Luna returned to Seoul after the weekend on Monday morning at 6 am. And since she had already slept on the plane a little, she just got ready for uni and left early, eager to escape Jihoon's watchful gaze.
"The bodyguard goes with you." He called out after her.
"He always does." She shouted back with an eye roll.
She looked over at Haemin's gate, half expecting, half hoping for him to walk out but he didnt so she continued her walk.
Instead of going to her new building, she walked to Sajinsul, carefully handling the small fawn colored box in her hands.
No one was in yet because it was early and Joy was always the first one to enter so she had no worries of bumping into one of her other friends and having them bombard her with their worries over her.
She sat down on the bean bag and waited for a few minutes but then decided to go into the hall of reflections (gallery), which she hadn't had the chance to visit up till now.
"LUNAAAA"
"Fuck, you scared me." Luna put a hand over her heart, she really hadn't heard Joy enter.
Joy hugged her tightly and rocked her, "Im so glad you're okay."
"Wasn't gonna do it, don't worry." She smiled.
When they pulled apart, Joy still had her arms on her shoulders, "Good, because if you try that again, I will throw you in our Vanta black tiled pool and turn the lights off."
Luna shuddered, "Please don't, even the thought is terrifying."
Joy hugged her again but this time Luna cut it short, "I wanna show you something."
She opened the box that she had brought and took out the handful of polaroids that she could take from the darkroom in her basement before Jihoon caught her.
As Joy skeptically started to look at them, Luna said, "You once told me that one could tell from the pictures he takes, what the photographer's feelings are for the model."
Joy stayed quiet as she looked at each picture of her that Jihoon had taken.
"You are better than I am but I think it looks like he really likes you." Luna said.
"Joy?"
Joy sucked in a steady breath, "I always wanted him to take pictures of me but I never got to ask him, I was too shy and he was too.. far away."
"What do you mean?"
"He was always in his own world, he used to notice the most peculiar things in the most ordinary phenomenons, he had the most mind boggling questions for our teacher in class. He was too cool, too enigmatic. I didnt want to bother him, let my problems affect him, so I stayed away. I was the gone girl in school, the one who "partied hard" whereas I never even went to a party in school. I was always modeling, from golf wear to bathing suit shoots. So, people had alot of misconceptions about me and I could never convince them otherwise. I figured that he thought like them too.."
"You mean, you also.."
Joy turned to her with glazed eyes, "He likes me. He really likes me!" She jumped onto Luna again and this time Luna responded with a hug too.
"And if he had these this whole time AND he asked me on dates and then the marriage proposal, then he really must like me!"
"Yes! He must!" Luna chuckled, "He has been a bit disturbed because of his mother passing away but I still believe you two can make it together."
"You have to help me." Joy looked at her with big eyes and Luna nodded eagerly, "I will. You helped me so much as well."
"Speaking of that," Joy said and pulled Luna into the gallery, "Take a look at your wall of reflection."
Luna looked over at each member's sections and they were filled to the point that some of them didnt even have any space left. She found herself floating to Haemin's section but Joy caught her arm and dragged to a corner.
"Look at yours."
"Its gonna be devastatingly empty." Luna replied looking at Joy and not at her wall, scared that it actually might be empty.
Joy glared at her and aggressively gestured to the wall again.
Luna sighed and turned to look and had her eyes widen more than she thought they could. Her wall was FULL.
From the top of the wall touching the ceiling to the bottom where it met the ground. Countless snaps of her displayed. They were all stuck according to different days and they were pictures of her in uni, in class, in the cafeteria, in the greenhouse, in Tokyo, in Australia, at the amusement park, at Namsan Tower and many more.
There were pictures of her modeling for the photo book and then there were candids of her too.
And all so well shot. At angles that complimented her, at times when her smile was at its peak or when her hair was swept by the wind.
After years of avoiding her reflections, this was the first time she actually looked at herself and she was actually not that bad looking. Not bad looking at all, almost as pretty as Joy even. Almost.
"One member took the most but other members did too. I want you to choose your top five and then I'll tell you who took them. Choose the ones where you like yourself the most."
It was super had for Luna but she ended up choosing two from Namsan, one from Tokyo and then again two from the amusement park. They were perhaps her favorite. The angle and lighting made it seem like she was the only one there. A white dove in a jungle of rainbow lights.
Joy squealed and clapped her hands, "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Luna asked, a smile still playing on lips.
"Haemin took all five of these."
Luna's lips straightened, "He did?"