over now," Lingling exhaled, avoiding eye contact.

"Have you guys spoken since," Engfa started, but then she interrupted herself, and obviously, Lingling knew what she was talking about.

Lingling nodded, admitting it to someone for the first time, "Last night I riled up the courage to talk to her, and she told me she wants to be just friends. What kind of bullshit is that?" Lingling whispered, her skin prickling up, remembering how sympathetic Orm had looked in the light of the hotel lamp.

Engfa rolled her eyes, "Don't let me waver your opinion, but you and Orm are made for each other, I'm sure of that. I've never seen two people click so easily and fall in love like they had been training for it their entire lives, even though you're both scared as hell," Engfa said, "You're going to get back together, I can feel it."