She told you that nothing in the world pissed his ex more than having colored hair.

She just casually mentioned it as you made your way back while walking with her. Her eyes were unreadable as she was busy still busy browsing the pamphlet in her hands. This whole ploy was just to get back at her ex.

You were disappointed to hear that a certain part of this plan still involved that bastard.

But you can’t help the growing feeling of happiness when you heard the possibility of doing an activity which involved ‘just the two of you’. You were elated beyond compare. The earlier feeling of resentment towards her magically disappeared.

This idea is just as dumb as you are.

At least I get to help her AND piss him at the same time, right? Plus, that look of happiness in her eyes; it’s worth it.

“I’ll choose the colors!” Irene’s voice said. You squinted at her. Just by that, you can tell that she’s planning something. She’ll probably end up choosing a color that was weird just to mess up with you.

“You wish!”

She pouted. You kind of melted on that very spot.

Damn it.

“Do you really think that I’ll do that to you?”

Well you DO mess with me in many ways than you could imagine so I don’t really know how to answer that without sounding suspicious.

“No” was all that you can answer.

That seemed to have done the trick because she was back to her bubbly mood. She stretched her hands above her head.

“I can’t wait to do this! I’ve always wanted to try it and I wonder what we’ll look like!” she turned in your direction. “Hey, do you think that I’ll look pretty?”

That question pretty much caught you off guard because you almost tripped over nothing. If it weren’t for Irene’s fast reaction, your face might’ve had connected with the sidewalk. She was torn over laughing and teasing you.

“Omygosh! You clumsy bear!” she said as she held on your right arm. “Honestly! We’ve been together since we’re kids and of all the things that you could keep, you chose your air headedness!”

Yes.

That’s your role. The clumsy airhead friend.

You wanted to shot her a mean look but you realized that she was still clinging to your arm and suddenly, you became hyperaware of everything. Heat crept up your neck and the chances of you blushing were very high. A quick plan to retract your arm discreetly popped in your mind. Execution was almost within your hands when she clung more tightly.

Silent prayers were being chanted in your mind as you tried to not mind it while keeping a straight face.

Distraction distraction distraction.

You needed to divert your attention to not be stuck the whole journey home just idly walking while not saying anything.

And, trying not to let her notice that her simply clinging onto your arm had a widely different effect; both to your brain and to your heart.

“S-so when are you planning to do this?”

She looked at you nonchalantly with a grin.

“WE’RE going to do it this weekend” Irene stressed the ‘we’re’ part of her sentence firmly. “Don’t think that you could chicken out of this Seul, I’m gonna drag your sorry if I have to.”

“But Mom may not approve” you argued. “Remember that one time when you enrolled to gymnastic class and she refused to let me?”

“Pffffffft. Don’t use that!” she flicked your forehead making you flinch. You looked at her while massaging the spot where your friend hit you. “You just said that because you really don’t want to participate! You said that it looked dumb and leotards are quote unquote ‘yucky’.”

“Well they are! And gymnastics is such a pain!”

“Well I still could do a split, can you?”

You not being able to do a split have always been a big deal to the people around you. It baffles you why.

Is it really a big deal?! Is it like, a national requirement to be able to do a split?!

“Aish. Here we go again with that splitting thing.”

“It’s funny because you can’t do it!”

You pressed your mouth in a thin line and stopped walking. You were near the street where you usually part when going home. You were about to berate her about the non-importance of being able to do a split and why it shouldn’t really be held against you when Irene squealed in delight when she saw that your Mom was just about to cross the street. She waved at your Mom who was beaming from ear to ear.

“Looks like this is my chance” she smirked at you and dashed off to meet your Mom halfway. She was carrying some stuff to which Irene helped. She bowed down and offered to help her carry her load. You were only watching from afar and you can only imagine the conversation that they were having. You can practically hear your Mom’s refusal and Irene’s insistence. They were chatting comically and you wonder what on earth they were talking about.

After a few minutes, your Mom started to walk away again while Irene was holding all of her stuff from earlier. She bowed down and carried all of it towards you. She was grinning widely.

“What?” you asked.

“She said yes!”

“What?!”

“She said that you can color your hair with me!”

“Wait what?!”

“Is that your only response? Try saying ‘thanks’ or ‘you’re the best Irene’. Honestly.”

Your only response was gaping mouth matched by a dumbfounded expression.

“Close your mouth deary, you might catch some flies” she playfully closed your mouth and ruffled your hair. “So that settles it! We can just meet there at the salon at around two in the afternoon.”

She looked at you as if waiting for a response so you just nodded. She nodded back then immediately dumped all of what she was carrying in your arms. You gave her another searching look.

“Oh. Your Mom had to run back to the store because she forgot a handful of stuff. You should hurry in carrying those because there are perishables in there and they’re kinda heavy.”

