The Victorian shop bell rang and Solar looked up from her magazine.  A man, tall, olive-skinned, thin-lipped walked in.  He was clearly proud of his look.  His sleeves were rolled up to display the expensive watch he had around his wrist.  His shoes looked like they had been polished on top, though the undersides were clearly worn.  Solar huffed.

She didn't move from her spot until Esna gave her a pointed look.  This one's yours.  Solar rolled her eyes, uncrossed her legs and sat up from the salon chair.  Before he could catch a glimpse of her displeased expression, she in a big breath, hi! she greeted him with her warmest fake smile.  She saw her chin dimples in her reflection, the way her eyes pinched up, teeth bared.  He nodded at her coolly.

what can I do for you today, handsome?  

She heard someone scoff from somewhere behind her.  She didn't roll her eyes. He was still watching, but more importantly, she was watching him.  He shrugged, seemingly unaffected by her little term of endearment.  He was more preoccupied with his own reflection, running one hand through his hair.  

"I just want it trimmed," he said boredly.  "I want to look sharp, professional."

She nodded.  I sure can do that.

Though he acted as if he couldn't care less what Solar did to him, she knew he wouldn't have come if he didn't know their reputation.  From the outside, their shop looked like nothing special.  They recycled the old sign from the salon that was here before them, it didn't even light up anymore; at night, you'd have to be two feet away and squinting to see the words "BARBERSHOP" in big, red, lettering.  

But ever since Esna unnie, and her three friends Solar, Hwasa, and Wheein, had opened up shop, this old abandoned part of town suddenly boomed with customers.  Esna was a famous stylist from the West.  When Solar first met her she was intimidated.  For a Korean person her English was very good, very y, and easy, unlike Solar's robotic, stuttered, attempts to say "hey, how are you doing?" the way she learned in class.

But she soon learned Esna was nothing like all the smug bullies she used to know in school.  In fact, despite the calculating look in her eye, she was sweet, nurturing.  She took Solar in, and eventually Hwasa and Wheein too.  She taught them the trade.  Nothing too complicated, nothing like the masterpieces she herself could create, but enough for them to get work on their own.  And then they opened for business, and since then, Solar hasn't had to eat cup of ramen for every meal of the day (though sometimes she still does just because).

Solar finished the haircut quickly.  She's sharpening her blade, about to offer him a shave (which she knew he'd accept, even at the extra cost because men like him loved flaunting their money), but she was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.  Wheein squeezed it once, giving her The Look, and Solar sighed.  She didn't smile, he could still be watching, but more importantly...

All done, she says warmly, tugging the sheet off of his shoulders.  She turns his chair around so he will face her, and gives him her best fake seductive smile.  Would you also like a shave?  She giggles, winks, this one is one the house.

For the first time since he walked in, his composure shakes a little.  He clenches his fists in his lap, seems eager. 

"I suppose," he draws it out intentionally, but Solar knows he'll agree to anything she says.  

She beams.  

Perfect and holds her hand out to help him to his feet, if you'll just follow me to the back room, she can feel the sweat gather in his palm, his eyes twitch, and she has to resist the urge to burst out laughing, we keep all of our best equipment back here.  She winks again, and she doesn't even register Wheein's gag this time.  Sure it's unnecessary, but before all of this, Solar did think she might want to be an actress at one point.  

Hwasa suddenly turns on the radio, the volume louder than it was before, some big band song is playing and brass drowns out the sound of the razor.  She smiles devilishly, closes the curtain behind them, and finishes her job.

---

The victorian bell chimes, and Solar closes her eyes, she doesn't want to get up just yet.  The couch in the back was comfortable, and she was resting her feet after a long day of standing in heels.  She flips through a few more pages of her magazine, there's an ad for the latest trend -plaid skirts- and she wrinkles her nose.  Another page is an article on the top 10 best places to vacation during the spring.  She stares at the model fondly, her air hostess outfit giving Solar brief deja vu to the time when she wanted to be a flight attendant.  Esna is saying something to the customer up front, Solar swears she hears her name, and curses, turning the page one last time before she had to get back to work.

This one was an ad for Coca Cola.  The model wore a mustard yellow suit, a blazer, and tweed shorts.  Her hair was honey blond, a little brown at the end.  Solar marvelled at it for a moment.  Esna hadn't yet taught her how to dye hair.  She tried it once, but Solar wasn't as quick to pick up on it as Hwasa.  She admired the way the girl's hair changed colors from summer golden to fall brown.  

