It had been one week since Nari and her ex had broken up, and she felt like she was going crazy. After she left the lake, she drove down the streets of Chicago and she felt like she was falling back into everything that her life had been with him except he wasn’t there anymore. He had his mark on every aspect of her life and now that he wasn’t hers anymore, she was left with nothing but the framework of her life and the crumbling idea that she could ever find a healthy relationship with anyone.

And she was ing sick of it.

She was sick of looking at her favorite restaurant and remembering all the dates they had there. She was sick of not eating anything but ice cream because that was the only thing that made her happy. She was sick of tossing and turning at night because every time she fell asleep she woke up again because something felt terribly wrong. She was sick of going home late at night and expecting him to be waiting up for her when she got home.

She just wanted to forget about him and move on with her life but it obviously wasn’t going to happen anytime soon since literally everything reminded her of him.

So that meant she needed to get away from him and everything she could possibly associate with him.

Nari parked her truck in front of a drug store and got out, armed with her wallet. She walked determinedly through the store and glanced around the shelves to find what she was looking for.

If she was going on a life changing road trip with herself, then she was going to need supplies. 

Seeing a sign that pointed toward the back of the store for first aid, she made her way down an aisle and mentally made a list of things to pick up.

Pain meds in case she gets a head ache.

A first aid kit to be safe.

A car charger for her phone to keep in touch with her mother.

Water because she was going to need it.

And granola for fuel as she drove.

When she got to the medical aisle, she carefully considered the different medical kits before settling on the one that had a good balance between bandages and medicine, as well as a helpful little book on how to treat different injuries. After grabbing a few bottles of some over the counter meds pain meds she might need, Nari headed to the check out.

Everything else was too expensive for her to get at a drug store on her tight budget; She'd have to get them at another store before skipping town.

A flash of light in her eyes made Nari squint and stop to glance at the source. Without thinking, Nari had gone down the cosmetic aisle. Mirrors were hung on the shelves so people could compare colors to their skin and the sunlight that came down from the windows shone directly on them, bouncing into her eyes. Nari glared into the mirror. 

Glaring back at her was a tired looking girl with dark shadows under her eyes from sleepless nights and tangled bleach blonde hair with dark roots showing. 

“Nari,” Her boyfriend had whispered in her eye one evening while they watched movies on the couch. “You should bleach your hair blonde.”

She snorted at him and took a swig of soda before answering. “And why should I do that? I think my hair is awesome how it is.”

“You do have beautiful hair,” He took a lock of it between his fingers and kissed it gently. “But imagine how hot you’ll look with blonde hair.”

Nari snorted again and pushed his head away from her. “Shut up, you as, and just watch the movie.”

A few weeks later, Nari had saved up enough money to buy some cheap hair bleach at the store. While her boyfriend hadn't pushed her to do it, she was curious how it would look on her. Plus, he had mentioned many times before that he had a thing for blondes.

It had taken three bottles and many hours to get her hair to even resemble a shade similar to blonde, but it had been worth it at the time when her boyfriend scooped her up in his arms and kissed her hard when he first saw it.

Nari fought back a growl in the back of . She couldn’t even look at herself in the mirror anymore without thinking about him. 

She grabbed two boxes of the first hair dye she saw and angrily threw it into her basket.

There was a long line at the check out and Nari grumbled in irritation. Today was just not turning out to be her day. She went to the back of the line and pulled out her phone so no one would try to talk to her. Unfortunatly, right as she unlocked it, there was a pop up telling her she only had 10% of her battery left. She huffed and shoved it back in her pocket. 

It was then that she noticed a sale on cases of water bottles. They were selling buy 1 get one free for a 24 pack. Nari immediately went over and inspected them closely. They weren’t expiring soon and they didn’t look damaged. Plus, the price was pretty good and she needed them. Nari went ahead and hoisted one up and put it in the cart. 

A voice interrupted her before she could get the next one.

“Excuse me,” She turned around to find a guys around her age eyeing her up. “Would you like some help.”

“I’m good,” Nari gave him a bit of a hairy eye. She had literally just put the other one in the cart and it wasn’t like she had shown visibly distress when lifting it up. “I can do it myself.”

And without another glance at him, she picked up another case and put it in the cart before rolling back to the check out line.

“I don’t need anyone.” She told herself.

***

Sitting in her car, Nari ripped open the package for the bright electric blue hair dye she had bought on impulse. She squirted it out on a paper plate and used some pins she had in her purse to pin back sections of her hair so she could dye one strand at a time. Then she dipped a cheap paint brush she conveniently had in a box of random junk she habitually kept in her trunk in the dye and got to work painting her hair. It was slow going, but it felt freeing. For once, she was doing something for herself and not her boyfriend or mother.

Once she was done putting the dye in, the looked at herself in the mirror and laughed. She looked like a surf with wet hair. Letting the dye work it’s magic, she spent the next half hour pouring over an old map she kept stored in her grave compartment. Now that she had nothing to worry about except for where she should go on her road trip, there was a world of possibilities she had never even considered open to her. If she wanted to, she could even leave Michigan. Maybe even drive to the east coast and see the ocean.

After half an hour, Nari folded the map back up and sliced open the case of water bottles and grabbed an armful. She leave over the road and poured the water over her head while she scrubbed at her scalp. Chunks of blue dye fell out of her hair and by the time she had gone through 5 water bottles, it felt like most of the dye was out of her hair. Nari went over to her side view mirror and beamed. 

Her shirt had been dyed along with her hair and her hands had been stained when she was washing it out, but her hair was blue and she had been the one to do it. Even better, he hair reminded her of a super hero she had loved as a little girl. Just looking at herself in the mirror filled her with the same sense of confidence that cartoon had when she was little.

Nari threw out the empty water bottles and drove with the windows down while she drove around gathering the last of her supplies for her road trip.

Once she had everything she needed, she drove onto the highway and was headed out of state. With the wind whipping her ran around as she raced down the interstate and the cheesy pop end of summer songs blaring from the radio, Nari felt free. She was doing something for herself and, god, did it feel good. 

A/N: Two chapters in one day look at me go!!! I am on fire!! OMG I’m having so much fun writing this! I’m having a bit of a hard time writing Nari since she’s more aggressive than I am but I’m starting to get the hang of it. I so use to writing Eunkyung from my story Silver Rose (she’s more docile because she’s trying to get use to interesting with people after a long period of isolation) but Nari really is a breath of fresh air. Jungkook should pop up in the next chapter so please look forward to it!! :D