PLAYLIST: “Me & You,” HONNE, Tom Misch

BAEKHYUN

“Oh my gosh, welcome to Elite, girl!”

I hear my boss’s vulgar hospitality inside the office as I wait. Tonight, Dohee officially signed a contract as our brand’s Management Analyst. The office and shop where she will be in are still currently under construction and Bomi noona has yet to complete the recruitment for the new management and retail team so she can’t start work just yet. But nevertheless, it’s official! My girlfriend is a part of my team. She has already met up with the other newly recruited members a couple of times for meetings prior to today and now, the waiting game begins.

It’s a Sunday today and I didn’t work but I came with her, not only as a supportive boyfriend but also to introduce her to our products and the system that we are developing for the upcoming store so basically, I’m kind of working too? I was specifically asked by Bomi noona to get Dohee familiar with everything even before the official store opens.

Honestly, I don’t know what to feel. So much excitement is going on in my head right now. Despite that we won’t always be working together at all times, the fact that she is now part of something that has been such an amazing experience for me is … simply amazing. I never even thought this was ever going to happen. She will be working within the same industry—technically speaking.

The door of the office opens and Dohee steps out with a wide grin on her face. “Ready for your orientation, Miss Shim?” I fold my arms across my chest while leaning against the colour bar counter. A blush quickly paints over her face as she approaches me. “God, you’re technically my boss too, right?” She mutters nervously as I take her hand to pull her close to me.

“Yah yah yah, Baekhyun, don’t mess with our new team member so soon, do your job.” Bomi noona peeks out of the office while glaring at me. “Okay—noona, seriously?” I laugh in disbelief before dragging Dohee into the colour bar. “Alright, so, we’ll start with the colour line because this is the area where you won’t have a single clue about. I will make it very basic for you.” I open all the cabinets where we put our colour stuff. “This cabinet contains all the permanents; the second cabinet is the demi permanents and the third one’s all direct dyes which we aren’t done developing completely yet, there are more colours the come. They all have different uses and it’s good if you are aware of the diff—”

I turn to her and see her blankly staring at me with a shy smile. “What?” I ask.

“Nothing … you’re just—you’re very handsome when you’re talking about hair stuff.”

I give her a smug smile before taking out three different kinds of colour tubes. “Anyway, so it’s easy to determine which one’s which because of the colour of the box and the tube itself, right? As you can see it’s darkest to lightest. The darkest box is the permanent cause well, it’s permanent and it penetrates the cortex of the hair hence it stays the longest on the hair. Next to the darkest box is the demi-permanent colour. As opposed to the permanent ones, demi is usually used for toning hair and penetra—”

“Okay, calm down with the extreme briefing right there. Baekhyun, she’s my management analyst, she won’t take up hairstyling. Why are you teaching her penetration of the cortex and ? That is beyond her job description, are you getting me in trouble here, you silly?” Bomi noona interrupts my session again. I press my lips closed together. I might have … gotten too excited when she said I was handsome. I turn around and lean on the counter like a student caught red-handed. I side-glare at Dohee who is looking back with a teasing smile.

“Sorry, I was just—” I swallow hard and suppress my urge to laugh.

Bomi noona approaches us. “Dark brown box is a permanent colour, boom. The maroon box is demi, boom. The bright red box is direct dyes, boom. Colour line is done.” She opens another cabinet. “Then there are developers, so they’re hydrogen peroxide with different volumes, we add them to the colour to activate them and open up the cuticle and all that jazz. 3%, 6%, 9% and these ones, we rarely use 12% here in Korea but we still developed it anyway, just in case we expand overseas.” She quickly skims through all the bottles like a pro before dragging Dohee out of the colour bar.

Yikes, I got too carried away by my girlfriend’s compliment.

Look, I was going to do the exact same thing too, I was just—I don’t know. Whatever.

Fine.

I follow them out to the retail section where Bomi noona’s now introducing her to the haircare and styling products. “I wa—I was going to do it, noona.” I try to take my girlfriend back but my boss just glared at me. “Honey, it’s late, I want to finish this and get home soon. You’re going to take forever if every time she tells you you’re handsome, you start talking like a total geek. I don’t want you to end up sharing the whole origin and history of cosmetology and go all the way back to the African and Egyptian periods. It’s already embarrassing enough that I asked her to come here at such a late hour just to sign the papers because I didn’t have any other time. Don’t embarrass me further, please, sweetie?” I get lectured again and Dohee is just laughing while hiding behind both hands.

I take a step back while hiding my hands behind me. “I understand, noona. Please, proceed.” I lower my head but shoot a glare at my girlfriend who quickly removes the grin on her face when Bomi noona turned to her again.

Once the straightforward orientation is over, Dohee and I bid goodbye to our boss and left.

“Stop laughing.” I walk side-by-side with my girl who is still laughing her off for the same reason. “Oh my god, she roasted you so hard—I’ve never seen anyone do that to you—wow! She’s funny, I love her already.” She hugs my arm while slapping my shoulder lightly. Ugh, how can I even help myself from laughing along with her? First, her laugh is contagious and second, I really was roasted hard anyway. “I guess welcome to Elite,” I reply making her laugh even more. “You’re lucky, I love you. I’ll allow you to laugh at my pain.”

