Graduation was almost here. Finally after four years of constant stress and lack of proper sleep, Jihoon, along with Jisoo of course, would finally be saying goodbye to all those stressful situations. No more late nights, no more stress crying, and most importantly no more school. Jihoon was glad, no actually, he was ecstatic. He could finally get his break, lord knows he needed one. Jihoon chuckled at that thought, he was beginning to sound like Jisoo. And speaking of Jisoo

“What are we going to do after this?” asks Jisoo as he watches Jihoon dye his hair. Jihoon was beginning to get sick of his pink hair. Every year, he dyed it the same color, so he decided to get rid of it. Graduation was tomorrow, and he wanted to switch things up. So he was going to dye his hair blond.

“After what?” asked Jihoon as he put the dye on his hair. Jisoo would ask if he needs help, but he’s terrible at dying hair. He doesn’t want Jihoon to look bad, so he settles with sitting on one of the chairs besides Jihoon as he watches the younger male.

“After graduation,” answers Jisoo. Graduation was tomorrow, and for once, they had no more assignments, so they stayed in and relaxed until the big day. It hasn’t been like this since they had started their last year in college.

“I don’t know.” Jihoon truly doesn’t know, all he’s ever known was school. Back in Seoul and over here in the states, he always studied to get himself a good career, one in the music business to start. He had already accepted Jisoo’s business partner ship offer, but what was to come of it in the future was beyond their hands.

“I mean, what are we going to do for fun? You know, every summer, when our term ends, we always stay here and just work at the Cafe. I want to do something different this time.”

“Something different like what?” asks Jihoon as he turn to face Jisoo, waiting until he could rinse his hair.

“I was thinking, we should go somewhere. And I don’t mean anywhere here, we’ve spent a lot of time here, but somewhere else.”

Jihoon thinks for a moment. He’s stayed here for the whole four years. The last time he and Jisoo had gone anywhere, it was to some forest for camping, and judging by the amount of bug bites they had afterward, it didn’t go so well.

“We don’t have to go camping again,” says Jisoo as if he read Jihoon’s thoughts.

“Plus, my mom says that she’ll give us the summer off, since after summer we’ll pretty much be owning the whole establishment,” said Jisoo with a hint of excitement.

“Ok, but where too?” replies Jihoon. He would like to travel as well.

“Where would you like to go?” asks Jihoon. He’s saved up a bit of money, so he supposes he can afford one trip.

“Well, I’ve never been to Korea,” says Jisoo as Jihoon’s heart drops. Out of all the places, Jisoo picks Korea.

He pushes that thought behind as he continues with the conversation. “Never?” asks Jihoon incredulously.

“Yeah, never. I mean, I speak and write Korean pretty well, but I’ve never once visited Korea,” says Jisoo as Jihoon gets up to wash his hair.

He looks at the pull down faucet he has, he usually has someone from the salon dye his hair. He’s not too confident about dying his own hair because he’s always afraid he’ll mess it up, but he can’t go to a salon today. He’s almost running out of money and pay day isn’t until next week, so he supposed he had to do it himself. The only problem now was that for some unknown reason, Jihoon had decided to dye his hair in the kitchen sink. Rinsing his hair would be hard.

“Uh, Josh,” says Jihoon as he addresses Jisoo by his nick name. He only ever uses it when he’s embarrassed to ask for help.

Jisoo chuckles as he gets up from his seat. “You don’t even have to ask, I can sense your despair,” he said jokingly as he walks over to Jihoon. Jihoon puts his head over the sink as Jisoo takes the pull down faucet and begins to bury his fingers in Jihoon’s hair. Jihoon thinks for a while as the dye starts to come out of his hair. He hasn’t been to Korea in a long time. Maybe he can come back? Maybe he could just show Jisoo around for a few days, meet up with his old friends, and leave after a week. ‘It doesn’t sound so bad’ thinks Jihoon as he internally agrees with going.

“Why didn’t you tell me before? We could have gone last year during summer break,” speaks Jihoon as he sighs comfortably. The way Jisoo’s fingers move over his scalp reminds him of a certain someone, but Jihoon wills those thoughts out of his head.

“We still had to work at the Cafe during the summer, so I figured we should wait until after graduation, and tomorrow is graduation so why not bring it up.”

“There all done,” said Jisoo as he handed Jihoon a towel. Jihoon dried his hair as fast as he could, eager to see how the change in look would suit him.

“Not bad,” said Jisoo as he looked at Jihoon.

“Before, you looked absolute adorable and cute,” said Jisoo as Jihoon rolled his eyes. He was not cute, he liked to think of himself as handsome.

“But now you look…. I don’t know...Hot” said Jisoo. Jihoon raised his eyebrow at the others remark.

“Are you hitting one me?” asked Jihoon as it was now Jisoo’s turn to roll his eyes.

