Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Foundation 

 

By: TheRealityWeWanted

 

Haechan 

 

 

 

After stabilizing Mari noona’s makeup chair, I caught a whiff of her hair. It smelled like...fruit. I couldn’t name what kind, but if it smelled this good it must’ve been delicious. 

 

She tilted her head back as I leaned over. This was a funny angle, but I couldn’t let it distract me. I wanted to ask her my question in English, so she’d start liking me as much as Johnny and Mark.

 

“Can…you…do me?”

 

Her eyes widened and she jumped out of the chair.

 

Crap! What did I say? I’d run it past Johnny, and he’d grinned and told me to use this exact phrasing. Was he messing with me? Was what I said actually offensive or have a double meaning? 

 

“My makeup! Makeup!” I said quickly, pointing to my face.

 

Mari noona let out a breath and said in Hangukmal. “Let’s just use Korean.”

 

“Okay!” I gave her two thumbs up. “I wanted to beat the other guys here, so you could do my makeup first. We’re going on After Mom Falls Asleep.” 

 

After Mom Falls Asleep was a variety show where guests had to complete silly missions without making noise and waking up “Mom.” In this case, mom was a man in a wig pretending to sleep on a couch behind the guests. It was nothing serious, but I wanted to look good.

 

Mari noona was surprised. “I thought you didn’t want there to be a next time…”

 

I was hoping she’d forgotten I said that.

 

“Well...” I pulled out my phone. The video was already up just in case. “A lot of people seemed to like how I looked that day. Mostly international fans, but Korean ones too.”

 

She took my phone and scrolled through the comments. “Interesting...”

 

“Yeah, so...here I am!”

 

She handed my phone back and sized me up for a few seconds. I hoped she didn’t hold grudges like I did sometimes. When she broke into a smile, I wanted to pump a fist in the air, but my stomach felt weird. Like I was on a roller coaster at Lotte World.

 

“Okay, hop on.”

 

I plopped into the makeup chair, and Mari noona began working her magic. 

 

“Your skin is nice, you know. I saw a couple of people calling you Melanin King in the comments.” She stuck her tongue out a little, concentrating on applying a clear product before the infamous foundation that had caused so much trouble last week. 

 

“What’s...me-la-nin?” I asked.

 

“Uh...it’s a pigment our cells produce. The more you produce, the darker you usually are.” 

 

“So, I’m the king of producing melanin?”

 

She laughed. “Something like that. It’s a compliment.”

 

“Then you must be Melanin Overlord,” I said, taking in her skin. 

 

She paused.

 

Uh-oh. Maybe girls didn’t like being called “overlord”. 

 

“Or…Melanin Princess?” I corrected, quick on my feet as always. “Queen? How old are you anyway, Mari noona?”

 

“You know in the states it’s rude to ask people their ages. Especially women.”

 

“Is it?” I smirked. “Good thing we’re in Korea.”

 

She rolled her eyes, but the corners of lifted. “You’re a troublemaker, aren’t you?”

 

“No, noona. I’m a good kid. Well, not a kid. I’m turning twenty-one soon.”

 

“I’m twenty-five,” she finally admitted.

 

“You don’t look it.”

 

We fell into a comfortable silence as she finished up the rest of my face. For a while, we were the only ones in the room full of mirrors, but more makeup artists trudged in, along with the rest of my group. 

 

“‘Sup, Mari!” Johnny called out. They were the same age, so he didn’t call her noona. And he was speaking English, of course.

 

“Hey! Good to see you.”

 

I bristled. Did he have to flaunt the fact that she was the most comfortable with him? If I was fluent in English, she’d smile at me like that too. 

 

Jaehyun plopped down at the station next to Mari noona’s. When another makeup artist approached him, he thanked her and said he was waiting for Mari.

 

I didn’t understand why. His skin was like untouched snow. All of the makeup artists loved working on him.

 

“I’m almost done with Haechan,” Mari said.

 

Jaehyun nodded. “Take your time.”

 

“Yeah, take your time,” I mimicked in English before whispering in Korean. “Make me look better than everyone else.”

 

She laughed, and again my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster.

 

When she was done, I reluctantly got out of her chair and Jaehyun got in. He tried to make a joke, but judging by Mari’s face she didn’t get it. 

 

That shouldn’t have made me feel better, but it did. As Jaehyun blushed and kept over-explaining it, I glanced in the mirror.

 

Once again, my face matched my neck. 

 

And it didn’t look half bad.

 

 

***

 

 

“So, Ten hyung got her hired?” Mark asked, mouth full of fried chicken.

 

We’d just finished filming After Mom Falls Asleep, and were back at the dorm eating fried chicken and drinking soju and beer. The actor who played “mom” hadn’t stayed asleep for long, because we kept making noise every five seconds. It turned out decorating a cake quietly was harder than it looked. 

 

Johnny got punished early and often, so we’d given up after a while and started being loud on purpose. 

 

It was fun, but it was nice to be back at the dorm relaxing.

 

“Yup, apparently him and Mari have been friends for a long time.” Johnny frowned and swapped his puny drumstick for the bigger one on Mark’s paper plate.

 

Mark glared, but let it go. Taeil, Yuta, and Doyoung were originally on the couch, but when Doyoung got up to use the bathroom, I snatched his spot and refused to give it back.

 

It was every man for himself. He should’ve held it. 

