Chapter 1

"Can I get you anything?" the waitress asked Lisa moments after she settled herself down the wooden chair. She was expectantly holding a pen on her one hand and a pocket notebook on her other hand, preparing herself to jot down whatever Lisa would wish to order.

But Lisa smiled politely and shook her head.

"No, thank you," Lisa said. "I mean, not yet, anyway. I'm waiting for a friend," she added.

The waitress, who was unable to hide her disappointment and irritation towards Lisa, slacked her shoulders and wheeled her soles around to leave. But Lisa, who had keen eyes for details, noticed the sudden change of attitude from the waitress. And she wasn't up to anything dramatic today, including making an old grumpy waitress feel bad about her job. She wouldn't allow anything to dampen her mood today.

"Oh, hey! Ajumna! Wait up!" she called the attention of the waitress.

The waitress turned around lazily and looked at her, the disappointment and irritation was still all over her age lines.

"Wae?" asked the waitress irritably. Gone was the pleasantries on her voice, which made Lisa cringed internally.

"Can I have a glass of chocolate milk then? While I'm waiting for my friend to arrive, that is," Lisa said.

The waitress looked at Lisa with disbelief in her eyes. She even eyed Lisa from head to foot, as if telling her that she was old and big enough for a glass of chocolate milk.

But Lisa smiled brightly, unapologetic. It was her favorite. So what?

"Right. A glass of chocolate milk!" said the grumpy waitress and turned her back again on Lisa.

Lisa smiled despite to herself. It was no wonder why she loved her job, despite the inconvenience it would caused her. Being a photographer meant that she would get to meet a lot of different kinds of people and had to deal with different kinds of characters wherever she would go and she thought she was okay with it. After all, there would always be something worth-telling behind every person that she would get to meet along her way. And the waitress and her crankiness was one of those stories that she would actually want to capture through her lens. But she didn't want to intrude and irate further the grumpy waitress. So, she fought the urge to fish her camera from her bag and just let the fleeting moment passed by, but totally not unnoticed.

Probably an old maid, Lisa thought to herself about the waitress, as she looked around and entertained herself by observing the interior details of the diner she was in.

It was on old diner, built around the 70's, according to the old certificate of compliance framed on the wall she saw when she entered the premise. The walls were covered aesthetically with wallpapers printed with retro stuffs, like an old cameras (which fascinated Lisa so much), gramophones, and some old newspaper cut-outs of The New York Times, which made the walls look like a giant paper collage—a work of art.

The ceiling was somewhat low and designed with murals about freedom and liberation of one's self. Old wooden panels were positioned strategically away from one another. The chairs and tables were mismatched but looked delightfully comfortable. And on each table were placed with cool-looking old Victorian table lamps, one which you can find on thrift stores or garage sales. Whose lights provided just a right amount of dimness that gave off a vintage glow for the whole interiors of the cafè.

The place looked like an old American diner in some classic Hollywood movies. And if it weren't with the help of the handful of people, who were dressed in modern style, Lisa would totally feel like she was transported back in time. Especially since a classic Elvis was playing over an old jukebox in the corner.

Lisa couldn't helped herself and picked up her bag from the cold black-and-white tiled floor, where she dumped it under her table, took her camera out and started pressing the shutter. She then randomly took several photos of the life that was breathing inside the diner, and the lack thereof. She would tinker her settings every now and then, to perfect the aperture and exposure.

She took a snap of the old couple who was sitting at the farthest table, with their heads bowed down, sharing the intimacy and comforts of the warm cup of coffee in their hands and the moist sweetness of the slice of pie on a saucer in front of them. They looked like they were talking casually. Like, exchanging opinions about the weather outside and the headlines of the papers that morning.

She also took a snap of the young lovers who were snuggling at the other side of the diner; the woman was trapped within the warm embrace of her lover's. A scene that was not extraordinary to Lisa, but still gave her enough shivers to make her heart flutter. There was always something romantic about two lovers showing affections and intimacy with one another, even if Lisa had already witnessed such public display of affection most of her adult life.

She then took a snap of the grumpy waitress who was carrying her glass of iced chocolate milk, walking towards her table. She smiled at the waitress and said thank you, but the waiter only grumbled a few inaudible words in return and then returned to her station without so much as looking back at Lisa.

Lisa, then, went to being a fulltime shutterbug. She made it a point to capture even the tiniest detail of the place, including the wasp of smoke coming out from the cup in front of a woman who was sitting from across her, three tables away.

The woman, who was looking all chic and fashionable, with her hair down, was staring outside the glass window beside her, looking pensive. Lisa, positioned her camera directly towards the woman, taking everything in her viewfinder and released the shutter quickly before the woman could change position.

Lisa captured the woman's profile, the book laying in front of her and everything that was on the table. The dimmed light from the old Victorian table lamp made the woman's face shone and gave emphasis on the woman's eyes. The faint light from the glass window illuminated and outlined the woman's half profile. Lisa made sure to capture all the important elements in one picture, including the slight creased of her brows.

"This would definitely be at the top spot on my blog," Lisa said happily to herself, while looking foward to updating her photography blogsite on her apartment later that night.

Taking photos never failed to make Lisa happy. She was on her best elements when she was doing what she does best. Photography was Lisa's passion in life. Her commitment to it was infallible. It brought her immense pleasure, photography. She was good at it.

She checked the contents of her camera roll and stared at the photograph of the woman sitting across her on the screen. The woman had fine and delicate features; Lisa made sure to capture all of it through her lens. Her hair was jet black, long and shiny. Her cheeks looked soft and fluffy. Her nose was small and pretty and her lips... Lisa wondered for a second how those lips would taste and shook her head to erase that thought. The woman, in every sense of the word, was beautiful.

