Hyelin’s lab class ended rather quickly. Her and Saemi said their goodbyes, exchanged numbers, and went their own ways. On her path home, in order to complete her Halloween costume, Hyelin stopped by the hair salon to get her pigtails died for the party. She wanted it done the day before so that the dye doesn’t bleed so much at the party the next day.

“Hey Hyelin,” the older lady greeted when she walked through the door.

“Hi Mijung,” Hyelin called back. Mijung had found Hyelin when she was fifteen and looking for a job. She gave Hyelin the job of cashier at her salon and later began teaching her the basics in hair care which led to Hyelin being one of the best hair cutters in the salon.

“Before I get started with your dyes, do you mind t Mrs. Oh’s hair? She’s in the third chair on the left. I have to finish up this customer then I’m done for the day.” Mrs. Oh had a short almost grayish bob. Hyelin could tell by the way she kept messing with the gray hairs that Mrs. Oh wanted them gone. She was a pale and fragile figure, but it looked like she had class. Hyelin didn’t want to offend her by asking if she wanted to also dye her hair to get rid of the hairs.  

“Good Afternoon Mrs. Oh,” Hyelin said with a smile. “I will be your attending stylist today. I heard that you wanted a trim, but lately this hair color has been the talk of the town. I wanted to know if you’d like to try it out as well. It’ll be on the house. A complimentary dye.” Hyelin picked up a magazine and showed her the color on the foreign model. Mrs. Oh seemed to consider the choice.

“Do you think it would look good on an oldie like me?” She questioned the younger girl.

Hyelin’s eyes brightened up. “Yes,” she exclaimed. “I think it’d be perfect.”

A few hours later after the shop closed up, Mijung counted the cash register before starting on Hyelin’s hair. “You know I cannot believe she tipped you a hundred dollars because you made a suggestion, which she absolutely loves by the way, on changing her hair color.” She said astonishingly. Mijung stopped counting the register, put her hands down, and looked at Hyelin. “You know Hye, I’m proud of what you became. It’s been eight years since we’ve met and I’ve seen you grow from a brattish little pest looking for a source of income to one of the most vigorous and ambitious women I have ever seen. When you work, you put your heart and soul into it and you leave nothing behind. It has to be perfect in your eyes in order for whatever it is to be presentable to others.” Mijung teared up while Hyelin stood there silently, not sure what to make of the sudden confession. “I don’t know why I’m getting all sappy, but you are twenty-three now. And you are about to start your life after studying and working so hard for so long. I’m going to be sad when you leave me one day for a career job.” Mijung wiped her eyes and walked over to a vacant chair. “Ok come over here I’ll do your hair now, so you can get going.”

Hyelin followed her over and plopped into the seat. “You know Eonni, I’ll never forget you when I do leave. Heck I’ll be over here bothering you way too much. If I get married and have kids when I am older, I’ll make sure to drop my little ones over at the shop to mess up while I work,” Hyelin and Mijung laughed.

“Pfft, ok you evil jokester. I’ll be waiting here for your children everyday like a grandmother would. I’ll make sure to spoil them endlessly so that they grow up rotten for you.” Mijung said as she dyed the tips of Hyelin’s hair. She split Hyelin’s blonde fibers in half and dipped one side blue and the other red. “It’s most likely going to come out pinkish which is good because the hair for the costume is pink with a reddish tint.”

“Thank you for doing this for me Mijung. I’ve been a Harley Quinn fan for a long time and I finally get to be her. By the way, I got invited to a Halloween Party. So I get to show off my costume for once” Hyelin smiled. She was happy to finally get the chance to show off one of her dorky costumes since she was obsessed with superheroes and villains. Every year she had a full blown costume that she makes herself or if she has the extra money, she would cheat and buy it online.

“That’s great Hyelin,” Mijung cheered. “I want you to have all the fun you can.” She patted Hyelin’s shoulders as a sign that she was done. “Slack off, get drunk, and find a boy to kiss. Just have a little fun since you barely have any anyways.”

Hyelin cleaned up the station, then grabbed her bag on the way out. “Thanks for everything, Mijung. All this time for being my only friend, thank you. Since this is my last year of college, I will attempt to not look like a cold and make it the best,” Hyelin and Mijung exchanged smiles. “See you tomorrow bright and early, Eonni!” Hyelin exclaimed as she made her way out the door.

--

Hyelin took her 8 A.M to 5 P.M shift at the salon the next day. She dyed hair for about four girls and cut hair for 2 guys. She got complimented on her hair from the girls and two of them by the names of Lia and Yuna actually knew who she was going to be just by her hair colors.

 The two guys she cut hair for were about her age as well as the girls with the names of Kyungsoo and Sehun, whose mother came in the day before. Sehun said that his mother recommended him to get his hair trimmed and styled at Mijung’s salon, so he brought a friend along with him. Kyungsoo needed his hair cut for his Hawkeye costume. Hyelin found out that the four were all going to the same Halloween party as she was during the small talk she made with them while doing their hair. She promised to try to find them when she got there.

As Mijung curled Hyelin’s pigtails, Hyelin couldn’t imagine what the party would be like. It was her first one. She had vaguely gotten invited to parties before, but she always made the excuse that she didn’t know the people enough to enjoy it. This time she didn’t want to make that defense. She wanted to have her fun for once. She wanted to let loose. Just this one time. Just this one time, she repeated.

