Saturday, October 13, 2012

                “Hey, Youngmin, I can’t really work today, I’m going out with Ahran, okay?” I told Youngmin as I came down.

                “What?” Youngmin demanded, slamming the washcloth he was holding onto the table. “Why?”

                He may seem angry, but I knew he was cool. “Homecoming dress shopping,” I responded dryly, grabbing a cookie and munching on it.

                “What? The dance isn’t til, like, the 27^th.”

                “I know, I know, but still, only two more weekends until, including this one,” I explained.

                Youngmin sighed. “Troublemaker... You have enough money?” he added.

                “I should be good.”

                “Okay…nothing too low cut. Or revealing. And if it’s above your knee I’ll—“

                Key came in and slapped the back of Youngmin’s head. “Yah. Hyemin, if it’s below the knee I will slap you. Nobody looks good in frumpy dresses. Plus you’ve got a good body, show it off,” he commented evenly.

                I laughed. “Hooker dress, sounds good, I’ll remember that,” I said, nodding at Key as I exited the café.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Youngmin go in to strangle Key and laughed to myself.

                “Hey, Hyemin,” Ahran greeted as I stepped into her car.

                “Ayy,” I responded. “Got any idea for where to go?”

                “The mall,” she responded evenly, pulling out. “We can hit the big stores but we’re definitely going to the little boutique in there. It’s really small but has the cutest dresses and it’s pretty reasonably priced.”

                “What’s it called?”

                “Starlight, Moonlight. Heard of it?” I shook my head and she explained. “Yeah, most people haven’t. It’s in the South Corner, kind of overshadowed and so underappreciated.”

                Once we arrived at the mall we headed around to some of the bigger stores and tried on dresses there, mostly laughing at the ridiculous ones. Finally, after a few hours of fruitless shopping we headed to Starlight, Moonlight.

                “Seriously, you’ll love it here, it’s got the best clothes, “Ahran chattered as we headed nearer to it.

                “Yeah, the clothes at that pathetic place would definitely fit you,” a girl laughed.

                Ahran stiffened and I spun around to face the girl. She was a really tall, thin girl with long black hair with straight bangs and colored streaks. Her milky skin was flawless and her face was really cute. “Excuse me?” I asked.

                “Oh, nothing,” the girl insisted. “I’m just pointing out that that store looks like crap and so obviously she would think it has cute clothes.”

                “Yah. It may look like crap from outside but it has dresses that are much prettier than you deserve to wear,” Ahran suddenly commented, fiercely vehement. Dang, she must be really protective of that place…

                “And yet you “deserve” to wear it? Alllright…” the girl scoffed sarcastically.

                “Yeah, she deserves it and she’d look better in it,” I sneered.

                “Only because you should wear clothes that are like your personality; plain clothes fit plain people.”

                “Oh, so tell me where you get clothes? Because that shirt looks great on you,” I responded cheerily.

                The girls jaw tightened. “Yah…what did you say?”

                “Oh, nothing. We’ll be going now,” I mimicked, grabbing Ahran’s wrist and pulling her into Starlight, Moonlight swiftly.

                “That dirty little ,” Ahran hissed.

                “I know, I know,” I murmured. Yeah, I had no great attachment to this store, but that was just so damn rude to say…

                “Ooh look at this!” Ahran squealed, grabbing a light pink dress. I laughed at how easily she was distracted and headed over.

                “Mm, pretty,” I commented, rubbing the silky fabric between two of my fingers.

              Ahran nodded excitedly and headed off, picking dresses up from around the small store. “I want to buy everything,” she whispered from somewhere in the store. I laughed and looked at the dresses around me. To be honest I had no idea what I wanted; I was bad at shopping, for dresses especially. I had no idea what I should be looking for, or what looked good on me.

                “If you’re lost, you could just ask for my help,” I heard a voice behind me. I jumped slightly and spun around. A tall guy with blond, fohawked hair and a cute grin was smiling at me. He had on fitted khakis and a white vneck with really cool sneakers. “My name’s Jiyong, I go by GDragon, and I work here, I promise that wasn’t just a creepy pick up line.”