"Yongsun-ah!" she heard again.  Groaned.

And how can I help you today ha- wait.  Solar frowned, looking at the person sat in her chair.

They looked back at her amused.

"How can you help me today... what?"

Solar blushed.

Quickly she brushed off her embarrassment, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder. 

"My apologies, Miss, it's been a long day," she laughs amicably, "clearly the fumes have gotten to my head."

The person laughs, settling back in the chair and smiling easily.

"You should get out more."

"Well sure," Solar replies quickly, "I get off in an hour, where do you want to go?"

The girl in the chair freezes, clearly not expecting Solar to respond, and Solar freezes too, realizing that she was flirting on instinct, and somehow couldn't stop the word vomit coming out of .

"I-I'm so sorry," she squeaks, she rubs her hand on her cheek, "I really must be tired.  I apologize."  She bows slightly, flattening out the wrinkles in her skirt.

The girl in the chair shakes her head.  "It's okay," she says softly.  Her voice is low, silky, like she's used to whispering most things.  Solar hums to herself, feeling around the girl's hair, trying to come up with the best haircut possible.  Her fingers stay tangled up at the ends, she's staring a little longer than what's appropriate, but the girl in the chair doesn't say anything.

"Wow," Solar murmurs, "it's even prettier in person."

The girl blanches for a third time, and Solar swears she would shoot herself right now if only someone handed her a loaded gun.

"I-I'm sorry," she croaks, "I just..." she breathes deeply, remembers herself, remembers who she is, and flashes a dazzling smile.  "You're the girl in the ad right?  The one for Coca Cola?"

The girl nods.

Solar nods back at her.  "It's my favorite."  Her hands have dropped out of the girl's hair to rest on her shoulders, thumbs pressing into the of the girl's neck.  She smiles at her again, eyes wrinkling into little crescent moons.

"Anyways," she says brightly, "what's your name, honey?"

The girl doesn't respond, and Solar chuckles, "Okay, I've clearly scared you enough.  How about you go back to Miss Wheein there for a shampoo?"  Wheein has one eyebrow arched all the way up into her hairline and Solar sticks her tongue out at her.  So she saw that whole mess, huh?

She smiles back at the girl.  "We'll talk about what our plan will be when you get back.  Let me mull over some ideas, okay?"

The girl ambles over to the sinks almost drunkenly.  Solar's hands were on her neck way too long and she kind of felt hot all over and she definitely inhaled way too much of Solar's perfume because she feels almost high off the scent of rose petals.  As she sits down in the shampoo area she lets out a huge sigh.

Wheein smirks.

The girl nods over at Solar curiously.

"Is she always like this?"

"Solar unnie?" she wrinkles her nose.  "Yes... unfortunately."

"Solar?"  The girl frowns.  "What kind of name is that."

"It's a stage name."

"What kind of barber needs a stage name?"

Wheein looks down at her incredulously.  "Don't you know what place you came too?"

The girl shrugs.  

Wheein scoffs at her.  "We're kind of famous," she says haughtily.  "All of our names are there on that back wall." She points and sure enough, Esna, Solar, Wheein, and Hwasa are in big gold letters, Broadway lettering, across the back wall of the shop.

The girl shrugs again.

"But still... why do you need stage names?"

Wheein bit her lip, eyes wandering, though the girl didn't notice, because she couldn't see Wheein's face from where she was sitting.  "It's just... part of the appeal.  We're like a y barbershop quartet.  It's like a haircut and a show."

"What's the show?"

Wheein smirked.  She directed the girl's head at Solar again, who was flipping through her magazine once more.  

"I-I don't get it," the girl stuttered, but Wheein knew she was lying.  She clears again, closes her eyes, and lets the feeling of Wheein's fingers rubbing against her scalp relax her.  "I guess you don't get a lot of women customers then.  Anybody would be jealous of someone as pretty as her."

"Well... we got you."

---

The girl came back again the next week, though she obviously didn't need another haircut, but Esna gladly accepted her money, and set her up with Solar once again.  This time when Solar saw her she didn't blush, she smiled.  Genuinely.

"Hey, Cola Girl!"

"I thought it was Honey?" she replied smoothly, and Solar burst out laughing.  Turns out her laughter wasn't quite as graceful as her other features, intead it came out as more of a screech, and then several gasping breaths.  

