City of stars | Daerin

1

One more and she's done. Just one more.

Bustling city behind the bars of a balcony never go well with admiring a view. A horizon should be defined by sharp angles and lovely curves—for it to be captured by a polaroid or a digital camera.

The first rule to ensure, when you're going to start photographing, is to entrap emotion. This seems like the easiest thing, but it's actually the hardest part to take into account. Clicking buttons and looking into the lens is easy work, unless you're an amateur and have no ability to balance. Once clicking the shutter, it should be done, right? No. Digital cameras aren't just tools to play with. They're instruments that have deep emotional roles. In order to understand them you shouldn't be simply skilled—you should have the understanding and could look within the lens. You should feel like a camera, if that makes sense. Taken pictures should be etched in your heart and mind, as if they are lively. Looking at them should let people feel something, no matter what feeling it is—it should have some kind of reactions.

Consider being in early twenties, sitting on your narrow balcony, with metal bars hovering above to secure safety—which is actually not needed—and smoking fifth cigarette of the night, hollowing out your cheeks and exhaling puffs of chemicals into the air. All this while thinking about a career she's not going to pursue. This flows deeper than just a hobby, it captured Haerin's whole being. But, It's a secret she doesn't share with anyone. Not that she has many people around her.

Haerin coughed at a particular smoke and hit herself near her chest a few times, breathing a bit heavily because of the trouble. She put the remaining tube in her ashtray and stood up, dusting off the ashes that seemed to fall on her while taking a drag. She sighed deeply and opened the door of her balcony, sliding into her poor apartment and loudly closing it.

One thing about being in the last year of university, and trying to get your career going simultaneously, is that it will help with existential crisis, not paying the bills. The feline looking girl always stressed about her home lifestyle. She would blink and a large amount of money, which was her average, would always disappear from her grasp. It was a miracle that she worked at a convenience store nearby, or it would be hard to go through the drag of killing yourself. It's not that Haerin was suicidal, no, not at all. Quite opposite, she was ambitious and worked hard—but it wasn't easy if we consider multifaceted facts that continuously tormented the photographer. One—she really loved holding her digital camera and taking pictures of different things, but she never had the courage to do that exact thing because of her family. And before that question arises, no, her parents din't pressure her into something. This was the feline's own choice—she really wants to follow in her father's footsteps and invest in business sphere. It would help with getting money and making everyone proud. It was like a tradition anyway, the Kang family always involved in business.

However, thinking so much about how she was ruining her whole life by forcing herself into things that weren't her style was haunting the feline beyond belief. It was hard sitting at home and doing statistics, finances and excel day and night. Some could say it was simple homework—but in reality, this was a routine. A routine to distract herself from the harsh reality that surrounds the inescapable.

Haerin gritted her teeth and sighed through her nostrils, grabbing another box and walking towards the shelves, putting it down slowly and harshly grabbing different chips to put them on ledges. The cat-eyed girl felt a presence and furrowed her brows, not looking back to make the annoying person go away. However, luck was never on the feline's side. Her co-worked patted her shoulder to get the cat-eyed girl's attention, but to no use.

"I know you're ignoring me." The girl huffed and looked down at her nails, waiting for her co-worker to say something, but Haerin was silent. "Haerin, c'mon, man!" The brunette girl nudged her acquaintance a bit, so the cat-eyed finally sighed and turned around.