                I laughed. “Well, then I might just take you up on that offer. I’m homecoming dress shopping and I…have no idea what to get…”

                “Ahh homecoming, your last one?”

                I nodded. “Senior at Seoul Arts Academy.”

                GDragon nodded. “God I’m so glad I’m done with high school…Buut, let’s go find you a dress.” He led me easily to a display of dresses near the side. “This,” he stated authoritatively, gesturing to a dress that was hanging. It was black with graphic shapes drawn in bright colors on it. The one strap was an elongated triangle that led to a cutout on the back. It was really cute, and really daring.

                “Um…let’s go look for something more…not… that…” I muttered. I wasn’t exactly shy about my style, but this dress wasn’t exactly my thing either…

                “Nonono,” GDragon contradicted, grabbing my arm and refusing to let me walk away. “You. This dress. Homecoming. Match made in ing heaven. Oops, pardon my language.”

                I smiled at his slip up on the job. “I don’t mind. But—I just don’t think I’d be able to…look good in that…”

                GDragon rolled his eyes. “Please. Good joke, sweetie. I wouldn’t even recommend that dress to my girlfriend, but I am to you. Just try it on? Please?”

                I sighed. “Oh…alright…” I murmured, grabbing one of the dresses.

                GDragon smiled. “Yay. If you need any more help just shout for me, okay?”

                 I nodded. “Thanks, will do.” He headed off and then I found Ahran.

                “Ready to go try it on?” she asked, holding a pile of dresses.

                The only dress I had was the one GDragon picked out for me but I just nodded helplessly. “Uh—sure, let’s go.”

                Ahran smiled excitedly then we headed to the dressing rooms. With a sigh I looked at the dress hanging on the hook on the wall. Finally, I let out a resigned sigh and pulled off my clothes, exchanging them for the glamorous dress. When I stepped outside, Ahran was already standing there in a cute little strapless blue dress. When she saw me dropped open. “Hye. Min. You are buying that dress. Hell, I’ll buy it for you.”

                I let out a small nervous laugh. “I don’t think I actually pull it off that well…”

                “Are you kidding? You look gorgeous,” she insisted, dragging me in front of the full sized mirrors at the end of the hallway.

                I tapped my toe on the floor. “Yeah…well…”

                “You’re getting it. End of discussion,” Ahran told me plainly, pushing me back into my dressing room. Her voice muffled through our doors I heard her shout, “Now since you already found the perfect dress help mee~”

                I laughed as I pulled the dress off, shouting an agreement to her. After I had pulled on my regular clothes I held the dress in my hands, examining it. A smile slipped onto my face as I put it back onto the hanger and headed out to help Ahran.

                Ahran finally decided on a gorgeous pale pink, draping strapless dress. It was a demure sort of pretty, and fit her well. Happy with our purchases we headed out after leaving Starlight, Moonlight, and went to the food court.

                “God, you know, I shouldn’t eat this much but this stuff is delicious,” Ahran told me between bites of the calzone she was devouring.

                I laughed. “Ahran, you do not need to watch your weight, just enjoy it,” I told her, chowing down on my own food.

                “You should though,” I heard a voice behind me and a shoulder push my back.

                “Awh, then here, you have some,” I insisted to Kai, and with that I grabbed some of the pasta I was eating and slapped my messy handprint onto his chest.

                His eyes shot open and he just stood in shocked silence for a few moments until Ahran and I broke it with our laughter.

                “Kai, cute shirt,” Ahran giggled.

                “Why don’t other guys dress like that?” I exclaimed.   After I finished laughing I noticed the two girls behind Kai; Krystal and the girl Ahran and I had run into outside of Starlight, Moonlight.

                “Yah. You’re gonna die today,” Kai growled.

                I laughed. “Just make sure you don’t pin me down again, that ended badly for you.”

