for taexmyeon

Haerin watches as Yeri opens her newly bought compact powder, slowly becoming immersed. Her friend slides two of her petite fingers to get ahold of the cushion and pats the powder ever so softly, looking focused in the small mirror. Haerin leans on her arms, still watching as her friend applies it on her face carefully.

“Why are you looking?” Yeri finally says, grinning when she catches sight of her in the mirror. “Nothing. It’s just entertaining to watch,” Haerin half-lies. No, it’s just that you’re so pretty. Why do you look like a freaking doll? She thinks in her mind, beating herself up for looking nothing like Yeri. “What’s so entertaining about me applying powder?” Her friend asks, chuckling.

“You won’t get it,” Haerin murmurs to herself, turning to look at the other side. She sighs, lightly closing her eyes. She hates how she’s so unconfident. She hates how her features just look so… mismatched. Asking for advice doesn’t even work at this point. All they ever tell her is that she should just accept what she really is.

What nonsense. She should really stop asking from the internet.

Chairs screech all at the same time as Haerin’s eyes snap open. What’s going on? She wonders as she sees her classmates crowd over the windows. “Yeri, what’s happening?” She asks her friend who is smiling from ear to ear and staring at something, or rather someone, outside.

“It’s the freshmen. I never thought they were this good-looking, especially that guy over there.” Yeri points excitedly at a boy who had ‘American features’ (as her friend had animatedly described). Squinting, she couldn’t see much – just patches of hair from a distance.

Disinterested, Haerin half-heartedly responds as she goes back to her seat. Gosh, are they like Michael Jackson? I get that they’re handsome, but really? She thinks, burying her face in her arms.

Lunch comes by quickly, and Yeri decides that they’re going to eat outside to watch the freshmen play basketball. “What?” Haerin doesn’t bother to hide her skepticism anymore as her friend literally drags her over to the bleachers. “Come on, Haerin-ah. You can do this as my friend, yeah? I have no one I can watch with besides you.” She pouts, and the said one sighs, allowing herself to be convinced with Yeri’s pleas.

Just this once, Haerin thinks as they settle down the bleachers. “You owe me,” she says to her ecstatic friend, glancing at the freshmen who were playing against the juniors. At first she’s disinterested, just looking once in a while, but as the game hypes up, she slowly gets absorbed in watching. Woah, they scored! Haerin thinks in relief. “What, you starting to like them?” Yeri teases, nudging her.

“I’m just here for the game,” she refutes. “Liar. I saw you eyeing one of them,” her playful friend jo