ENGLISH IS IN PURPLE

CHINESE IS RED

KOREAN IS BLUE

~~~

“Hey Kate! Come to my party on Friday night. It’ll be awesome with you there!” Someone says, handing me a piece of paper with an address, a phone number, and a name on it. Sarah Kurr. Some girl I don’t really know. I keep walking.

On the way to first period, calls of “Hey, Kate!” and “Wassup?!” rang out at me from all directions. I always returned their greetings with a slight nod of my head and a small twitch of my mouth.

Things had changed drastically since I had first come last year, and it had opened my eyes up to how horrible a place the world actually was, people becoming your friend just because you were pretty, people changing opinions about you like it was nothing, and the disgusting things people would do to reach fame and popularity.

All I had done was lose a bit bunch of weight, and learned how to dress well and put makeup on. But suddenly, there were TONS of people lining up to be my friend.

An arm wraped itself around mine and I tensed up, but after a “Relax, it’s just me,” I relaxed my shoulders and let a soft smile show on my face, continuing my walk to class with my best friend while reminiscing memories.

FLASHBACK

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, having already given up trying to get back to school.

“Shush, you’ll see when we get there.” Heechul says, speeding up a bit.

“Ta-dah! Here we are. This is where the magic begins.” He says, spreading his arms out wide and twirling.

“Uh…Oppa?"

“Yes?’

“This is a barber’s shop.”

“Yes, I know. And…?”

“How does this help me.” You raise an eyebrow. “Let’s just get back to school.”

“Nuh uh, little girl.” He grabs your arm again. “Let’s just go in.”

Once inside, you were lead to a swivel chair and Heechul went off to find someone to help you. He returned a few minutes later with a man in his late 20’s or early 30’s with a nicely shaped mustache, and rolling a cart with a bunch of different scissors, blow driers, dye, ect.

“Hello. My name is Carlos. How can I be of service today?” He asks.

“Kate, this is Carlos. This is his store. We’ve been friends since-“ Heechul’s face gets a bit red.

Carlos just chuckles.

“Anyways, Carlos, as you can see, this girl’s hair is a mess! I want you to tame it. I don’t care how you do it, conditioning, straightening, whatever, I just want her to look good when you’re done.” Heechul demands.

“Yes. You, dear, need some immediate help. Your hair is horrible! It’s healthy, but how did it come to look like that?!” Carlos says, cringing a bit at your hair. “But not to worry! When I am done, you will not look like this any longer!” He says.

“Good, that’s how it should be. Now, I want her hair to be cut with side bangs that don’t cover her eyes too much and aren’t too short, I want them to flow nicely down the side of her face and give her an elegant feel. Also, make sure to layer her hair. It’s a bit too thick and I just don’t like it…” Heechul starts spewing hair terms and techniques that I didn’t understand to Carlos.

(Author’s POV)

Soon, it was just you and Carlos. As he snipped away at your freshly washed hair, you sat and watched him work in a comfortable silence.

“You must be good friends with mister Heechul.” Carlos says.

“Huh?” You ask, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I have never seen him mother over someone like he does with you or personally take anyone anywhere with him, let alone take them to get a haircut. That means that you are either his girlfriend, sister, or very good friend.” He points out.

“From what I’ve seen so far today though, I don’t think you two have feeling like THAT for each other. Nor do you look alike or have the same last name, so that only leaves the last choice. You two are probably good friends. Am I right?”

‘Good friends? I don’t really know. I mean, I just met him this morning. I’ve never really had a friend like him before because my only friend was- Lina.’ Thinking about it, the pain from before came back again, and your facial expression changed quickly.

“Yeah, I guess we’re good friends. I mean, he saved me and helped me find my class on the first day of school.” You purposely left out the fact that today was your first day of school to avoid answering any more questions.

“Ah, I was right. You have a nice friendship. Now, if you would just move over to this chair so that I can dry your hair and then style…” You didn’t listen to the rest of his words.

The rest of the time spent at the shop, you used to think about how Lina was doing. It seemed that now that you had been reminded of her, you couldn’t stop thinking about her. What was she doing right now? Was she eating well? Had she forgotten you? Was she still angry at you? Did she make new friends and replace you already? These thoughts swirled around in your head.

Finally, Carlos was done. After he called Heechul in to take a look, the two of them stood and circled around you, inspecting you intently.