"Wow," she wiped away a tear, "you scared me for a moment."

"Why?" the girl said, interested.

Solar leaned back on one leg, arms crossed, evaluating her, "well," she hummed, "for a second there I thought you were flirting with me."

"Well what if I was?" she challenged, and Solar felt her hands clam up, her brain started to run 200 miles per hour, and she had to talk herself down from having an asthma attack.  "W-w-well," she stuttered, "I guess then I'd have to get your real name, darling."

"Darling is okay too," she teased, "but um, actually... it's Byulyi."  

There her voice went soft again, and Solar looked up, smiling, fond, even though she'd only known her for approximately two days.

"Okay Byulyi," she murmured, "what can I do for you today?"

---

Byulyi knew coming back for her fourth haircut in two months was slightly ridiculous, but she couldn't help but want to see Solar again.  The last few times they went they actually had nice conversations.  The music played low and sweet, something jazzy, Solar would occassionally hum to it whenever Byulyi was ranting about her work, and Solar was just listening, running her fingers through her hair, pretending to examine if the cut was even though she was really just trying to keep Byulyi a little longer.

"Solar," Esna said quietly.  It seemed they never really spoke to each other beyond names, just looks.  Solar caught Esna's stare and sighed,

"I suppose we're all done here," she said gloomily, running her hands through Byulyi's hair one last time.

Byulyi looked up at her curiously; Solar tucked all her equipment back into her apron, and trudged over into the back room.  At the counter she left a huge tip.

"Thank you," Esna said quietly.  

Byulyi blushed, tucking her chin into her chest and making a quick exit.

The following week she wandered by the shop, not planning on entering, just walking by, when something caught her eye through the glass window.

It was Solar, body hunched over a handsome man.  She was practically shoving her half-exposed s in her face, he was clearly enjoying it.  Something flared up in Byulyi's stomach.  Her hands curled into fists at the same time his did, but for different reasons.

you better not touch her

He leaned back as Solar ran her hands down his chin, tilting his head up so that she could measure his fringe.  His body jolted once -her fingers ran delictately over his neck- and Byulyi fumed.

It didn't help that Solar seemed to be enjoying this as much as he was, but of course Byulyi would never blame her if this man thought all of this was an invitation to touch her.  Solar was a flirty person -Byulyi knew that from first hand experience- but this guy looked slimy, and in Byulyi's opinion, was nowhere near Solar's league.

She was about to storm in, what she was going to do she wasn't sure, but she suddenly saw Solar and Esna exchange looks.  Solar nodded, almost giddily, and started to lead the man to the back room.  The thing in Byulyi's stomach roared, threatened to eat her up from the inside out, but she was frozen.  

She wasn't detached enough from the situation to truly notice how weird everything was.  How Solar almost seemed to be taking cues as if there was a director in the room, and she was just an actress on set.  Byulyi crushed empty crossiant packet in her hand, didn't bother to pick it up when it missed the trashcan, and moped off into the night.

---

Every time the bell chimed now Solar's head would perk up.  Esna had never seen her this interested in work before, though it wouldn't take her three guesses to figure out why.  Ever since the first day Byulyi showed up Yongsun had been brighter.  Less snarky during the day, less mopey at night.  So Esna allowed her to dillydally a little.  She kept Byulyi as long as possible until she knew they needed her chair, and would regretfully tell Solar to let her go.

She felt bad that Solar had to seduce all these men for her business.  If this was California she could've done it all herself. There they didn't care how fair your skin was, or how big your eyes.  They only cared how much of your cleavage you were willing to stuff in their face.  But here, Solar was the perfect face for the job.  It was even better that in all their cases, she had never once shown interest in the customer.

Esna would've thought that someone as pretty as Solar would have dates lining up for her at the end of the night, but she always walked home alone, happy to plug in her headphones and bob her head to her mp3 as she took a long walk down a dark road, unaccompanied.

But after a while Byulyi stopped coming by, and Yongsun retreated back to her old ways, except worse this time.  She spent too much time in the backroom, flipping through her favorite magazine subscription, eating too many cupcakes, pulling loose the strands in her ponytail and not bothering to fix it when she had to go back up front to work.  It finally happened one day; she failed to seduce her mark, and Esna watched with gritted teeth as he tossed a 50 dollar bill at her and left.

