Lost in your lens - NewJeans' Minji x M!Reader

Ch. 17 - Different Light

The morning Seoul fog made everything look soft-focused, like one of Minji's vintage film photographs. Standing outside the SNU Graduate School building, I found myself reaching for a camera that wasn't there – some habits were contagious after all.

"Already thinking like a photographer?" Minji's voice came from behind me, accompanied by the familiar click of her shutter. She'd insisted on documenting my first day of graduate school, just as she had countless moments since we'd returned to Seoul.

"Just thinking about contrast," I replied in Korean that no longer required translation in my head. "Last time I stood here as an exchange student, everything felt..."

"Foreign?" she supplied, lowering her camera to study the image she'd just taken.

"Temporary," I corrected. The difference mattered.

Four months had passed since our return, since unpacking our lives into the apartment Danielle had redesigned for us. We'd found our rhythm in the shared space – my academic books mingling with her photography portfolios, my study schedules working around her editing sessions, our mornings a choreographed dance of comfortable habits.

"Ready?" she asked, but her camera was already raising again.

Click.

"The lighting-" she started.

"Was perfect?" I grinned, falling into our old pattern.

"No," she smiled that smile that still made my heart skip even after all this time. "But your confidence is."

Inside, the graduate department hummed with first-day energy. My Korean was fluid now, letting me catch snippets of conversations without effort – professors discussing research proposals, international students navigating cultural nuances, local students debating theoretical frameworks. A year ago, these academic discussions would have intimidated me. Now they felt like invitation.

My phone buzzed with our group chat's morning chaos:

Hyein: FIRST DAY FIGHTING! Don't forget everything I taught you about academic Korean!

Haerin: You'll do great. The research proposal you practiced was excellent.

Hanni: Documentary cameras ready for your academic debut!

Danielle: The study nook lighting should be perfect for late-night research sessions. Don't forget to adjust the panels I installed.

Minji caught me smiling at my phone. "They're all watching Hanni's livestream of your grad school entrance, aren't they?"

"Probably. Though I think Hyein's actually supposed to be teaching right now..."

"MULTITASKING!" came Hyein's immediate text response, proving our point.

The morning passed in a blur of introductions and orientations. My research focus – cultural adaptation through language acquisition – earned interested nods from professors who remembered my own journey from struggling exchange student to TOPIK perfect scorer. One even mentioned using Hanni's documentary clips as teaching material.

Lunchtime found us at our usual café table, Minji editing photos while I organized my new academic schedule. The familiar space felt different now – not just because we'd grown, but because we'd chosen to grow here together.

"Look at this," Minji turned her laptop toward me. The screen showed her latest international submission – a series on finding home in unfamiliar places. The photos moved from New York's sharp angles to Seoul's soft curves, telling a story of belonging that transcended location.