chapter eleven
Of Bullets and Red Converse
When you’re less expecting a day, you’ll realize that time flies way faster than you actually thought. That was exactly what Jimin thought. He went up to the calendar with the marker in hand to slash off the days to Halloween until he realize that there were no more days to mark. Today was D-Day. There, brightly circled in red, was 31st of October. Halloween Night is tonight. The boy mentally stabbed himself through the heart. He had been procrastinating to get a costume ready for Halloween and now the event was approximately 7 hours away and the lad still has figured out what to go as. Grumbling, he marched up to his closet and opened it, pushing all the casual hoodies and sleeveless shirts he owned aside. The only thing that was formal enough was a suit his mother had gotten him to wear for his cousin sister’s wedding and his bodyguard wear. His bodyguard attire would be off limits since those would blow his cover if he wasn’t too careful so instead, he pulled out the suit and examined it entirely for any flaws. He held up the hanger with a hand while his right dug into his sweatpants pocket for his phone and dialled a number.
“Hello hello, my adorable friend. So what are you wearing for Halloween Night?” Taehyung asked as soon as he picked up the call at the third ring. He could hear hair dryers and mumbling from the other end. “Are you at the hair salon?” Jimin pulled the phone away from his ear when the loud blowing air from the hair dyer blew into the speaker.
“Yup! Hey, drop by here and we’ll get you fixed up for tonight. Hoseokie is here too! Say hi, Hoseokie.” Taehyung giggled innocently as Hoseok yelled at the unauthorized nickname from somewhere far. “So anyways, I’ll send you the address. Bring your costume and a picture of whoever you’re dressing up as and my hairstylist can do it.”
Jimin broke into a sheepish smile before looking at his plain suit. “Actually… I still don’t know what to wear but I found a suit though—.”
“Dude! You’re going for Halloween, not a wedding! Why the hell would you want to wear a suit?!” Taehyung interrupted the male in mid-sentence. Jimin let out a long sigh before swaying the suit slightly. “I am really clueless about this. Plus, don’t you think it’s rather childish to dress up and all?”
“Nothing is childish. You just lack imagination. What? Have you been living under a rock this whole time?” Taehyung slapped his forehead before asking his makeup artist about something.
He put the boy on hold and started tapping away on his keypad. After saving a picture on his phone, he clicked back on Jimin’s call. “Call me your fairy godbrother because I just found the solution to your Halloween costume crisis. Get your here this instant and bring along the suit.” Before Jimin could ask for a further explanation, Taehyung hung up. Jimin pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a short moment before collecting himself. I guess I’ll just have to trust Taehyung on this. With an anxious heart, he stuffed a few things into a backpack and pulled a clothes plastic cover over the suit before heading downstairs and asked Mr. Han for a ride to the destination Taehyung texted him.
A head peeked into Chaekyung’s room, finding the young girl with her back flat on her bed as she flailed her limbs in the air out of frustration. Mr. Moon chuckled as his knuckles knocked against the wood frame lightly to alert his daughter of his presence. Instantly, Chaekyung sat up with a bolt and fixed her hair and clothes, clearing as well. “Oh, Father. I was just—How long have you been standing there? Come in, please.” She stood up to drag her stool from the dressing table when her father raised a hand. He held her shoulders and walked her to stand in front of the floor length mirror in her walk-in closet. He stared at her reflection, smiling ever so fondly at her. The girl wore a puzzled look on her face as she blink at her ‘twin’ in the mirror.
“Since it’s Halloween, how about I play Superman?” Her father chortled as he looked down into his daughter’s questioning blue eyes. He tapped her on the nose lightly before looking up in thought, his lips curling into a slight grin. “Seems to me you’re having trouble with your Halloween costume. Didn’t you figure out what to go as?” Chaekyung sighed aloud before nodding. “I did… I wanted to go as Cat Woman at first but Sonia had already called dibs on the character so I tried rummaging my closet if I could find something but nothing seems to feel right.”
“How about a vampire? You could be like that Twilight thing teens get so crazy about these days.” Her father nudged her lightly by the shoulder.
Chaekyung’s eyebrows were so close to forming a line as she shook her head. “Vampires are too mainstream so that means they’ll be a lot of vampires in the party.”
“I thought you might say that.” Mr. Moon signalled someone from outside the room. Dahee entered with a hanger in hand. A black plastic covered whatever that was beneath it and Chaekyung’s heart thumped as she thought of what could be under it. Mr. Moon thanked the Chief Maid and sent her off before turning his attention to his daughter. He hung the hanger up by the wall, smoothening the wrinkles on the plastic with careful fingers.
“Your mother mailed this just for her precious daughter. She even had it custom made so it should be a perfect fit. Dahee will help you with your hair and makeup. Now, get dressed before Dahee comes to attend you.” Mr Moon pressed his lips on his daughter’s forehead in a soft kiss before leaving her to change into her Halloween costume.
Jimin was fidgeting in his costume. He tugged on his collar for the nth time and scratched the ends of his sleeves. If he knew he would wear the old suit, he would have sent it to the laundry at earlier notice. He prayed hard to not be scratching himself like a wild baboon later during the party. Again, he flicked his wrist to peek at his watch. Where in the world is Chaekyung? I’ve already been waiting for half an hour like this. The makeup that had been applied on his face was starting to itch too and the boy had to keep his hands behind his back to refrain himself from touching his face. Dahee came to his side with a bowler hat in hand. She dusted the top for one last time before setting it carefully upon the boy’s head. “There! Now your Charlie Chaplin look is perfect. You should be thankful to Mr. Moon for this.”
