A month later, just minutes after opening, the door bells jingled violently as Kyuhyun barged into the barber shop, effectively scaring the three sleepy, idle people inside the shop. 

“Where’s Ryeowook-ah?” He demanded loudly, his eyes darting around the store, searching for his target. 

Ryeowook, who had been previously spinning in a barber chair and had taken cover behind said chair during Kyuhyun’s dramatic entry, peeked over the headrest. 

“Kyuhyun-ah? What are you doing here?” 

The irate boy stomped over to his friend, stopping in front of him and harrumphing. 

“'I’m giving up singing. I’m going to be a barber',” He imitated. “What? Am I going deaf? What did you say to me over the phone?!”

The door to the barber shop opened once more and a well-dressed Mrs. Cho walked in, looking extremely vexed. 

“Kyuhyun! Didn’t I tell you to wait for me? You almost got hit by a car!” 

Kyuhyun ignored his mother, instead staring daggers at the boy in the barber chair, tapping his foot. 

“So?” 

Ryeowook crossed his arms and looked away, muttering: 

“Well, it’s just as I said. I’m going to be a barber.” 

“No, you’re not.” 

“Yes, I am.” 

“No, you’re not.” 

“Yes, I am.” Ryeowook stuck his tongue out at the other boy, still not looking at him. 

“Well, then, I don’t want you to cut my hair ever again,” said Kyuhyun furiously as he approached Ryeowook and stepped sideways into his line-of-sight.

“Fine! Someone like you doesn’t deserve it!” Ryeowook huffed, now jumping out of his seat and stepping towards Kyuhyun, his hands at his waist. 

The boys stood inches away from each other, glaring heatedly. 

A woman stepped in between them, separating the two. 

“Now, now, boys. Let’s talk this out.” She looked at the barber quizzically. “Kyuhyun-ah, that’s your name right? Did you want a haircut today?” 

Kyuhyun jumped back, staring accusingly at the woman. 

“Kyuhyunnie, this is Mrs. Lee, do you remember her?” introduced Mr. Kim. “She and her husband run the salon just down the street. She’s Sohyun’s mother. When they found out that my hand was hurt, Mrs. Lee generously volunteered to help out here at the barber shop for a few weeks. Isn’t that great?” 

Kyuhyun looked away, sticking his nose in the air. 

“I’m not letting anyone touch my hair except for you, Mister. Especially not that idiot, Ryeowook.” 

Mrs. Cho, who was already emotional due to her son’s near-death experience, sharply scolded: 

“Don’t use the word ‘idiot’, Kyuhyun!” 

Mr. Kim flapped his hands through the air, trying to calm everyone down. 

“Let’s talk about this, okay?” He gently guided Mrs. Cho to a seat in the waiting area, gesturing at Mrs. Lee to do the same with Kyuhyun. “I’ll go make something warm to drink. For now, just sit down and breathe. All of you.” 

He headed to the stairs. 

“Honey, can you make a cup of tea and two cups of hot chocolate, please?” 

A muffled, “Okay dear!” was heard before he walked back over to the waiting area, seating himself in a chair. His son climbed into his lap and made himself comfortable, glowering at the other boy. 

“So, Kyuhyunnie, what happened?” asked Mr. Kim, curious. 

“I told Ryeowook that I would call him. And I called him. Lots of times. And every time I asked him if he was going to be a singer, he said ‘maybe’. And then yesterday I was talking to him and he said ‘I’m giving up singing. I’m going to be a barber’ in that squeaky voice of his,” he mocked. “And I said ‘why?’ and he said because he wants to be a barber now! Ever since we were little, he’s said that he’ll be the best singer ever and then suddenly he says that he’ll become a barber. He broke our promise, he’s a traitor!” Kyuhyun finished loudly, pointing at the other boy. 

Mrs. Kim passed by, handing out tea and hot chocolate to the Chos and Ryeowook (who let out a happy squeal). She gave her husband a significant look before fleeing out of the shop. 