“You wish,” he said as they continued their playful banter. Jihoon laughed as he walked over to the bathroom mirror to inspect himself. Jisoo wasn’t wrong, Jihoon looked quite different, there was something about his new appearance that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It wasn’t a complete transformation, but he still looked different. He had grown his hair a little bit longer and it fit in with the new look. He liked it.

“The guys are thinking about throwing a graduation party after the graduation ceremony,” said Jisoo as he stood by the door frame watching as Jihoon took in his new appearance.

“And by guys you mean Aron an-”

“And Baekho, yes” interjected Jisoo. There was a reason he kept their names out. After their last slumber party, Jihoon wasn’t exactly excited to go to another hang out.

“So?”

“What kind of party?” asked Jihoon.

“It’s nothing grand. The Cafe is going to be closed tonight.”

“Ah, so this was your idea too,” said Jihoon as he combed his now dry hair.

“No, they wanted to make a graduation party and they had no place to do it. Their dorm is too small and I doubt we would want them to host it at our tiny flat, so I offered to have it here. It’s just a few of our friends,” said Jisoo as Jihoon finished combing his hair.

“I don’t know,” said Jihoon as they both walked out of the bathroom and into the living room.

“Oh come on, I promise they won’t take pictures of you without your permission. It’s time to get out there, even if it’s just once,” said Jisoo as he tried his best to pull off a puppy dog look.

Jihoon internally sighed. He knew Jisoo was not going to stop until he got what he wanted. But he could still try. Looks like he was going to have pull the ‘Josh card’ as Jisoo liked to call.

“Josh,” whined Jihoon.

“Oh no, don’t Josh me,” said Jisoo.. Pulling the ‘Josh card’ would not work, not this time.

Jihoon sighed as he gave up.

“Yes!” said Jisoo as he looked proud of himself.

“Wait,” said Jihoon as he thought of an idea.

“What?”

“I’ll go if you dye your hair,” said Jihoon with a smirk. Not once has he ever seen Jisoo with colored hair. Not once! If Jihoon had to go to the party, then Jisoo would dye his hair. Of course, Jihoon wouldn’t force the older to do something he didn’t want to. He had experience in that field and he didn’t want that to happen to Jisoo. Even if it was something as simple as hair dying. He would sill go whether or not Jisoo agreed to it.

Jihoon waited for Jisoo’s rejection as he the tv. “Okay.”

Jihoon eyes widened in surprise. “What?” he said not believing what he heard.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Are you serious. I was just joking.”

“I feel like it’s time for a change, you know?” began Jisoo as Jihoon payed attention to him.

“I mean, if I dye my hair, it’ll be like a new me.”

Jihoon stood silent for a while. He had never thought about it like that. When he was in Korea, he had always had his hair pink, ever since high school. Maybe that’s why Jihoon felt so different because while it seemed silly, the color of his chair had changed who he was. Jihoon already believed he had changed completely these past four years he’s been in LA. It was unenviable not to change if one wanted to assimilate to a new society.

Maybe this new change was good for forgetting. Every time he looked in the mirror and he saw his bright pink hair, he would remember all those memories from his time back home. Like the first time he had gotten his hair dyed and Seungcheol was at a loss for words. ‘An even cuter Jihoonie’ Seungcheol would call the other. Or ho- he willed those thoughts away again. Now that he’s changed the only thing that constantly reminded him of home, it reminded Jihoon that this was it. Maybe he was finally letting go.

“I’ve always like the color rose gold,” said Jisoo as he brought Jihoon out of his thoughts.

“I can dye it rose gold!”

“You would look nice in that color,” said Jihoon as he tried to imagine Jisoo’s hair dyed rose gold.

“Are you hitting on me?” joked Jisoo as Jihoon rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, you wish,” he joked along as he began to flip through various channels.

“No, but seriously, I think I would want to color it rose gold.”

“Okay, then rose gold it is,” said Jihoon as Jisoo smiled excitedly.

Jihoon laughed as he shook his head in amusement. Jisoo might be known as a gentle men to some people, but oh no, Jihoon knew Jisoo resembled a child in a candy store when he was excited about something. He resembled Seungcheol back in high school.

Jihoon remembers the time in high school when Seungcheol had asked him out. Seungcheol was so nervous, and Jihoon knew all along what Seungcheol was going to do, but he let Seungcheol believe he had surprised Jihoon. Jihoon had to try his best to act surprised when Seungcheol asked him out one day near the park they both liked going to. He never told Seungcheol that he knew about his plan back in high school, not even until this day.

Jihoon’s heart sank as he realized he was once again reminiscing on the past. It’s been so long since he had thought of Seungcheol. Why is he thinking about him now? Wasn’t he finally letting go?

Jihoon internally sighed. Maybe letting go doesn’t always mean forgetting.