Lisa thought she would like to get another snap of the woman from another angle, the perfectionist in her was starting to kick in. So she adjusted her camera settings once again, changing the aperture and exposure once again for her liking and took an aim at the woman. Only to find out that the woman was now intently glaring and scowling at her through her viewfinder. Lisa, despite being caught offguard, took yet another snap anyway before putting her camera down and smiled apologetically towards the woman and offered a shrug.

The woman raised one brow, as if asking Lisa an irritable "What the hell are you doing?" look, rolled her eyes and then snatched the book that was lying upside down on the table in front of her. She hid her face behind it and looking more upset than she might actually was. Her brows were furrowed and her forehead was creasing. She had the eyes of an angry cat, Lisa thought. A stylish, delicate, beautiful angry cat, who was wearing a Chanel necklace and looked definitely out of place in this vintage-looking cafè in Hongdae.

Lisa thought of standing up to approach the woman. She wanted to apologize for making her upset and to explain herself. But she was stopped with a loud and excited voice from behind her.

"Lisa! Oh my god! I'm so sorry I made you wait!" exclaimed a frantic and overexcited voice which, by the way, earned a not so earnest and welcoming glare from the handful of people inside the diner. The woman from across the room even made an annoyed tutting sound, barely audible, but loud enough for Lisa to hear, that clearly indicated that she was not pleased to hear Chaeyoung's loud voice and how it rippled her solitary.

Chaeyoung was breathless when she settled next to Lisa after Lisa pulled her for a hug, and gulped the remaining of the content from Lisa's glass of chocolate milk.

"Whoa there! Did you do a marathon, Chaeyoung Park?" Lisa teasingly asked Chaeyoung, who was still gasping for air beside her. "Aigoo!" she muttered as she tried to fan Chaeyoung's face which was drenched in sweat using her hands.

Chaeyoung nodded furiously. Her mane of pinkish red hair was swaying and bobbing as she did so, in harmony with her head. Her forehead was gleaming in sweats amid the cold weather outside.

"I'm so sorry I didn't make it on time, Shutterbug. We've been rehearsing nonstop since last week for the open mic show and I couldn't just extract myself from the group or else they will kill me. Know what I mean? They're just...vicious!" said Chaeyoung, laughing.

Lisa laughed and grabbed Chaeyoung into a tight embrace. She obviously wouldn't care if it would take Chaeyoung a lifetime to come and meet her in this dingy cafè. As long as Chaeyoung would, then she's fine with it.

"Of course, I do, Chipmunk. And it's okay. I had fun while waiting, anyway," said Lisa, inadvertently darting her eyes towards the woman from across the room, who was yet again, buried under the pile of words on her hardbound book. She was reading a classic, Lisa noticed, after reading the cursive words written across the hard cover of the book.

Chaeyoung raised her brows and looked at Lisa quizzically.

"Fun, huh?" Chaeyoung inquired and decided to unintentionally follow her deep shade of brown towards the unknown woman Lisa was looking at from across the room.

"Oh, shit! No. Not that kind of fun, Chaeng. I meant I was snapping photos kind of fun," Lisa explained herself, laughing, earning another disapproving look from the folks inside the diner.

"Hmm," Chaeyoung mumbled, raised a brow, unconvinced. "Is this why you chose to sit on this table with your back on the door? I thought you said you hate sitting with your back on the door?"

"The view from where I'm sitting right now is pretty much okay. So," Lisa answered coyly. She laughed a little when she noticed the increase amount of crease on the woman's pretty forehead. The woman was clearly eavesdropping. And Lisa found it amusing.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes and smirked at Lisa, as if telling Lisa that she could tell a lie from every angle, especially if it was from Lisa.

"If you say so, Manoban. You still haven't changed!" mocked Chaeyoung. "Let's order, shall we? I'm so starving right now!" she groaned. "Let's talk about your latest travel while eating."

"So, you're bandmates are keeping you hungry, huh? That's a bad move! You're grumpy when you're hungry," Lisa chuckled and called the attention of the grumpy waitress, who wasn't looking grumpy anymore, because she was happily taking Lisa and Chaeyoung's food order.

"I missed you, you know?" Lisa told Chaeyoung, in her most aegyo voice, after the waitress left. She was playfully and lovingly stroking Chaeyoung's vividly colored hair with her long fingers and imprisoned the redhead with yet another tighter hug.

She and Chaeyoung had gone a long way. They were friends even before they understood the definition of the word friendship. They were inseparable since forever. That was when until Lisa decided to gave in to her passion in photography and decided to leave everything behind in order to pursue her dreams to become a professional photographer and chase her magnum opus.

Chaeyoung, meanwhile, stayed behind, even if it would mean that she and Lisa would go on separate ways. There was her music and her band. There were gigs left and right. Plus, her bar. She could not just leave her own dreams and her life behind in order to help Lisa accomplished hers, even if she wanted to. And Lisa supported her full time, just as how she was to Lisa. So, when Lisa would come home and spend a week or two in the country, Chaeyoung would always made it a priority to spend more time with Lisa. If not most of the time.

"I missed you, too, Shutterbug. That's why I ditched the band practice and came here running as best and fast as I could," Chaeyoung said, smiling and laughing, and caught Lisa in a warm "welcome home" embrace.

"At least you're putting those long legs to good use today," joked Lisa, which Chaeyoung replied with a kick on Lisa's shin under the table.

"What the—Ouch!" Lisa complained with tears on her eyes. "That hurts!"

"Now I'm putting it to good use," Chaeyoung said with a smirk.