“Ryeowook, what do say to that?” 

“Well, I want to become a barber now, appa!” He said cheerily as he took a big sip of his drink. 

“Why?” 

Ryeowook blushed, shaking his head and trying to not make eye contact. Instead, he took another swig from his mug.

“Come on Ryeowook, we talked about this right?” 

The boy bit his lip, opened his mouth....and gulped down some more hot chocolate. 

The man raised an eyebrow. 

“Ryeowook,” he said, his annoyance building up. 

“Well, there are lots of reasons, appa!” Ryeowook said brightly as he finished the last of his hot chocolate, enthusiastically using his sleeve to wipe off the leftover liquid on his lips, pleased to have had something sugary to drink. 

“Yeah, like being a betrayer!” Kyuhyun yelled. Mrs. Cho tutted, quietening him. 

“No, I’m not a betrayer! I like being a barber now. I’ve been practicing with appa and Mrs. Lee and I learned a looooot,” he said, dramatically extending the ‘o’. “Also, we went to Busan and visited Uncle Song! And he was so cool. When he cut hair he was like rah, hah, pah!” Ryeowook gestured dramatically in time with his words, the mug swaying dangerously on his lap. 

His father swooped in and saved the boy’s mug before it met an untimely death. 

“Ryeowook-ah, you might want to explain yourself in a way that makes a little more sense,” he said, placing the mug safely on the side table. 

The boy whined.

“But that made sense appa! I practice haircutting so much now. I practice every day with Mrs. Lee! I go snip, snip, snip, snip...” He said repeating himself as he continued his manic gestures. 

“What about singing? Don’t you want to sing?” Mrs. Cho asked gently. 

“Yeah, I want to sing!” screeched the boy. And he jumped out of his father’s lap, bursting out into song-and-dance to AOA’s Short Hair the second his feet hit the floor. 

Mr. Kim slumped into his chair and cradled his head in his hands, his face bright red in embarrassment. 

“I forgot how he gets with hot chocolate.” He said to himself under his breath then turned to the Chos. “I apologize. As you know, my son’s tolerance for sugar is still very, very, very, extraordinarily low. And that evidently hasn’t changed since he was a child. We were able to keep it under control for so long but...” 

Kyuhyun watched the other boy, sniggering malevolently. 

“I know. He’s was so hard to deal with at camp.” 

“Ah, so did you see his cover of Gee?” 

Kyuhyun flinched, reddening. 

The barber laughed.

“Oh so you were his victim this time as well, weren’t you? I wonder if they have it on video.” 

Kyuhyun shook his head feverishly. His mother quirked her brow, interested. 

“What exactly did-“ Kyuhyun lunged over and slapped his hands over his mother’s mouth, stopping her short. 

Mr. Kim chuckled. 

“Well, as you may have heard from Kyuhyun, Ryeowook tends to dance to girl group songs when he’s on a sugar high. But unlike right now,” the man nodded towards his son, who was still off shaking his hips in his own world, “Ryeowook typically enjoys having someone join him. And as I told your husband a while ago, my son can be quite convincing.” 

“Oh? So what does this have to do with Kyuhyun?” asked Mrs. Cho. 

Kyuhyun sat back down and slumped into his seat, covering his face. 

“Well, when Ryeowook starts singing Gee, he gets,” he paused, searching for the right word, “wilder, if that’s possible. As per my son, it’s become a tradition that for the final music camp talent show, he and his friends dress up as girls, gulp down a can of sugary pop each and sing and dance to Gee. I wouldn’t be surprised if your son was involved as well this year.” The man said, smirking. 

Mrs. Cho roared with laughter. 

“Oh, what I would do to get video evidence of that! We wouldn’t have to worry about Kyuhyun defying us ever again.” She looked slyly at her son, grinning mischievously.

Kyuhyun snarled. 

