Chaerin is already sitting in the bathroom, staring at the surplus of hair dying supplies she’s obtained from doing Dara’s hair when Jiyong arrives.  Her stomach is in knots, to the point that she doesn’t even answer the door, instead forces her little sister, eyes rolling to do it for her.  “Chaerin is upstairs, the bathroom’s on left, god it’s a good thing she offered to help you isn’t it?” She retorts and points to the stairs, waiting for Jiyong to move.

“I guess so, attitude must run in the family?” He smiles, and playfully winks at Harin, finding amusement in the way that she rolls her eyes at him and wanders off to another part of the house. Taking a deep breath he walks up the stairs, leaning forward to catch a peek of Chaerin from behind the door before he knocks. “Yoo-hoo.” He calls softly, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Hey…” Chaerin stands and pulls the door open a little more, silently urging him into the small room. “So, I have all this stuff, I don’t know if you had a colour you were going for or whatever, but, if you didn’t bring something this is what I have.” Chaerin silently curses herself for rambling and steps aside, letting Jiyong assess his options of brightly coloured dyes, as well as a few natural tones.

“What about all of them?” Jiyong folds his arms and his chin idly as he looks at the girl in front of him. His smile is warm and inviting and he doesn’t want to admit that there are butterflies in his stomach over what feels like the most pleasant conversation the two have had in a long while.

“All of them?” Chaerin asks and looks to the bottles on the counter. “What do you mean all of them?”

“I mean all of them; or at least most of them. What do you have here? Purple… pink…green…blue… What if we did all of them?”  Jiyong’s grin is wide, nodding to his reflection in the mirror and then at the blonde’s.

“I mean, if that’s what you want.” Chaerin shrugs, but her expression is skeptical. “If it looks like , I didn’t do it.”

“It’s a deal.” Jiyong smirks and moves to sit on the tub. “Just start throwing colour in girl.”

Chaerin raises her eyebrows for a moment, staring at Jiyong before she turns around and starts to grab what she’ll need.  “If you like that shirt, you might want to take it off, you can put the towel over you.” She mumbles into her gloves as she pulls them on. Once again she mentally curses herself for the gasp that escapes her lips, and the blush that covers her cheeks when she turns around and Jiyong has followed her instructions, though not fully, leaving the towel hanging on the hook and sitting in only his shorts on the edge of her tub.

“I like these pants too, but I think I’ll just cover them with the towel.” Jiyong says, and there’s a slight nervous waver to his voice as he reaches for the towel and lays it across his lap.

“Yeah… yeah that’s fine.” Chaerin regains her composure and opens the first bottle of colour.  She works in silence for a while, taking a moment here and there to look at the pattern she’s creating on Jiyong’s head. 

“You’re cute when you’re concentrating.” Jiyong’s voice startles Chaerin but she quickly covers by moving around him and continuing to put patches of colour in his hair.

“Thank you.” She says softly. “You uh… You have a tattoo?” She asks, suddenly noticing the black ink imbedded into Jiyong’s skin.  “How long have you had a tattoo?” Looking up and catching his reflection in the mirror she waits for his response.

“My dad let me get it a few months ago, so not too long.” He shrugs, dismissing it. “You like it?” His eyes meeting Chaerin’s for a moment.

“What’s it mean?” Chaerin asks as she runs her fingers over the roman numerals running along Jiyong’s shoulder, ignoring the slight shudder she can feel under her fingertip.

“Lucky numbers.” Jiyong shrugs and tilts his head back slightly to smile brightly up at the girl behind him. “Thank you by the way. You didn’t have to do this, and I know… I mean, well thank you for giving me a chance.”

Jiyong’s words are heartfelt and Chaerin stops working to just look at him. His smile faltering only slightly the longer she stares at him without saying anything.  The thoughts that run through Chaerin’s head are fast enough that she can’t catch them, and she doesn’t realize that she’s leaned down and placed a kiss on the others lips until she’s pulling back and both of their expressions are confused and wide eyed. “I…” She starts, stepping back into the tub, wide eyed and uncertain. “ .” It’s seconds before Jiyong lets out a surprised chuckle that turns into a small laugh and he turns to look at Chaerin.

“Is this what happens when you do Dara’s hair too?” He asks, trying to ease what is now an awkward and tense situation.

“No! I just… you just…” Chaerin’s words are frantic as she points at Jiyong trying to figure out what just happened, and when he grabs her wrist she almost jerks away.

“Chaerin, it’s okay.” Jiyong speaks, and his tone is surprisingly calm in comparison. “Listen, if you want me to leave, I’ll go, even with all this dye on my head, hell it’ll probably be time to wash it out when I get home, and I’m not too unaccustomed to looking like a freak on the bus.” He smiles and waits for Chaerin to smile slightly in return. “Do you want that? I can do that.” He continues, and Chaerin is completely taken aback that this boy that she’s always harbored some sort of unwarranted resentment towards, despite all that, is so understanding.

“No, you don’t have to do that.” She all but whispers. “I… I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that. But you don’t have to go, I won’t make you ride the bus with dye on your head. We’ll just finish your hair, and watch TV maybe? In the living room?”

“Whatever you want Chae,” Jiyong’s trying to not smirk at Chaerin, trying to stop his heart from pounding with this small victory.