Lia thinks there aren't sufficient profanities she can use when she came out of the fitting room.

Not to use it for bad purposes, but just to enunciate strongly how she thinks that this blue, tight-fitting bodice with a fuller skirt hanging past her ankles looks perfect on her. Some might even come to the conclusion it was made for her specifically— it isn't.

"Winter! Look at me, look!" Lia raves and skips to Winter happily. The younger girl who helped her tie her dress peeks from behind the mannequin she's currently undressing.  

"Oh my, Lia you look gorgeous! Come on give me a twirl!" Winter gushes and meets her halfway. Lia complies and gracefully turned, making a dramatic effect of flaring her dress as she pirouetted towards Winter. She even went ahead and curtsied, earning a wide smile from the younger girl.

"How come you just call her Lia and you still call me unnie?" Giselle interrupts their moment, standing up from the couch. "I told you I'd let you drop your honorifics with me!" The girl pouts.

"Uhm, I—"

"She didn't want to at first, but we were on the phone last night—" Lia starts.

"You're even talking on the phone!? You don't even text me outside that group chat!" Giselle exclaims incredulously.

Karina clears and walked past the rest of the bickering girls, deciding to finish the mannequin Winter has neglected. It's a pale, rosy-peach high-waisted gown with tied in sleeves which they think would look best for Giselle and her character Juliet.

Winter sees this and excused herself, Lia and Giselle now discussing an entirely different topic. She walks behind the mannequin, removing the remaining undone ribbons. They worked in silence, stopping after few minutes as they watch Hyunjin come out of the fitting room, looking confined in the ruffled poet shirt and fitted pants with knee-breeches. 

Winter side-eyes Karina as they see Giselle make her way to Hyunjin, fixing his poet shirt like it's the most natural thing to do. Hyunjin turns around and mumbles something about an itchy part in his back, and Giselle reaches out from underneath the guy's shirt to locate whatever was causing the guy distress. 

Everyone's attention was caught by the door as they heard the wind chimes tinkle, announcing a new customer. Giselle jumps and steps away from Hyunjin like she was burned, causing Karina to smile yet roll her eyes. 

"Taeyeon-unnieeeee— oops!" 

"Yah! Ning Yi Zhuo! What are you doing here?" in two seconds, Winter is by the door and pulling the newcomer with her towards the counter. 

"I didn't know you'll be here. I texted Taeyeon-unnie and said I'll drop by and loiter in her shop while waiting for you." Ningning explained, eyes glancing at the people in the shop. There are no other customers yet except them so they move comfortably and tried out dresses to their heart's content. 

"Uh, uhm. Jeez. Unnie's not here, she stepped out for a while. Come on." Winter says as she pulls her best friend to meet her block mates.

"Uh Ning, this is Karina-unnie." Ningning waves shyly at the girl smiling at her. "That's Giselle-unnie, and up there is Hyunjin-ssi." Winter points to the other two across the shop. The guy nodded at Ningning and smiles. Giselle waves at Ningning then mouths "drop the unnie" at Winter.

"Uh, where is—" Winter scans the shop and fails to find Lia, assuming she's in one of the fitting rooms, probably trying another dress.

"Everyone, this is Ningning, she's my best friend." Winter says, finishing the introduction.

Ningning takes the seat in front of the counter, pulling Winter next to her. 

"You should have told me you'll be here. Do you want me to go?" Ningning asks. 

"No, that's fine. We can head home together after this." Winter assures the girl, ruffling her hair like a kid. 

"Aish, Minjeong-unnie!" Ningning whines, fixing her hair using her hands.

Karina clears and pulls a dress from the rack, looking at Winter expectantly.

"Winter, can you help me up with this one?" Karina says, showing Winter the dress she has randomly chosen. It's a white chemise with a burgundy bodice, slightly flared cuffs, and two layers of skirt. 

Winter obliges and walks behind the older girl, stopping by in front of the vacant fitting room. 

"Aren't you coming in with me?" Karina asks. 

"I- uh, no. I mean, not yet. Uh, change to that first–" Winter points to the chamise, "then um call me once you need help in tying those uh ribbons." Winter says, finding the knob of the fitting room suddenly interesting. 

Karina smiles at that and nods. After a few minutes, Winter sees Karina peek out of the fitting room and signals for her to come in.

Winter knows the fitting rooms were big enough, at least that's what she felt when she was helping Lia out with her dress. However, this time, for some reason, it was too small, not leaving a room for them to move much. She made a mental note to ask her sister if the fitting rooms are made in different sizes. She should have waited for Lia to finish and use the other room.

Karina had her back turned to Winter, the chamise showing up the girl's pale shoulders. Winter blushes at this and guides Karina in putting on the bodice.

"Uhm, if you could just uh." Winter says uncertainly, not finding the exact words how to tell the girl to face her.

"What?" Karina asks, head looking back at her.

Winter, still unable to formulate the words, held Karina in her waist using both her hands and turns her around to face her.

Karina was surprised at the action, causing her to stumble a bit, losing her balance. Winter grabs her hips closer to steady her, not realizing the position she put herself into. She lets go of the girl and started to fiddle on the laces instead, crisscrossing them, pulling it a bit to fit Karina's body.

"Uh, Winter?" Karina calls out.

"Yeah?" Winter answers not looking up at the girl, busying herself with the task at hand.

"Winter, it's too tight." Karina tries again.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" Winter realizes and looks up to see Karina's face a little too close, causing her to step back in surprise. This time, she's the one who lost her footing, stumbling and hitting her elbow in the fitting room's wall. Karina pulls her in her arms to assist her in standing up properly, eyes looking at her curiously.

"I— let me uhm, let me get this done so you can come out." Winter says.

Winter didn't know she can tie up ribbons that fast, she's probably now the world's record holder.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Karina teases. 

"I-, I'm sorry." Winter apologizes and heads out of the room, now realizing she's sweating.
 

Winter sees Ningning talking animatedly with Lia, probably made the introduction herself already. Winter heads to the mannequin and pulls the dress off it, silently making her way to Giselle. She pulls the girl without saying a word, her left hand holding the dress, and her right hand dragging a clueless Giselle. She stops by the one Lia occupied earlier, just in time for Karina to come out.

"Oooh, that's hot." Giselle comments, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Gi, I'm literally your mom." Karina chuckles. 

After few minutes of taking pictures and trying out multiple renaissance gowns, everyone has decided to call it a day. Lia hugged Ningning goodbye, already have exchanged numbers, and promised to see each other again. 

Just as Winter was about to look for Hyunjin, she sees a car stop in front of the shop, the said guy coming out of the driver's seat. 

"I'll drop you off." He says, looking at everyone, eyes lingering at Giselle.

"Do you even have a license?" Lia asks.

Hyunjin shrugs. 

-

Ms. Bae is having the time of her life. 

As soon as she entered the classroom, she sees the students in their costumes, amazed at how well prepared they all look for a mere literature project. It's not that they're asked to perform in the campus theater or in front of other blocks, it's a simple class project, yet everyone looks like they have put out their A-game. Ms. Bae greets everyone and called everyone's name for daily attendance, except for a little twist, she had the students answer in their character's voice. Every new name called causes a giggling mess to everyone, starting their class in a lig