°Mashiho x Yedam
°The brilliant young photographer Yedam was appointed to take photos of the aspiring model, Takata Mashiho.
~
"Great Job as usual, Mashiho!" The manager said to his model. Takata Mashiho, the dancer come model of the renowned agency was seen smiling his gorgeous smile at the compliment. He aced the job of modelling; with his large deer eyes and incredible sense of fashion. He was a highly demanded figure for any clothing, cosmetics and many other brands. No wonder his photoshoot was done with extreme caution and sincerity.
"Let's see how the photos came out." Mashiho walked to the camera taking his pictures. The talented young photographer behind it smiled and made way. Just like Mashiho, the said photographer, Bang Yedam was also quite extraordinary compared to his age. He watched the model smile in satisfaction.
"These came out really well! Thanks Yedam ah!" He said to the photographer. Since they worked together quite a few times, also knowing that Yedam was younger than him, Mashiho addressed him informally, although Yedam didn't.
Mashiho walked with his manager to the waiting room. Yedam would have to send the photos to the editor and also to the manager, so he started packing his things to do it quickly. But before that, he clicked a few unplanned shots of Mashiho in secrecy. He had to safely put away the latter shots to his much loved secret folder, since no one knew he took the model's pictures under their noses.
The sorting out took only a few minutes. Yedam sent a file with the shots from that day to the editor via email. But for the manager, he copied the whole folder in a usb drive. He could have mailed him too, but it was his way to at least see the model one more time.
Yedam went and knocked on the waiting room of Mashiho. He was waiting for the manager to open the door but to his surprise, it was Mashiho himself.
"Hey, Yedam." He smiled. Yedam stopped himself from stuttering in a very successful way.
"Hi, Mr. Takata. Isn't your manager here?" He asked.
"He has gone away for a few minutes." Mashiho gently spoke.
"Oh. Um... Can you please give it to him on my behalf?" Yedam handed Mashiho the usb drive. He was feeling really nervous.
"Sure." Mashiho smiled, "Anything else?"
"No!" Yedam exclaimed, "Thank you, Mr. Takata!" He bowed in gratitude.
"You're welcome." Mashiho slightly bowed back. Then slowly, he closed the door. Yedam let out the breath he was holding in. Just by looking at Mashiho, his legs were shaking!
Mashiho got back to his phone and eventually forgot that he had something to deliver to his manager. He came back, talked and they both eventually left. Mashiho finished his schedule and reached home. While unpacking his handbag, he found out the drive and remembered what he forgot.
He stopped himself from dialling in his manager's number just before tapping the dial icon. He wanted to see those photos once again.
The drive had one folder, and it had his pictures from the previous photoshoot. He got impressed at Yedam's skill once again. Even the unedited photos looked brilliant!
Mashiho saw a 'new folder' among those pictures as well. Curious, he opened it. And it had thousands of pictures of him, dressed for photoshoots, yes, but not on the set. Rather, those were the pictures he never knew were taken. Him talking, looking at the side, eating or simply chilling- the photos were definitely not supposed to be taken.
Mashiho immediately frowned. No paparazzi could enter the studio, that meant one of the stuffs clicked them. But the quality of the pictures and the fact that Yedam's drive had them directed at one person only.
Bang Yedam took thousands of candid pictures of Mashiho, both before and after the photoshoot.
Mashiho was annoyed, even angry. He knew how the photos could be sold illegally. He didn't think Yedam would be one of those nasty culprits. However, since he doted on the talented photographer, he removed the folder from the drive and kept it in his pc. His manager could wait, he needed to check it for himself first.
A few days later, opportunity came. Yedam was photographing another model, Mashiho was the next one on queue. He was told to rest in the waiting room but he insisted on waiting at the set. His eyes were on Yedam's camera, to catch him taking the other model's candids. He was a 90% sure Yedam did that to earn some illegal money but he was surprised when he saw, even from afar that Yedam didn't click a single photo after the official photoshoot. So, it wasn't Yedam?
Mashiho's turn came about half an hour later. After a little touch up on his face and hair he went to pose. He was killing it like he usually did. He could tell he was looking gorgeous by the staffs' reaction. He posed sexily. After he was done, he went and checked the picture. He intentionally walked around the set a while longer, just to see if Yedam was with his camera or not.
He was. The younger didn't move from the camera. No he wasn't exactly taking pictures, but who knew? Maybe he was?
Mashiho observed him for a few more minutes and being the smart guy he was, he could tell Yedam was up for something. So, startling him, Mashiho went near the camera again.
"Can you move aside? I need to see the pictures again." He acted like he didn't know anything.
"Which one?" Yedam asked. Mashiho could tell he was nervous.
"From the very beginning."