“I LOVE IT!” Heechul exclaims, skipping around you. “Look. What do you think?” He spins you around in the chair and pulls out a handheld mirror.

Taking the mirror, you lift it to your face, taking a look. Your hair was still long, but not as long as before. Thinned a bit, it was dyed a lighter brown, and was cut short in the front, bangs falling softly over your forehead, framing your face and silky smooth.

“Oh wow…I don’t even look like me!” You say.

“You look wonderful, that’s what you look like.” Heechul says, twirling around again. Carlos stood beside him and admired his own handiwork. 

Thanking Carlos for about the millionth time, you turned to walk out of his store.

The next day, you walked into school just like you had the day before, with your brother. Except this time, you knew where all your classes were. After your haircut, Heechul had given you a thorough talk through of all your classes and which teacher’s you should look out for while the two of you ate ice cream on a park bench, enjoying the peace of nature.

They day had ended well, but when you returned home, you got a HUGE earful from your father and Kris. Oh, Kris had been so angry that you had ditched school with some boy.

Walking into your first period classroom, you were hit in the head with a paper ball, causing you to flinch backwards and hit your head hard on the metal doorframe behind you. You fell to the ground in pain, clutching your head. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the door. Seeing that it was only you lying on the ground, they came and stood around you.

“Oh! It’s Asian girl from yesterday. What was her name again?” Some big white kid said, pretending to be thinking hard.

“I think her name was something like Ka-“ The frail kid is cut off by big buff’s loud booming voice.

“Oh yeah! Ching Chong. That was her name. Ching Chong." He said, looking over the crowd with his eyebrows raised, as if daring anyone to say anything about it.

The room burst into laughter.

You tried your hardest to ignore the harsh sounds. Kai’s words floating through your mind again, but this time, mixed into the jumble, were Heechul’s wise words to you yesterday.

“So Ching Chong, I see you got a haircut. How do you think you look?” He says, running his fingers slowly through your hair.

You cringe at the feeling. “I-I look better.” You cursed yourself for stuttering.

“Oho, better eh? Well. Just because your hair changed, doesn’t mean that you changed. In all of our eyes, you’re still that fat chick that got lost on her first day of school. Still ugly, still stupid, and definitely, still fat.” The crowd chuckled at this.

But you ignored him. His words falling on deaf ears, you moved to your seat and got your books out, preparing for the lesson. The mean boy walked over to you and moved his arm forward, and you suspected that he was going to either hit you, or knock your things off the table. But before he could do anything, the bell rang and the teacher walked in, settling at her desk at the front of the room, dismissed the crowd gathered near you and the bully, and promptly began roll call.

Class had gone well enough, considering that you only got hit with 14 balls of paper with harsh words and vulgar drawings. After first period, you went through the day without too much more trouble, though still hurt by your classmate’s rude and hurtful words. After all, they did not know you and you had not done anything to them before, so why were they acting this way towards you?

When school ended, you made sure to stay low, so that no one would see you, afraid of what the bullies would do if they saw you. Suddenly, an arm shot out from seemingly nowhere and grabbed your waist.

Stumbling back, you almost let out a scream, but a hand quickly covered your mouth.

“Shhh…It’s just me. No need to be afraid.” Heechul’s voice whispered from behind you.

“Oh my God, Heechul! Why the heck did you feel like you needed to take me away kidnapper style?! Can’t you find anything better to grab OTHER THAN MY WAIST?!” You whisper-scream at him. 

“Sorry about that, my hand just grabbed the first thing it touched.” He whispered back with a little smirk.

“Byuntae!” You smacked him on the chest.

“Alright, alright, I already said I was sorry didn’t I? Stop hitting me! Gosh, you seriously hit like a man. I never thought you had it in you.” Heechul whispered. “Wait, why are we whispering again?”

You straightened. You hadn’t even noticed that the two of you were just standing in the middle of the sidewalk hunched over and whispering feverishly in Korean at each other. People passing by were staring at the two of you.

“U-uh I don’t know. Why are you here?” You ask.

“I was walking home when I saw you walking out of school like you were a spy on a secret mission, so I just decided to follow you.” He said. “Say, where are you going that makes you so paranoid?”

“Home.” You reply.

“Going home causes you this much stress?” Heechul says, scratching his head.

“No, I was just watching out fo-“ You covered your mouth and widened your eyes, catching your slip-up.

