Carolyn’s POV

Jonghyun and I were trying on different clothing at Hottopic when Taemin called. As I was on the phone with Taemin, I tried not to laugh at all the bling Jjong put on himself. He was wearing black skinnies with chains hanging from the pockets. The gray muscle shirt had a Slipknot logo (my choice, of course) and his boots were totally badass (another wonderful choice of mine, if I do say so myself).  He had big black sunglasses drooping from his face. Gold chains were hanging from his neck and wrists. He mouthed, “Bling bling Jonghyun,” as I finished up on the phone with my boyfriend.  Once I hung up, I went back into action. I grabbed Jjong ‘s sunglasses and replaced them with razor shades. I giggled at the sight. He returned the favor; the black rose headband matched my outfit perfectly. My whole attire was well put together. The lace cuff, black thigh highs matched the dark pleated grommet skirt. The studded heals seemed a bit much, but Jonghyun insisted. My favorite was that tank top he picked out. It was black, and the front had a picture of a cartoon ninja. On the stop of the picture it said “Have you seen him? Probably not.” And at the bottom was written, “Because then you’d be dead.” I’m not sure if Jjong understood what it said, but he loved the fact that on the tunic was a ninja.

Jonghyun must’ve noticed my eyes wandering to the Royal Bones clothing in the store, because he asked me if I wanted anything. I shook my head to be polite, but I planned to splurge and buy myself something anyways.

When I went to put all the clothing back, Jonghyun stopped me, taking them.

“But, aren’t we going to buy them?” He said with a quizzical face.

“What? This stuff is like 200 bucks! I just wanted to try them on. I can’t afford it.”

His face fell, “But…why can’t I buy it?”

“Jjongie, you can’t buy all that! That’s rude of me. Come on, do you really want it?”

“….yes.”

“Oh…”

“Can I buy it? Pleaaaase?” he begged like a puppy.

“Aw, Jjong, don’t make that face!” I laughed at the puppy eyes. He added a whimper. “Aw, okay. If you’re willing to afford all that! Here, I’ll put my stuff back-”

“No! I want to buy that too!” He cut in, turning his body to the side so I couldn’t grab the clothing.

“Jonghyun! I can’t just let you buy me that!”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t! Give it to me.”

“So bossy!”  I stuck out my tongue at his remark. He mimicked me.  “Merong~” He walked over to the counter; I sighed.

“Jjong, what am I going to do with you…” I said under my breath. I glanced over at the Royal Bones section, then back at Jonghyun. I didn’t want him to see me looking through the rack, because I knew what he’d insist on doing. I slowly made my way over and started to browse. I passed by the color-split skinnies, and went on to the shorts and skirts. I wasn’t a skinny jean person.

As I sorted through the ones I did and didn’t like, I came across a pair of black and purple split shorts.  Me gusta. They were only $15, and I had brought $40. I decided I would give the change to Jonghyun, since he bought all that stuff. I turned around and was instantly hit with the sight of the most beautiful thing. There was this dress hanging on the opposite wall.

 Not just any dress. The black, skull n’ crossbones dress I had always wanted. I never had a reason for wanting it…I guess it was a girl instinct I had. But the thing that caught my eye the most about it was the “On Sale” sign labeling it. I scurried over, to see how much it was. Previously, the dress was a little over $150, but it had been cut down, more than half. It was on sale for $37.50. And with tax, that came out to about $40.

It was $40. Let me say that again. Forty. Dollars. I had forty dollars. I had exactly forty dollars. Maybe my excitement was a bit unreasonable, but squealing in that store seemed completely reasonable to me. That is until Jonghyun looked over.

He was carrying the shopping bags when he ran up to me.

“Everything okay? What happened?” he looked worried.

“N-nothing.”

“Mwo?”

“Um, I’m going to go buy that dress, okay? Wait here. I’ll pay you for the stuff once we get home. Okay?” I said while walking towards the beautiful wall.

“You don’t need to pay me back. What do you want? I’ll pay.” I spun around angrily at his words.

“No! I can’t just have you always paying for me! You bought dinner today too! I brought money, although I can’t afford everything, I can afford some things. I’m not some poor peasant in the Kingdom of Jonghyun!” I didn’t mean to yell, I was just too embarrassed at how poor I seemed. Jonghyun saw through my façade and right into my blushing face.

“Aw, don’t worry about it! I always pay for my friends, especially my friends’ girlfriends! Besides, a good friend of mine is a peasant in the Kingdom of Jonghyun,” He winked nudging me, winning a giggle, “It doesn’t have to do with you being unable to afford anything…I just want to pay for it! That’s all.” He pulled me into a tight hug.

He ended up paying for the dress, while I paid for the color split shorts. He got the $25 I had leftover. Although he tried refusing it, I forced him to take it. It was the least I could do.

Damn. I was so pampered.