                “Oh, I shouldn’t? No? Well then can I do this?” Kai asked teasingly, throwing the red mess on his shirt onto my hair.

                “Not unless you’re asking for this,” I responded, pulling his shirt out and dropping my bread down it.

                “Bring it, Princess,” he laughed, grabbing a handful of my food and throwing it at me. I laughed and tried to escape the hand that held me close to Kai. Our fun was cut off by a loud clearing of a throat behind us. Both of us froze then spun slowly to face a worker who didn’t look very pleased.

                Trying to hold back my laughter I apologized, “Sorry! We’re really sorry!” I called loudly, backing away slowly. But Kai soon grabbed my wrist and called his apology over his shoulder as he pulled me out. Once we were outside Kai and I fell onto a bench, laughing loudly.

                “I really need to stop getting kicked out of restaurants…”

                “Yeah…someone needs an attitude fix,” Kai told me in a jokingly stern manner.

                “Oh shut up, it’s half your fault, too.”

                “Half my fault?! Good try…”

                “It is! I was just with Ahran shopping for—.” I cut off, pulling out my phone and dialing Ahran’s number. “Ahran! Do you have my dress?!”

                “Yes, you lucky little child. Left me with two royal es who kept complaining about Kai…”

                I laughed. “Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. Um, yeah, I’ll come get it now. Where—“

                Here, my words were cut off when Kai grabbed my phone. “Keep it til Monday, Ahran. Thanks, I’ll take Hyemin home. Mhm, byee~” He hung up and handed my phone back to me.

                I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me?”

                He stood up and offered me his hand. “Come on, your disgusting, I’ll take you back to the Café.”

                I let out a small laugh and let him pull me up. We headed to his car and this time, in an opposite from our date, he opened the door for me, helping me in.

                “Well, isn’t this a pleasant change?” I asked when he got into the car.

                “Eh?” he asked, resting his arm on the back of my seat as he expertly pulled out with a swift flick of his wrist.

                “Well, you know…I saw Krystal.  I’m surprised you even came and talked to me with her and her friend around.”

                “Things can change…people can change…” Kai responded softly.

                I nodded. “Yeah, well, who was her friend, anyways? We ran into that earlier. She was so rude….”

                Kai let out a small laugh. “That’s Sulli. Krystal’s best friend. For a reason. Another SM trainee.”

                “Ahh…” I nodded. “Do you and Krystal always spend time at the mall?”

                Kai contemplated the question. “We do a lot…she likes to shop…”

                “And why aren’t I surprised?” I asked with a laugh.

                “Because you’re the beautiful and talented Hyemin Park.”

                I laughed loudly. “Okay…this is seriously a pleasant change…I like this Kai that likes me.”

                “Oh come on, I never disliked you.”

                I shrugged. “Okay, but I disliked you.”

                Kai laughed. “You’re too sweet…”

                “And beautiful and talented,” I replied, winking at him.

                He shook his head and laughed slightly as we pulled up to the café. “Well…here we are…”

                “Mm, thanks for the ride. Even if you did cause the mess…” Kai gave me a look and I smiled at him. “Stay beautiful,” I told him jokingly, exiting the car.

+++

                “Stay beautiful,” Hyemin called teasingly as she got out of Kai’s car.

                “And you please stay just the way you are…” Kai murmured softly. Realizing how ridiculous he was being he quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts, and that’s when he noticed Junhyung.

                Inside, a lot of the customers as well as Youngmin and Junhyung were surrounding Hyemin and her messy appearance, but Junhyung was also staring straight through the window to Kai. I just thought you should know if you have competition for the girl you love. I promise you, Junhyung-ssi, it won’t be easy to beat me. Junhyung bit the inside of his cheek, eyeing Kai’s sleek car as if left the café’s parking lot.

                Kai smirked as he pulled out, giving Junhyung a mock salute. Let’s go Junhyung. I don’t care if you’re my teacher, I’m serious now, he thought, pulling onto the street. 

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whooaoa~~ so many kai chapters *O* i need more junhyung in life...