"Okay." Yedam nodded and went to the very first photo from that day. He gave space to the elder. Mashiho saw that, then changed the picture. Yedam was praying hard, because a few photos later were the candid shots. He just wished Mashiho became bored and left, but Mashiho, he already made up his mind.
He changed the pictures fast and finally reached where he wanted. Yedam tried talking him out of it once, but he was clever. He didn't listen to the younger.
"When did you take this one?" Mashiho showed the first candid, where he was getting off the set.
"Oh, I accidentally clicked it." Yedam said hurriedly, trying to take the camera away. Mashiho stopped him, but changing the photo again.
"And this one?" He asked, then changed that again, "And this?"
"I-"
"Yedam ah, you think I'm dumb?" Mashiho spoke in annoyance, "You think I don't understand why you're doing it?"
"No, Mr. Takata, listen." Yedam hastily said, "Please don't misunderstand!"
Mashiho bitterly laughed, "You're doing it for money. I didn't think someone like you would do such a thing!"
"Trust me, it's not like this!" Yedam pleaded, "Please."
"I'm sorry, Yedam ah." Mashiho said, "I need to take action."
"Give me a chance, please!" Yedam held Mashiho's hand fast. This made the model halt. Yedam let go soon. Mashiho glared at him.
"I promise I won't ever do it again!" Yedam's eyes were teary. "Please don't tell it to anyone."
"You've been selling my pictures illegally, why would I consider-"
"Trust me, I haven't sold a single one and I never even intended to do so!"
Mashiho frowned, "Then?"
Yedam looked down, "I will never repeat it again, I promise. And- and I'll delete those I have as well."
Mashiho sighed. His weakness was his kindness. He was once again defeated by it and let the cunning photographer off the hook. He did some research afterwards and actually found out that Yedam never traded his photos illegally. This made him confused but he didn't wanna drag it anymore. After all, Yedam promised to stop taking his pictures.
He believed Yedam kept his words. Because for days, he observed the young photographer and found nothing suspicious. Over time, he kinda forgot about that incident. But what he didn't know was that Yedam actually never stopped. He was just being more cautious than ever. One day, even after that, he got caught. It was Mashiho again.
After finishing the photoshoot, Mashiho went to drink his coffee. He saw, with the corner of his eyes, Yedam adjusting the lens. He didn't bother at first, but Yedam was taking unnecessarily long. It made him frown. He slowly stood up and changed his position. Surprising him, Yedam's posture changed too. And it was clearly directed towards the model himself.
Mashiho stood up and started walking towards the photographer. By that, Yedam stopped doing whatever and started to pack his things up in a haste. Before Mashiho could even reach him, he left for the staff's room.
Mashiho thought of walking back but then decided otherwise. He asked permission from his manager and went following Yedam's footsteps.
Yedam was visibly surprised when he saw Mashiho in that room. He awkwardly laughed and greeted the model.
"Hi Mr. Takata! What brings you here?"
Mashiho didn't mind being courteous at all. He straight up walked to the camera.
"Show me what you did a while ago."
"What?" Yedam nervously asked.
"The camera. I know you took my pictures again." Mashiho sternly said.
"No, I didn't." Yedam defended. Mashiho tried to get a hold of the camera but Yedam took it in his own hands.
"Yedam ah, show me the pictures. Now."
"It has pictures of other models too, I can't-"
"Like I said, I still have the folder of my pictures from you. If you don't show it to me, my manager's gonna get that." Mashiho threatened.
"Trust me, Mr. Takata, I didn't do it for any other purpose."
"You promised me you wouldn't!" Mashiho was enraged. "How the fuck are you still doing it?"
"Listen, I don't have any ill intention I just-"
"I can't cut you some slack a second time, Yedam ah. It's a potential harm to my career as well!" Mashiho said, about to walk out the room.
"Please listen!" Yedam stopped him by holding his hand. "I- I'll admit!"
Mashiho waited to listen to him.
"Mr. Takata, I- I just... like taking your pictures."
Mashiho raised a brow, "You do get to take them at the shoot."
"But those are like- formal pictures. I like to look at your unplanned shots, it makes you appear- more humane."
Mashiho was full of confusion. "That's why you'll take my candids? That's weird!"
"I know! But I can't help myself." Yedam softly said. "Whenever I see you, I just want to click the moment and freeze it in a frame."
"You know what?" Mashiho said, "You're acting like a psycho!"
Yedam opened his mouth to say something but couldn't. The word uttered hurt him.
"I don't care about your reasons, don't even care about your job. If I see you one more time in the set, I'm gonna tell my manager what you did." Mashiho almost yelled. Yedam stood there like a helpless child while Mashiho walked away. He didn't even know what made him this angry. He just wanted Yedam to disappear from his sight.