“So what? I made him sing and dance to that stupid Ice Cream Cake song with those stupid lyrics about how much he hates ice cream! All the other kids laughed at him!” He scrunched up his face self-consciously then shook his head furiously, apparently trying to fight off some frightening Gee-related memories. “Anyway, that’s not the issue here! Why did Ryeowook-ah quit music, huh? He likes music camp. He likes music practice. He loves singing so much!” 

The barber sighed, his grin fading. 

“Well, I can’t help but feel like it was partially my fault. As you may know by now, my family went to visit my brother-in-law in Busan. He’s a barber as well. Apparently when we were there, Ryeowook asked him about carpal tunnel syndrome. It seems like my brother-in-law told my son that while carpal tunnel can feel better with rest, it never goes away. He told him that it has ended the career of many barbers. I think he scared Ryeowook because after that trip, my son has been extremely committed to learning how to cut hair. He is also considering going for after-school hairstyling classes. I think he’s afraid that something’s going to happen to our barber shop.” 

“So, so you don’t think he’ll become a singer?” 

Mr. Kim shook his head. 

“I really don’t know, Kyuhyunnie.” 

Kyuhyun looked hurt. 

“But Ryeowook loves to sing…” he whined under his breath, face falling. 

The barber got up and gave Kyuhyun a comforting hug, both sharing an understanding of what Ryeowook was giving up due to his sudden decision. The boy in question saw them from the other side of the room and made a beeline for the duo at full tilt, forcefully joining their hug. 

“I love you, Kyuhyunnie!” He nuzzled into Kyuhyun’s neck, holding tightly. 

The barber laughed, pulling back. 

“By the way, Kyuhyun-ah, are you here for a haircut?” 

“Not today,” answered Mrs. Cho. “Honestly, this boy has been bothering me incessantly about coming here since their conversation last night. I’m so crabby because I didn’t get any sleep!” 

Mrs. Lee snorted. 

“Boys will be boys, right?” 

Mr. Kim nodded noncommitantly as he surveyed his barber shop. His son had returned to loudly dancing and singing, this time working on a MAMAMOO song. On the other hand, Kyuhyun was sitting rigid in his chair, downcast and subdued. 

“I guess we should be going now, don’t you think Kyuhyunnie?” said Mrs. Cho as she stood up, gently patting her son on the back. 

Kyuhyun slid off his chair and stood up as well, sulking. 

Mr. Kim considered the boy for a moment then knelt down beside him, whispering: 

“But Kyuhyun-ah, you shouldn’t give up hope! Because he can always change his mind!” 

“But he won’t, mister,” the boy responded dejectedly. 

“He could! You know why?”

The boy shook his head.

“Because whenever Ryeowook practices his haircuts with all his heart, he sings with all his heart too!” 

Kyuhyun gazed at the barber in wonder, his eyes wide. 

The barber winked. 

“So don’t give up hope, Kyuhyunnie! You’re his best friend!” 

The boy smiled genuinely. 

“Mister, last time I was here, when I was leaving, I promised Ryeowook that if he couldn’t become a singer, then I’ll become one instead. Can you- can you tell him that I’m going to keep my promise? No matter what?” He raised hopeful eyes towards the barber, searching for an answer. 

Mr. Kim studied Kyuhyun’s face for several seconds, uncertain, then nodded hesitantly. 

Upon seeing this, Kyuhyun nodded back confidently, then turned around and followed his mother out of the store, mentally preparing himself to face the inevitable challenges that the world – or rather, that his father – would throw at him if Ryeowook didn’t change his mind. 

- A/N: Hi everyone, it's been a while. Sorry for the delay. I found that as my sleep deprivation increased, my editing and writing skills decreased. And so although I had ~85% of this written, I had to stop, temporarily, until I could sleep again (haha). I will be going back to older chapters and editing them in the coming days and I might also start updating a bit faster as well (at least, until I can catch up with what I've written so far). Please enjoy~♥