“Alright girly, you’re all done. Do you want Dahee to do your make up? She’ll be back from break soon,” Mijung suggested.

“Nah, thanks Eonni. I got it from here. I want to do my makeup after I put my costume on.” Hyelin said. “Thanks for all the help!” And with that she was out the door.

--

After Hyelin got home from the hair salon, with her hair dyed in pink and blue like Margot Robbie’s was as Harley Quinn, she got into her costume and did her make up. She had planned this Halloween outfit for a while and finally it would actually be seen instead of her putting it on to take selfies and then off again. The damsel still took her selfies though. It was tradition because her and her father watched and read endless of dc and marvel comics and movies. She sends her father a picture whenever she cosplayed. So before heading out to the Halloween party, she snapped a quick one and sent it to him.

The hotel was remarkable. When she arrived all she saw was different colors that loomed off of the building and into the night sky. It was a tall and wide building that looked like it was mostly glass. Hyelin saw the club looking lights illuminating from the top floor. The excitement lit up in her eyes, but she was nervous; very nervous.

When she got inside, she was so fascinated. She could feel the happiness and brightness. The interior was gold and white all over. The lobby tables had red table cloths over them and the chairs were white rimmed with red. The couches near the front desk were red all over. The sight she was seeing was remarkable and to top it off, the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling made the already extremely classy lobby, classier.

 As the amazed young adult looked around in bewilderment, she made her way to the mirrored looking elevators. Hyelin looked at her invitation for the floor number and as Saemi said, it was the top floor.

She walked off the elevator and was greeted with a long maze of hallways filled with open door hotel rooms. Hyelin assumed it was the rooms that Saemi was talking about. She looked at the time and realized that she got to the party about two and a half hours after it initially started because it took her forever to perfect the Harley Quinn make up, she also had set up a bucket of candy for the children in the apartment complex, and she spent a good half an hour starstrucked by the hotel itself.

She imagined that usually people don’t attend parties till late, but was only 11pm and the some of the open hotel room doors were closed with “do not disturb” sign hanging off of them inferring that couples or random hook ups for the night had already started to occupy them.

After a few more endless hallways and using the music to find her way, Hyelin came across a huge club looking room. There were different colored lights flying everywhere, the music was exceptionally loud, and there was bar with endless multicolored drinks. Hyelin was of age; she has had her fair share of drinks herself. But it was either with Mijung or alone. In order to lessen her nerves, Hyelin decided that the bar should be her first stop.

As she crossed the room, Hyelin couldn’t help but stare at a group of girls who were surrounding a couple of guys in another corner of the room. They were not far from the dance floor and it looked like the guys were sweaty from dancing and had stopped to take a break.

But Hyelin especially noticed a tan figure in the midst of the group. She made eye contact with the stranger. He had dark sharp eyes that seemed to cut through the crowd and find hers. Hyelin blinked and averted her eyes.

“Hey Hyelin,” screeched a familiar voice. Hyelin had just reached the bar and before she could pick her drink, someone had called out to her.

She turned around to a tipsy Saemi. “Oh my goodness! Saemi! I thought I would never find you in here!”

Saemi slipped an arm around Hyelin and brought her closer. “Well here I am! Later, we are gonna play a drinking game,” she slurred as she winked greasingly. “We will sit around the pool area and have a little fun. Please come!” And with that she pat Hyelin’s back and stumbled away to mingle with the other guests there.

Hyelin chuckled at her silliness and turned back around to grab a drink. There were so many different choices she didn’t know where to look and what to choose. Hyelin reached out her hand to randomly pick a drink, but was startled by the figure that stood at her back.

“I would pick the pink drink with the blue rim to start your night, that is if you want to start off slow. If you want to get drunk fast, I suggest downing the green drinks with the yellow rims.” It was a chocolatey voice that spoke to her. She continued standing there with her back to the stranger. She was afraid to turn around. She stared at the drinks to make a decision. “The red and blue ones are all about the taste. They are very weak.” The deep voice that was still behind her said.

Hyelin reached for the green drink with the pink rim since the stranger didn’t say anything about that one. But a hand shot out and grabbed her arm. “Hey don’t you think you’re a little clo-,” Hyelin attempted to say as she turned around and found herself staring right into the tan boys eyes.

He took the drink out of her hand and smiled, “That one is deadly. It’s straight mixes of white liquor with green food coloring. I highly do not recommend that one.” His hand was still holding onto her arm while they were face to face.

Hyelin noticed how great of a smile he had. She felt herself captivated by the guy himself like she was in a trance. She blamed it on the smell of alcohol filling up her nose, saying that it was messing with her senses.

She snapped herself out of that trance turned around and grabbed two of the green drinks with a pink rims. She gulped down one while he was still there and walked away with the other.

Hyelin felt her cheeks heating up. She hasn’t had much time for dating. She doesn’t even know how to flirt much less how to talk to a boy that wasn’t her client or someone she wasn’t interviewing. Hyelin patted her cheeks as she walked out to the pool area where Saemi has invited her to play.

ohohoh things are getting started :)