He felt guilty almost immediately after, but he tried to keep up his professionalism. So, without giving it a second thought, he went home that night.
He didn't see Yedam in the next shoot. While asked, the manager replied that Yedam had ended the contract, and instead, they hired a new photographer for Mashiho. Obviously, it made Mashiho both angry and upset. But he still, for some weird reasons, kept Yedam's secret. He posed with the disappointment in him, and the photos weren't as great. Mashiho was pissed.
"Hyung, these are way worse than what he used to take!" Mashiho said to his manager in the waiting room.
"I asked them to change the photographer again, hopefully the next one would be better." The manager replied.
But no. No matter how many times they changed the photographer, the pictures were never as good. Either because of Mashiho who wasn't able to give his all, or simply because the one behind the camera wasn't Yedam anymore- the outcome was way worse. Still, the thing called ego stopped Mashiho from contacting Yedam again.
Fate, however, was waiting with a twist.
One day, Mashiho's schedule at the company got overlapped due to some major miscommunications. The model came, all ready, but there was no crew to film him. The deadline was very near, the model didn't want to push it back. So, they asked for a substitute crew. And damn! The photographer from taht crew was none other than Bang Yedam.
Yedam immediately wanted to refuse, but he was bound to abide by the rules given by the company. With a grim look on his face, he ended up shooting photos of Mashiho; a certain model who once hurt him bad.
The guilt in Mashiho resurfaced. Just as the shooting ended, he found way to go to Yedam, who already left for the staffs' room.
"Yedam ah!" Mashiho called. The younger looked at him and his jaws tightened.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Mashiho asked. Yedam gave a small nod.
"I- uh... I'm really sorry for going off like that. I mean, what you did was wrong, so... Still, I shouldn't have said that." Mashiho said.
"It's okay." Yedam shortly said. Taking a moment, he added, "You look nice."
This made Mashiho smile a little, "Will you come join me for dinner? You can take it as an apology."
Yedam thought. Mashiho had such sincere eyes that he could not refuse. With a small 'yeah' he agreed.
They went to Mashiho's usual place. Usually, Mashiho and his manager had dinner together. But for the sake of privacy, it was only Yedam and him that night. The dinner started off normally, just them ordering as per Mashiho's recommendation. But halfway through, Mashiho asked, "Yedam ah, I have been wanting to ask you something. Thinking about it for days, I kinda have a hunch."
Yedam was in the middle of chewing his food. He stopped. His concentration was solely on predicting Mashiho's next few words.
"You took my pictures, but never used them. Not for money or anything. You also said that you just liked taking my pictures and then look at them. And the way you reacted when I said stuff to you... Do you like me, Yedam ah?"
Yedam forgot that he had to chew his food. The thunderous question struck him hard, he stayed as still as a log. His brain was running wild. What should he say? Should he lie? Avoid the very truth that he had been in love with the model? But Mashiho was a clever guy, he could possibly see through the lie and that would only complicate things. Also, Yedam had nothing to lose anyway. Mashiho already hated him quite a lot. So....
He lightly nodded.
"I see. So, that's why you ended the contract!" Mashiho exclaimed, "Because you knew if you stayed, you'd just take my pictures again and that would cost you your job."
"I quit because I was hurt by you. Not because I was afraid of losing my job." Yedam slowly said. It gave Mashiho another rush of guilt.
"I'm really sorry, I had no idea."
Yedam continued eating. He didn't want to respond. He was feeling quite low anyway.
"How about I make up for that?" Mashiho held Yedam's hand on the table, "Come be my photographer again. Let's get to know each other better from now on."
Yedam looked at him in question, "But you hate me."
"No I don't! I was just angry. I thought you're one of those people selling photos illegally and all. But you didn't do anything wrong. So why would I hate you?"
"But-"
"Give me your phone." Mashiho extended his hand. Yedam raised a brow.
"Just do it." Mashiho insisted. Poor Yedam handed him his phone. Mashiho immediately put his contact in it.
"Here, the first step of getting close." He grinned.
"Mr. Takata-"
"Call me hyung." Mashiho smiled. It automatically made Yedam smile as well.
Mashiho's photographer changed one last time. Yedam started taking breathtaking pictures of the model again. At first people talked about it but with time they stopped. And with time, the relationship between Mashiho and Yedam improved. They talked on a regular basis, ate together after every shoot and even beyond that. They felt more like friends of each other.
But Mashiho, he was always aware of how Yedam felt. He knew the younger liked him. Everything the younger did was out of fondness and love. He couldn't just ignore that. True, he made it clear that Yedam was his 'friend', but even he knew the way things were going- it wasn't gonna end up like that.