The boy caught his reflection in a mirror near the display cabinet. His face was coated with heavy white powder and his eyes were rimmed with light eyeliner to give an even more dead look to himself. A fake toothbrush moustache was plastered at the space under his nose by the stylist at the hair salon he had went. His black morning coat was a little small of his build but that was how Chaplin wore his so Jimin only buttoned the top button and left the rest as it was. His black shoes were shiny thanks to Dahee who polished them and in his hands he twirled a white cane. Taehyung was right when he said that the character would suit him perfectly. Sir Charlie Chaplin, I shall make you proud. Jimin grinned to himself until Dahee nudged him to reality.
“Your bride is here.” Dahee left the room, giggling as she went off to inform Mr. Han that they’ll be ready to leave shortly.
Jimin’s eyes trailed up the stairs and felt his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets when he saw Moon Chaekyung coming down slowly on the steps. The young lady was dressed in a faded blue bride gown that were in a darker shade around the rims of her floor length skirt and sweetheart neckline. The slight wrinkles on her dress gave it an old and burnt look with a glittered skeleton bone design on the lower right side of her ribcage. Her veil was lifted and pushed back, revealing her hauntingly beautiful face. Her crystal blue eyes were even more enhanced thanks to the light blue and black around them and her lips were tinted with pale pink. She had a flower crown of small, dried blue roses and her hands held onto a bouquet of dark blue almost-black roses. Her already pale complexion gave her an eerie glow, sending a cold tingle down Jimin’s spine as she approached him in slow steps. She was so enchanting that it only downed Jimin that she was going to the Halloween Night as a corpse bride.
Jimin held out his hand to her as she came to the final step. She grateful took his hand and stepped down to stand in front of him. He looked down at her legs and caught a glimpse of her pale blue glass-like heels. His lips broke into a teasing grin as he whispered, “Wearing heels I see.” Chaekyung glared at him—which he had to admit, looked much scarier due to the fact that she was looking like an actual ghost of a bride—before subconsciously looking down at her shoes. “That’s why I need to have you by my side at all times. I don’t want to trip and fall over my skirt. I feel like I’m floating right now.”
Jimin laughed. “And I thought you were supposed to be floating, ghost bride.”
“It’s corpse bride, Charlie.” She punched him with her free hand, making him laugh even harder.
Mr. Moon came out just in time to see both of them out the door. Chaekyung looked up at her father and twirled in a spot, showing off her costume. “Tell Mother I’ll call her to wish her personally after the party! And thank you for the new Chanel perfume, Father. It smells wonderful.” Mr. Moon smiled, bobbing his head once. “You’re welcome, my dear and may I say you look extremely stunning as a ghost bride.” Chaekyung stomped her foot and almost forgotten about her fragile shoe. “Why doesn’t anyone get my costume? I’m a corpse bride! You know, Tim Burton, Emily, corpse bride?”
Mr. Moon flipped his head back as a laugh erupted from his mouth. He pinched his daughter’s nose softly. “Oh, my jewel. I was just messing with you. Of course I know what you are. I was the one who suggested to your mom this costume! You love that movie, even your mom knows it.” Then the man turned to the lad next to his daughter. He placed a light hand onto Jimin’s shoulder, patting it once. “My, my. Look at you, Jimin. I must say your costume suits you very well. And I’m glad the hat could fit you.” Mr. Moon smiled, pointing at the derby hat on Jimin’s head. Jimin dipped his head in a bow, a hand keeping his hat from falling. “Thank you, Sir. I’m really grateful for the hat. It completed my costume.”
Chaekyung’s father smiled and called one of the male maids to fetch his camera. “Now, my two teens. Stand together. I want to take this so I can send them to my wife and also to Jimin’s mother.” He held the camera to his eye and focused on the pair. They waddling closer but still they looked rather awkward due to the slight space between them. Mr. Moon waved his hand, signalling them. “Come a little closer.” The two looked at each other before moving just a step closer. Mr. Moon frowned and dropped his camera slightly. “Oh come on, you two! Don’t tell me I have to instruct you two. Jimin, step closer and put your arm around Chaekyung.” He focused into the eyepiece again. Jimin glanced at Chaekyung warily, hesitating to follow the man’s words. “It’s alright. Just do it,” she mouthed before squeezing close to the boy’s side. Jimin’s heart raced a little at her closeness and placed a careful hand around the girl’s shoulder. Mr. Moon smiled behind the camera and did a countdown. Both the boy and girl smiled as soon as the girl’s father clicked away and a blinding flash caught their smiles.
“There. Don’t you two look wonderful together.” Mr. Moon grinned as he checked the photo in the camera. “Okay now hurry along or you’ll be late.” He sent them off into the limousine and stood in front of the door to see them off till the backlights of the car disappeared from his view.
okay so i have this huge feeling that i might not be able to make it for christmas special. right now my priority is this story so i'll be updating quick. this is halloween part 1, part 2 would be next chapter.~ hope you guys enjoy! comment, subscribe and upvote are all appreciated!
Okay so this is how Chaekyung's dress looks like.
And Jimin... I'm sure many of you know already.~
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