My last statement finally calms her down as she bites her bottom lip shyly. “I love you too.” I pucker my lips for a kiss and she gladly tiptoes to give me a quick one. “Congratulations, love. I’m so happy that it’s all official. Now, we just have to wait for the opening. Take this chance to just focus on yourself and relax.” She nods and leans her head on my shoulders as we take every small harmonized step while watching our feet.

“Yeah, I know. Hopefully, I won’t be too bored. But this is perfect since I’m planning to book the therapy soon anyway.” She replies and looks up at me with a cute grin. I lean down to nuzzle our noses together. “Good girl.”

Shim Dohee has really come so far. She just makes me prouder and prouder each day and I’m glad I get to be there to watch her succeed on her own terms.

She is my good girl, indeed.

Good news! Well, sort of. I mean, it is actually good but still—

So, my family is coming home for the holidays. Unlike some folks who tend to spend their holidays somewhere away from home where it’s warmer and more humid to avoid the cold weather this season brings; my parents chose to welcome winter the best possible way and freeze their asses off here instead. I will never understand how their brains work. I’d die to be in L.A. right now.

“Does this outfit scream jobless to you?” Dohee comes skipping out of her bedroom to show me the dress she currently has on.

Oh dear, she’s been anxious about this for the past two weeks since we found out my family’s flying home. Despite having already signed with Elite a couple of weeks ago, Dohee is still terrified that my parents would ask about the café and she’d end up having to reveal that she lost the job. I know that they would and I am not fond of the idea of my girlfriend having to disclose why and how she lost it.

I march towards her, drawing her close to me “Love, don’t worry about it too much. Even if they do end up asking about it, you can just say you decided to part ways with them because you want to expand your experience somewhere else. You don’t have to overanalyze things, just lie about it. The details shouldn’t matter.” Her shoulders droop as if assurance was not enough to faze her anxiety. “How does that even make sense? Even if we tell them that I am already waiting for a new job at your store, how am I supposed to explain why I left the café right away when I don’t even have to start on the new job yet? That wouldn’t be so smart.”

I can tell just how much she’s been pondering about this and I can’t even blame her. I know my parents very well already but I will never get used to the restlessness they bring upon me every time we would cross paths. It’s like a never-ending tirade of How come you’re this and that? Why are you this and that? Did you do this and that? Did you not do this and that? until you are at that point where you just want to behead yourself and be gone forever.

“Love? Look at me.” I lift her chin to make her look at me. “Everything is going to be fine. Do you trust me?”

She gives me a pale nod before wobbling back into the bedroom. I settle my hands on her shoulders to attach myself like a train and follow her. I let her proceed on getting ready and make my way straight to her bed to lie down. I am tired as hell. Yesterday was crazy in the salon. It is already given to be extremely booked up during the holiday season and I am used to it, theoretically speaking, but my body will never get used to the strain that comes with it.

Looking at the bright side though, I am making a lot of money. Like, a lot and I am not talking about my salary alone. Although it is not customary in this country—God, I wish—, I am one of the few lucky stylists who receive massive amounts of tips from clients who do not take no for an answer. Every so often, clients even sneak the money into my pocket themselves when I refuse to take it.  

On that note, I absolutely have no complaints because it benefits me and my future with Dohee.

Speaking of the future, as we have previously discussed a while ago, we have plans on moving in together. As opposed to my initial suggestion of waiting for my lease to finish, we have decided to move it a little earlier if given the chance. We are just waiting for her to start on the job before we start actively looking. As much as I am willing to pay for the deposit myself because I am financially capable of doing so, Dohee doesn’t want me to and insists on waiting until she, at least, gets her first paycheck from Elite.

I completely understand though, it’s just that … I’m very excited.

“Yah, don’t fall asleep. I’m almost done, I promise.” I feel a sudden slap on my abdomen making me grunt. I open my eyes to straight away glare at her. “You said the same thing ten minutes ago.” I reach over to pull her down to me completely and she squeals when she eventually loses balance and collapses on me. “Let’s take a quick power nap.” I pull her in until we are both lying on the mattress. “Yah—you have parents to pick up in the airport.” She slaps me again on my back this time but hugs me back anyway. “Yeah, well, I have a cute girlfriend to hug and take a nap with here. It’s a hard decision to make.” I smile and close my eyes in satisfaction.

She whines and breaks away from my hug. “You’re silly, I need to get ready—yah, stop!” she shrieks hard when I tackle her down the bed once again. This time, with me on top of her. A big grin reaches her ears as she looks at me. “Let go, Byun Baekhyun. I’ll count to three. One.” She warns, widening her eyes at me for a microsecond before they decrease into a crescent shape again. “What if I don’t want to, noona?” I ask with the same tone.

She throws her head back, giggling hard. “Ew—it’s weird now, don’t call me that.” She lightly bumps her forehead against mine and I fake a groan.

And … the pet peeve is back, I guess. I can’t blame her though; I don’t see her as a noona at all.

Her smile slowly fades as she willingly hugs my neck this time. “Are you nervous?” Concern fills her eyes as she looks at me. She got me again. I have been successfully trying to hide it but I guess it’s harder to execute when it’s her; she can see right through me.