Like he didn't even know when Yedam became his most chatted contact, his all time partner for meals outside, the first one to know the events happening with him, the place of comfort anytime he felt stressed. Whatever he saw, did or thought, he ended up finding Yedam in everything.
It made him doubt if he liked Yedam back. Of course it would be because of the constant, conscious reminder that he knew about Yedam's feelings but still. It was possible for him to like Yedam, because Yedam was perfect. Handsome, smart, skilled, and on top of it, a great human being.
His doubt turned into certainty as months passed. He could tell both him and Yedam were deeply in love with each other. All that was left to do was to ask. He knew, Yedam wasn't gonna do that because after all, he was a photographer when Mashiho was a model.
So, the elder took things in his own hands. He called Yedam one night he knew Yedam was free to work.
"Yedam ah, I need a photographer right now, can you fill in?" He asked through the phone.
"Sure, hyung. At the studio?" Yedam asked.
"No, I'll send you the address."
"Okay, but the crew? Lights? Stage?"
"I got everything managed. I only need you with your camera." Mashiho spoke.
"Alright, I'm coming." Yedam cut the call. A text was sent to him moments after. He frowned. It looked like an address of an apartment.
Shrugging, he dressed up. He followed the address and actually reached in front of an apartment building.
'Is he shooting here?' Thought Yedam. However, he still went and reached the flat mentioned in the address. He rang the bell and after sometime, Mashiho opened the door.
"Hyung, you aren't ready yet?" Yedam pointed at the casual baby blue striped shirt over a baggy pair of pants he was wearing. No makeup, undone hair- he wasn't ready at all!
"Come follow me!" Mashiho took Yedam by the hand. As he as walking through, Yedam realized it was no studio, it was Mashiho's own living place, his house.
Yedam was taken to a well decorated room. A side of the wall was decorated with lights, flowers and candles. Straight across from it, an empty camera stand was seen.
"Set the camera up." Mashiho gestured. Like a baffled kid, Yedam did so.
"You're doing it for yourself, right? It's no professional shoot, you just want to keep memories, right?" Yedam deduced. Mashiho gave him a cheeky laugh.
"You'll see."
Yedam finished setting up the camera. He gave an ok sign to the elder.
"Alright, now, I want you to film it. Not a shot, start recording." Mashiho instructed.
"Okay, but why?" Yedam asked.
"Aha, just do it."
"Fine." Yedam said. He started recording after giving confirmation to Mashiho. The elder took a deep breath, then stared right at the camera.
"Hello, Yedam!" He giggled. Yedam, surprised still, focused on the recording.
"I tried to make it as unique as possible but you know, I'm not good at playing romeo." Mashiho chuckled, "The day I got to know you like me, something stirred inside me. I was... Kinda fighting myself, kinda trying to get through you too. I mean, it took me a while to figure out and it was a mess but now I know. I know for sure that I feel the same!"
Yedam saw in wonder- Mashiho kneeled down, pulling out a small box from the pocket of his baggy pants. He was still looking through the lens. The whole situation was hard for him to process.
"The brilliant man behind the camera, will you to come out and accept my heart that has been given to you?" Mashiho showed a small diamond pendant to the camera. He was nervous as hell, but still managed to keep his cool. Yedam gasped hard, that ended up as tears down his cheeks. He knew Mashiho liked him as a person. He just never imagined Mashiho would want to be his lover too.
"Oh my God!" Yedam cried. He was still behind the camera. Mashiho cooed at that. Seeing the elder kneeling patiently, Yedam slowly approached him, wiping the tears on his cheeks.
"Yedam ah, will you be my boyfriend?" Mashiho asked again. Yedam nodded hard. With that, few drops escaped his eyes and fell on the floor. Mashiho stood up in a flash and helped wipe them. He hugged the younger soon, both trembling from happiness.
The camera was still rolling.
A while later, they separated. Mashiho showed Yedam the beautiful pendant, with a sapphire crystal on it.
"It's beautiful." Yedam spoke in a cracked tone.
"Meant for a beautiful person like you." Mashiho smiled, "Here, put it on." He helped Yedam on wearing it around his neck.
"Do you like it?" He asked. Yedam vigorously nodded. "I liked everything you did."
Mashiho had a huge smile on. Finally! The late night fantasies of him about the confession day was a success; he could say! He hugged Yedam again. The younger was still sniffing. He was a crybaby after all.
Luckily, the tears would only be from happiness then on, because Mashiho promised to himself to make that happen. And we all know, how sincere and adamant he is! Yedam was in good hands. He knew that. We all know that too!
~
Hi!
I kinda lost patience at the end so it might be a little rushed near the end. But I did enjoy writing the first half of it😁 so, hoping you'd liked it too.
These days, it's so hard to find time to write! :(((
Anyway, stay fine guys! Take care of yourselves 💞