SEOLMIN WATCHES the hills, lost in the rhythmic percussion of hues of green and orange. her eyes are steady to the horizon, face aglow with the last orange rays before twilight beckons the stars. her lips bear the semblance of a smile, just enough to show that she is enjoying her thoughts, whatever they may be.
jaemin notices seolmin standing alone, away from everyone screaming and taking photographs for their instagram feed and facebook profile pictures. he moves closer so that she feels his presence, yet stays quiet, allowing her to stay lost in the moment a while longer. she pulls out her phone from the back of her pocket and starts taking pictures of the sunset. she suddenly notices the reflection of the boy wearing a black hoodie on her phone screen.
"did you rest well?" jaemin leans down towards the railings of the cliff.
"yeah. the bed was really comfortable, you know how they describe the beds in those ads." she says and looks up at the boy standing beside her, observing the sun getting lost into the horizon.
"you look better now, you literally looked dead in the morning. glad you slept well." he finally looks at her.
seolmin thinks jaemin looks the best during sunsets, it's rays kissing his glowy skin, he looks at peace. her heart swells looking at him, so she turns her head to face the hues of green and orange instead.
"the sunset looks so good from this angle!" jaemin suddenly exclaimed. seolmin happily tried to follow his direction only to realise she won't be able to see it due to her height. "jaemin, not everyone is tall." she said earning a chuckle from him.
"did you take any pictures though?" jaemin asks and looks at the girl who's too busy observing the view ahead of them. the sound of other noisy students in the background echoing through the hills.
"no, i don't have any makeup on.." she sighed and started walking towards the crowd of other students a few yards away from them.
"seol! you look good though..your instagram is literally dead. maybe just like a picture from the back? post something omg."
"did you really just say omg out loud?" she bursts into laughter and walks back again to join the boy who just embarrassed himself. she leans down on the railings and looks back at the boy, "take a picture, but from the back."
jaemin does the most, he squats down on the ground and positions his phone to get a good capture of the girl standing against the railings with a background of the sun almost setting, the sky almost dark.
"yeah i'm done!" jaemin smiles happily like a child after getting sweets and stands up to proudly show her the pictures he took.
"well you're a good photographer!" she giggles and notices his smile growing bigger.
"can we take a selfie? we don't have any pictures.." jaemin suggests and looks down at seolmin for approval. "sure." she smiles.
jaemin stands beside her. she smells like peaches, her hair showing hints of brown as it reflects with the sun which is almost on the verge of getting lost into the horizon. he positions the camera and throws up a peace sign following by seolmin doing the same too.
"guys! come down the cliffs quickly we're going for dinner! within 5 minutes quickly, quickly." the teacher screams on top of her lungs and the students follow her down the cliff in huge groups.
"this bitch is mad for no damn reason all the time..i'm not trying to get bashed. i'm leaving." she chuckles and runs down the cliff, joining her friends standing in a circle. jaemin looks at the selfie he just took displayed on his phone screen, he smiles to himself and quickly locks his phone when he hears renjun screaming his name.
"look i took a few selfies! it looks good right? i'm thinking about making the second one my instagram icon." hana exclaims and shows her the series of selfies taken in different angles. seolmin admits, hana is indeed pretty.
"you should actually go with the third one, your hair looks better in there." seolmin suggests and walks down the rocky road which leads down to the a famous hotpot restaurant according to the teacher.
the crowd enters the restaurant and the strong smell of seafood hotpot and kimchi hits seolmin's smelling sense. she loved having hotpot, especially with people she cared about. all the students gather in groups of 3 and sits in a separate table of 10. jaemin sits infront of heejin right beside donghyuck on the same table. "guys listen, jaemin here doesn't like hotpot apparently so he's just gonna order tuna bibimbap." jeno leans forward and laughs followed by a group of laughters echoing through the small, homely restaurant.
_____
"sleep early tonight students! we're going for swimming and hiking tomorrow, right jaemin?" the teacher announces and looks at jaemin. "yes, as she said we will be having breakfast early in the morning and we're gonna enjoy our day hiking and swimming." jaemin adds. "alright guys, good night then. see you in the morning."
with that, all the students who were gathering in the lobby walks to their respective rooms. hana and hyejoo notices seolmin still sitting in one of the antique sofas in the lobby.
"aren't you coming?" hyejoo sits beside seolmin and looks at for an answer. "i'm gonna..smoke." she replied almost whispering the latter word. "aren't you trying to quit?" hana says, her hands resting on her waist. "i'm trying okay? i haven't smoked in like what..5 days? i can't anymore, let me do it. just once." she pleads. "well give me the pack, take one, hit it quick and come back." hana says and walks towards the elevator giving her a sign to come back quickly.
seolmin walked through the gates, clutching her phone, a lighter and one cigar hana had given her. she mentally thanks hana for giving her only one, or else she would've smoked 4 without even knowing. there was a circular lawn with a path around it, central bed of shrubs. outside of the lawn area were four rose bush beds to fill up the square area. she quietly sits on one of the benches in the dark, away from all the lamp posts surrounding the lawn.
she inhaled slowly, her system responding to the smoke, and she felt her lungs being wrapped by a warm blanket. taking small, slow draws of the cigarette, she felt delighted, like she had never felt before. seolmin rested her head on the bench and took long slow draws of the cigarette, she didn't want it to end yet.
"you smoke?" jaemin suddenly plopped down on the bench beside her. "do you have any extra?" he added.
"why are you even here?" she asks and takes another slow draw of the cigarette.
"i came for a walk because i can't sleep. and also because jeno's busy playing some loud game on his phone. it was kinda hurting my head." jaemin runs his hands through his brown dyed hair. "so do you have any extra?" he added again.
"hana took them all. i have been trying to quit for a while now so.." she replies.
"yeah don't smoke."
"you literally asked for one."
"i haven't smoked in almost 2 months and i don't feel like it anymore so your point is invalid."
"you still asked for one though!"
"because i felt like it, but you don't have one anyways. so guess who isn't smoking? me!" jaemin exclaims.
"okay damn, you win." seolmin giggles.
seolmin throws the bud somewhere on the grass and gets up leaving jaemin behind on the bench.
"where are you going?" he asks, jogging to catch up with her pace.
"room. you should too." she suggests. "you have to wake up early, it's almost 11, go to bed." she smiles and the elevator door closes behind her leaving jaemin alone in the lobby.
