City of stars | Daerin

3

Ever since Haerin moved to Seoul, she had nothing to look forward to, except for University. After choosing her major and torturing herself for three years, she could already smell the victory. Only a few months were left until she could work in a company as an intern, it would make her life so much easier. The feline wouldn't have to eat instant ramen three days a week. There were too many expenses to take care of—like the student fees, food, rent expenses-bills-, and her convenience store money couldn't cover all of it. Her parents send her money, yes, but she still wanted to be so successful, so that they wouldn't have to worry about money anymore. Her number one priority was making them proud and comfortable. They already served a perfect role of parenting, it was her time to return the favor, soon enough.

After leaving Busan with that exact thought in her mind, she visited Sunghoon a day before her final decision. The boy was fully focused on his photographing sphere—he would always run around to different events, such as concerts, weddings, and similar occasions, which would let him make a good amount of money. He had his dad's garage as a room, so his door was usually open—because his friends would come in and play on his computer or on Xbox.

Haerin has been there a few times before, only because Sunghoon would lend her his Kodak films, along with some tapes, since she used to have film cameras too. The feline was very thankful for his kindness. One of the reasons why they were so close was because of their weirdly similar personalities. He was also closed off, didn't like talking too much and slept almost most of the day.

Their first meeting was like that too. All Haerin did was try to fit in with this pretty boy, who seemed a lot more mature than the feline was. That alone let Haerin experience a few new emotions: Jealousy and envy. Her brain went skyrocket—Sunghoon already had his plans written and almost done beforehand. He knew what he had to do in this life, what his path was. Even though the older boy had some questionable decisions made in the past, he still seemed like someone who could navigate himself onto the right path without much thought.

Haerin knew that jealousy and envy were bad emotions—counted in seven deadly sins. She didn't want to fall into categories of this theology, but after experiencing it with her own heart, the feline knew that she accidentally trapped herself. One more reason why her decision of moving to Seoul was fueled more.

Since he had a car, Sunghoon dropped his mini version off at the train station. But, before she could finally escort herself there, he stopped her.

"Take this," He said and motioned to the tool resting on his palm. Haerin looked down and saw a small digital camera there. It had a date on in—a random number, it was probably a cheap camera he got from a retail store. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up and saw Sunghoon smiling gently and genuinely.

After that, Haerin had two digital cameras, one small and the other a professional one. One was black and the other was white. However, she also had a film camera—but she didn't use it as much. Haerin didn't have enough time and money to get a polaroid one, so she settled with those that she already owned.

Currently, a hard rain was consuming the whole Seoul. Since last night, it has been pouring dogs and cats non-stop. After getting home, Haerin fell asleep right away. That night of the party was the most odd amount of hours the feline spent, everything was so weird, mostly because of the woman she met. Danielle was at least two years older than her, probably finished university and has her career going—Haerin noticed her expensive clothing and a YSL bag, along with a Celine coat. She totally had a lot of money. But, what did she want from the cat-eyed one? All the feline did was take one snoopy picture of her and dipped—that seemed so creepy out of context. Danielle could've asked her to delete the picture and Haerin would do so—she's not some pervert to keep frames of women on her cameras. It was an accident, because her instincts always tell her to capture something beautiful, no matter what it is.