You didn’t need her to say that it was heavy because you can already feel your arms stagger at the weight of the groceries.

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

“What? I have a project due tomorrow so I can’t. I have to dash home.”

“What?! But you’re the one who volunteered to do this!”

“BUT” she raised a finger, “I’m also the one who got you the permission that you needed for this weekend.”

“That’s not even my plan! That was your plan too!”

She laughed and ruffled your hair once more as if tormenting you was one of the most amusing things to do in the universe. She snickered and started to dash off.

“I can’t hear you because I’m about to run off home! Careful on carrying those and see you on Saturday! Don’t be late! Toodles~”

You watch her back disappear as you were left there; arms aching from the weight of the groceries in your arms and still quite unsure on what Saturday will bring.

*~*~*~*

Friday night came and for some reason, you were all jittery and anxious that resulted to your restlessness. Usually, sleeping wasn’t a big of a problem to you; you can easily fall asleep anytime and anywhere.

You actually consider it as one of your talents.

In those rare circumstances that you did stay up late, most of the time, it has involved Irene. She’s the sole exception to you achieving a good night’s rest. It’s always like that. At this point, you’ve accepted the fact that she can probably make you stay up late for any reason.

This time, it was having your hair color changed. She really outdid herself this time. This project of Irene has left you stumped; just the image of you and her having a day in a salon makes you jittery in the deepest parts of your stomach.

 You glanced at the digital clock on your bedside table.

10:58 pm.

Wow.

You actually are anxious about a hair appointment.

Way to be not pathetic Seulgi.

You decided to distract yourself by browsing the internet.

However, traces of Irene’s schemes are nagging the very back of your mind that’s why you almost immediately found yourself on sites about hair styling and hair care treatments. You actually got so into it that you briefly considered buying an overpriced brand of shampoo that is supposedly effective on newly dyed hair.

I wonder if Irene will need this.. I wouldn’t want her hair to dry out because she didn’t think this plan through..

You snapped back to reality when you realized what you were thinking.

Agh! It’s not my responsibility! She’s the one making me dye my hair against my will! She should be the one buying me this shampoo! What if my hair gets frizzled up?

Getting lost in hair stuff suddenly made you even more anxious; you left your laptop and reached in for your phone in your bag. You hunched over and opened your social accounts (as if you have messages to wait for). When you saw that you didn’t have any new notifications (pretends to be shocked), you heaved a sigh to yourself and let your body fall into bed.

She could’ve sent me some additional information or something...

Your phone must’ve notice your pout so it made a noise.

*ding*

It was a notification for a message. You hurriedly grabbed your phone again and scrolled to check who messaged you. Your smile faltered a little bit when you found out that it wasn’t from Irene but nevertheless, you were happy that you somehow got a message.

From: cutieyjoyyyie (11:13 pm)
y r u still up granny??? lmao r u having joint pains?

Aish this rascal.

Re: kkangseul (11:14 pm)
Can’t I just have sleeping problems? So rude. I’m telling Wendy :P

cutieyjoyyyie (11:15 pm)
nooooooo!! don’t tell her TwT she’ll scold me again... i actually got in trouble at d restorant..

You smiled. Wendy really has the power to make Joy and Yeri cower. You paused for a little bit. As far as your memory serves, Joy briefly dyed her hair blonde one summer. She was actually very proud about it until her father made her change it back because she flunked History.

Maybe it can be a good conversation topic.

kkangseul (11:18 pm)
I won’t tell her if you answer my question.... SERIOUSLY!!!!

cutieyjoyyyie is typing...

cutieyjoyyyie (11:19 pm)
ewwwww... unnie, ur suppose to hve talk wid ur parents~ :O

You were about to go off on Joy when another ‘ding’ resounded and it seems like Wendy also noticed that you were online.

From: Wanda-pul-World-eu (11:19 pm)
Lmao. Seulgi is that you? Is another person operating Seulgi’s cellphone?

kkangseul (11:20 pm)
Is it really that big of a deal that I’m awake?? O_o

Wanda-pul-World-eu (11:21 pm)
LOL. Did one of the brats notice it? HAHAHAHA. I thought that this was a sign that the world was ending. :3

Another ‘ding’ went off and you were positive on who it was.

From: yeriannaxoxo (11:21 pm)
....why is the bear online??? is hibernation season over??? or are you awakened bc our lord saviour Arianna Grande made a comeback??? #buynotearslefttocryonItunes

Maybe they were right. You really had no right being online past your bedtime because the mere phenomena of having three separate conversations was overwhelming your sleep deprived self. One of them must be spamming you because the ‘dings’ were non-stop.

You were really considering logging off but you still weren’t tired and maybe their opinions can help you go through with your previous decision.

You take a deep breath.

kkangseul made a group conversation 

kkangseu