“What? Watching out for what?” Heechul says, leaning in towards you a bit more.

“N-nothing! Nothing. I was watching out for…mosquitos!” You came up with a lame excuse.

“Ohhhh…mosquitos. I understand. Those little buggers always find a way to bite you.” Sarcasm dripped from his words. “Give it up, honey. I know that’s not what you were looking out for. Tell me the truth now and I won’t have to follow you home.”

“What? Who said anything about you going home with me?!” You say, backing away.

“Me, duh. If you don’t tell me now, then I guess I’ll just have to follow you home and pry until you tell me.” Heechul taunts.

‘Drat. This guy’s relentless. I don’t want to tell him, but I don’t want him at home either. No, I’ll just not tell him. He probably won’t follow me. He’s not that weird.’ You thought to yourself.

“No. I’m not telling you. It’s my business after all. Why do I need to tell you?” You say, continuing your walk home and lifting your chin high.

“Good point. Which is why...I need to follow you home now.” He says, latching onto your arm with a death grip.

“What? You’re really going to do it?” You stop walking in bewilderment.

“Yeah, what, you thought I was kidding?” He says, nudging you in the ribs with his pointy elbow. “After all, I need to meet this brother Kris of yours. He seems like an interesting fellow. We could be friends!”

Facepalming, you just kept walking, dragging him with you as you went.

Entering your house, Heechul still didn’t let go of your arm.

“I’m home!” You called.

Your father popped up. “Welcome home, sweetie. Ah, I see you’ve brought someone from school. He's Korean? What is your name, boy?”

“Annyeonghasaeyo! I’m Kim Heechul! I’m friends with your lovely daughter. It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Wu. Your daughter has told me much about you.” Heechul bows a full 90 degrees.

You were flabbergasted. You never knew that he would act like this.

“Hello Heechul. The pleasure us mine. Now, Jingie, I’m just wondering what it is that you told him about me.” Your father chuckles a bit. “Come, sit. Jingie, could you make some of that wonderful tea you always make?”

“Yes, coming right up, father! Ge told me that he’s going out with his new friends after school today, so don’t worry too much if he comes home a bit late.” You say, moving to kitchen and grabbing the tea canister and 2 cups and preparing the hot water.

Coming back to the living room, you set the tray upon the table, being careful not to spill anything.

“Yes, your daughter is my purest friend. I can promise that I would never harm her and never betray her. Though I’ve only known her for 2 days, I can already tell that she is like an uncut diamond, not beautiful like the others, but worth so, so much more than just a regular crystal.” You hear Heechul explain to your father.

You father nods his head. “It seems to me, Mr. Kim, that your intentions in my daughter are true and real. I understand your promise. But, I must make a promise of my own. If you ever hurt my daughter in any way, may it be physical, emotional, or psychological, I will NOT tolerate that. Is this clear?” Your father’s voice sent chills through you and you couldn’t even begin to comprehend how Heechul must be feeling.

“Yes sir, I will not hurt her ever.” You had to give the guy some credit, Heechul managed to keep his voice steady.

“Alright then, son. Now that that’s done and over, welcome to the family.” Your father claps him on the shoulder and pulls him up, giving him a stern handshake and a quick hug.

Pulling away, your father turned and finally seemed to notice you. “Here, have some of the tea my daughter has prepared for you, Mr. Kim.”

“Just Heechul is fine, sir.” He says as he picks up one of the teacups.

“Then just call me Mr. Wu. Sir makes me sound evil!” Your dad chuckles loudly.

“Ok, dad, now that the interrogation is done, can I take him upstairs to my room?” You ask.

“Sure, I’m sure he won’t do anything to you. Right, Heechul?” He gives him a pointed look.

“Yes, Mr. Kim.” Heechuls says back, a slight smile on his face.

“Enjoy your tea, dad. We’ll be going up now.” You snatch the cup from Heechul’s hands and put it on the table, dragging him up the stairs behind you.

Slamming your door closed, you swerved to face Heechul. “You are the craziest, weirdest, most annoying, dude I have ever met. 2 days in and you already go straight to my house to meet my family.” You rub your temples. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, for starters, you can go ahead and tell me what’s been bothering you all day. Also, who you were hiding from, and where the bathroom is because your dad is scary and now I feel sick.” He said, looking a bit frazzled and unsteady.