Solar held her blowdryer limp by her side.

Esna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

"I don't need to tell you how I feel right now do I?"

"You-you can keep my paycheck this week," Solar offered meekly.

Esna sighed again, and shook her head.  "I'm not heartless Yongsun, you know that."

Solar flinched.  Oddly enough the use of her real name made her feel more dissappointed in herself.

"I'm sorry," she said solemnly, "it'll never happen again, I promise."

Esna squared her up with one look, Solar held up her chin, no longer apologetic, just serious.  

"I promise," she said again.

Esna nodded.

---

The victorian bell chimed, and Solar refused the urge to check, but before she could push the thought of her out of her head, she heard her voice, and her heart leapt up into .

Byulyi.

The blonde waved slightly, she in her lips, twiddled her thumbs awkwardly.  Solar sat up, saw that Esna was about to assign her to Wheein and nearly threw down her magazine and quit her job right on the spot, but then Byulyi cleared ; very clearly she said, "Actually, um, could I please have Solar again?"

Byulyi sat down in Solar's chair, and Solar approached her slowly, like a predator afraid of alarming it's prey.  She exhaled slowly, crossed herself, and then shot her best actress smile at Solar.

"Hi there, sugar!  It's been a long time since I've seen that pretty face."

Solar blushed like Byulyi expected her too, and that at least kicked her heart down a notch from beating mouse-quick, to just rabbit speed.  

"It's Solar," she corrected quietly, "or rather..." she leaned in close, and Byulyi tried not to make any sound.  "Yongsun," she whispered.

Byulyi let out a shaky breath.  

"Is that a secret?"

Instead of playing it coy Solar just nodded, and Byulyi raised an eyebrow in confusion.  Solar didn't answer her unspoken question, however, she simply got out her comb and started to measure Byulyi's bangs.

"Would you like me to trim these as well?"

Byulyi shrugged, nodded.  "But what do you think looks best?"

Solar hesitated a moment, turning her head this way and that, looking at Byulyi like she were a difficult math equation.  

Finally she sighed, like she reached the conclusion she already knew, and looked own at her feet.

"I think anything looks good on you."

Byulyi blushed. 

After her shampoo, Solar begins to cut her hair.  They talk about meaningless stuff, Byulyi's next commercial.  

"Do you get to keep the stuff you advertise?"

"Sometimes," Byulyi shrugs, "though sometimes it's not worth it."

Solar laughs, and Byulyi thinks its better than music.

Then the door chimes again.

---

A man who must be in his late 20s walks in.  His whole aura screams expensive, and also, kind of a douche. Solar hasn't noticed because she's concentrated on Byuyi's hair.  She missed the feeling of it.  The unique, smell, of it, even after it's been washed.

Then she feels a hand on her shoulder, she looks up, panicked no, she thinks, not her, but then she sees Wheein throw her glance over to the man at the counter.

Esna is setting him up in another chair, but it's clear she's expecting Solar to handle this one.  Solar's heart drops.

"I-I um..." she sweats.  

Byulyi noticed the look.  She glances up at Solar curiously.  "Um... if you need to take care of another customer I'm pretty much done here?"

She doesn't really want Solar to go, but Solar looks extremely nervous right now.

Solar fingers her hair gently.  "Its still wet..." she says quietly.

"Hwasa can finish the blowdry," Byulyi supplies, and Solar sighs.  To be honest she knows Byulyi is doing her a favor, but she's also irrationally jealous at the thought of someone else touching Byulyi's hair.

"Okay," she murmurs, "thank you."

Byulyi laughs.  "What are you thanking me for?"

Solar doesn't blush this time.  When she looks back up again something in her eyes have changed.  They're still bright, dark, pretty as Byul's ever seen them, but the Yongsun in them seems to have been replacd by something else.  Byulyi never noticed it before but Solar's voice kicked up a notch when she talked to other customers.  It was only now she picked it up because Solar was using that same tone on her.

"Well thank you, Darlin, I hope you have a nice day!"  She smiles brightly, waves, and then trots off to the man in the chair across from her.

He takes one greedy look over her whole body, and it's only now that Byulyi notices Solar's belly button is showing, and her skirt barely covers her .  She grits her teeth nervously.

She watches Solar in the mirror while Wheein blowdries her hair silently.  She isn't talking but she has the heat on high.  