 

Him, Johnny, Mark, Jaehyun, Jung-woo, and Taeyong were on the floor around a low wooden table.

 

“That makes sense,” Doyoung added. “I don’t think the company would hire a foreigner out of the blue.”

 

“But she’s like, pretty good,” Mark said.

 

“Hyuck didn’t seem to think so last week.”

 

Everyone turned to look at me.

 

I froze, crispy wing halfway to my mouth.

 

“Well, that’s because I wasn’t used to seeing myself like that with makeup on,” I admitted. “But the fans seem to like it...”

 

“The international fans, mostly,” Doyoung mumbled, eying the couch. “Give me my spot back!”

 

“Shouldn’t have gotten up.”

 

“I’m older!”

 

“Then you really shouldn’t have gotten up...”

 

Johnny chewed Mark’s stolen drumstick thoughtfully. “He has a point...”

 

“No, he doesn’t! You always take his side!” Doyoung whined.

 

“Older usually means wiser, so…you should’ve known better.” I stuck out my tongue.

 

Doyoung pouted while everyone laughed. His reactions made him the most fun to tease. The day he realized that would be the day I started teasing Mark more. Or picked a different target entirely.

 

“Some of the Korean fans liked it too,” Jung-woo offered softly.

 

“I wonder if they know I’m the Melanin King,” I thought out loud.

 

Johnny choked on his chicken. 

 

“A what? What’s me-la-nin king?” Taeyong asked. He turned to Jaehyun who shrugged.

 

“You lived in America for four years huh?” Yuta quipped.

 

“It— it must be new slang,” Jaehyun said defensively.

 

Yuta smirked and nodded at Johnny who was still choking. “Johnny’ll tell us if he doesn’t die.”

 

Mark was currently pounding on his back and forcing water down his throat. Once Johnny stopped coughing, he stared at me, amusement filling his dark eyes. “Where’d you hear that?”

 

“Mari noona said it’s what the international fans were calling me in the comments.”

 

“What does it mean?” Taeil spoke up.

 

Jaehyun crossed his arms. “Hyuck doesn’t know.”

 

“Do too! Melanin’s a pigment our cells produce. The more your body produces, the darker you are. Since I produce a lot of it, I’m Melanin King and Mari is Melanin Queen.”

 

Johnny laughed so hard he started wheezing. 

 

“It’s what she said word-for-word!”

 

He waved a calming hand, tears in his eyes. “She’s right, she’s right! I just— did you actually call her Melanin Queen?”

 

I paused, a little self-conscious. She hadn’t liked Melanin Overlord, but she seemed okay with Queen. “Yeah.”

 

A fresh wave of laughter hit him while Mark and Yuta looked thoughtful. All the other members were confused or disinterested with the exception of Jaehyun. He just looked irritated.

 

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him. “Mad cause you’re a Melanin Peasant?”

 

He rolled his eyes and started playing a game on his phone.

 

“You and Mari noona have little nicknames for each other? No fair! I want a cute American nickname too!” Jung-woo pouted.

 

“I swear she’s the best thing that’s happened to the company in a while.” Johnny had finally calmed down. “I look forward to hair and makeup now, and when we travel I hope she’s the artist scheduled to come with us.”

 

“Yeah, she’s really nice,” Mark agreed as always.

 

“You guys just like her cause she’s American.” Doyoung made a face and took a sip of his soju.

 

“She’s actually Korean,” Jaehyun corrected.

 

What? Now it was his turn to get stared at.

 

“Well...kinda,” he mumbled.

 

“Her dad’s half Korean, so that makes her a quarter. She was born in Seoul and lived here until she was six. That’s why she’s fluent,” Johnny explained.

 

Interested murmurs broke out around the room.

 

“So, she’s part Korean? That’s cool,” Mark said.

 

Doyoung downed more soju. “She doesn’t look it.”

 

“Actually...at some angles she does,” Yuta murmured.

 

“She’s pretty,” Jung-woo said with a decisive nod of his head. 

 

“She’s not pretty,” Doyoung argued.

 

Taeil just snuck more chicken, and texted cutesy pics of him nibbling it to Win Win, who probably wouldn’t respond.

 

While everyone talked and the conversation shifted to other things, I wondered how Johnny and Jaehyun knew Mari so well. Had she told them her life’s story while she was doing their makeup? If so, how come she wasn’t as free with me? People said I was easy to talk to, but the only thing I’d been able to get out of her was her age. 

 

I hadn’t known she was part Korean, although now that I thought about it, Yuta was right. Her eyes and the shape of her face didn’t really look foreign.

 

My stomach sank, causing me to wonder if the chicken was bad. Tomorrow would be my first day off in months. I’d been in three consecutive comebacks, so you’d think I’d be excited about  it, but…if I had the day off, it meant I wouldn’t get to see Mari noona. 

 

Something suddenly dawned on me. Something I should’ve brought up much earlier. “Hey Johnny hyung…”

 

He glanced at me. “Wassup?”

 

“When I asked Mari noona to do me, she looked shocked. Why?”

 

He burst into laughter for the millionth time while Mark shook his head.

 

“Hyuck, this time it’s you who should’ve known better.”

 

***

 

Author's note: Keep in mind Haechan will be turning 21 in Korean age. They're always a year ahead age-wise, because they count the pregnancy months.

If you enjoyed this chapter, please comment! They are my fuel <3