Solar leans in and he jumps, sends the hair in his lap cascading down to the floor.  He ing giggles like a schoolboy when he knows he's doing something he ought not to do, and Wheein has to literally hold her back from jumping out of her chair and socking him in the face.

"Don't worry," she murmurs.  She has to lean in close for Byulyi to hear because the music has suddenly turned up.  Solar leads him to the back room, and Byulyi thinks she's gonna be sick, as she watches the curtains close around the two of them.  She's sitting with her hands folded in her lap, waiting patiently for Wheein to finish t her bangs, and she's going to just get up, pay, and leave, but as soon as she's on her feet, she makes a beeilne for the back room.

"Wait!" Wheein cries.

Hwasa tries to stop her but Byulyi ducks under her arms, and pulls back the curtains.

Immediately she feels them close behind her, as Hwasa tries to make sure nobody else saw what was going on on the other side.

Solar looks up, mortified.  Her hands are speckled with shaving cream, the bucket of shaving cream on the floor, speckled with blood.  Then Byulyi notices so is the chair, which has been conveniently wrapped in plastic, and the once erted eyes of the man she saw earlier were now glassy and still.

"I-I-I-I..." Solar's hands shook.  She dropped the razor at her feet, backed up, her eyes were on Byulyi the whole time, shaking, and feeling on the verge of a panic attack.

She runs into the washroom, and as soon as her hands are clean, fishes through her purse for a certain golden pill bottle.  

Before she can take one though, Esna walks in, swiftly grabs Solar's hand, makes her drop her pills and then hugs her tightly.  Solar breathes heavily against her chest.  Now Byulyi is more concerned with Solar than the clearly dead man in front of her.

"I-is she okay?"

Esna glares at her.  Wheein and Hwasa enter too.  "The shop is closed," Hwasa notifies them, and Wheein squeezes her shoulder.

"You should probably go," she whispers.

"What?  But-"

"She won't tell, Hyejin," Wheein mutters.  She looks Byulyi in the eye.  "You won't, right?"

Byulyi looks between Wheein and Hwasa, one stern, one sassy, and then at Solar who was still shaking, tears leaking out of her eyes though her main concern seems to be breathing properly.  Esna coos and rubs the back of her neck gently.  Solar's eyes wander over to Byulyi; her pupils seem to shrink on instinct and Byulyi's heart breaks.

She makes a decision.

She walks up to Esna swiftly.  

"Ma'am," she says, in her best most honest serious voice, "I'd like a job here."

---

Now when the bell chimes Solar groans, has to look up from her place between Byulyi's legs, wipes on the back of her hand digs around in her purse for a spearmint.   on it slowly she looks back at Byul who works on straightening out her clothes.

"I can take the next one if you're not up for it."

Solar sighs.  "Nah it's okay," she walks over to Byulyi -newly christened Moonbyul- and rubs her thumbs over Byulyi's cheeks.  She rubs their noses together.  "Thank god you're here now..." she groans, "I woudn't be able to stand it without you."

Byulyi smiles, inhales as Solar exhales, loves just being in the same space as her.  She doesn't mention that Byulyi wouldn't be able to stand anything at all without Solar.  That from the day she met her she hadn't been able to get Solar out of her head.  As Solar walked up front to take the next customer she looked up at the wall.  There were still two empty picture frames, which meant two more trips to the backroom.  She investigated the old chair, made sure it was cleaned spotless, and aligned the razors just so.

When she peeks back around the curtain she sees Solar using her typical moves, letting her fingers drag over the man's cheek, laughing too brightly and carefully.  Nothing like the full-chested howls of laughter she was privvy too after Solar watched a Charlie Chaplin film, at 1 am when she was tired drunk and had too many chocolates, and Byulyi was resting her chin on Solar's bare stomach, too in love to ever know how to describe it.

She walked by the radio slowly, turned up the volume innocently, humming the lyrics as she walked by Solar was prepping the guy for his haircut.  Solar was good at her job, but her eyes couldn't help but wander when Moonbyul walked by like that, hips swaying, hooded eyes meeting hers in the reflection of the mirror.  

Just look don't touch, she mouthed, in tune to the lyrics, and Solar bit her lip.

The guy in front of her waggled his eyebrows.  Byulyi almost laughed because he thought Solar was interested in him.  Poor guy, Moonbyul thought.  

Then again...