“I’m not liking that look in unnies’ eyes,” Sunhwa muttered as the girls entered what Hyun Jin enthusiastically described as “the best mall EVER!”

Luna laughed and assured her dongsaeng, “Don’t worry. They won’t spend the whole day here.”

When Sunhwa raised a disbelieving eyebrow, she amended sheepishly, “Okay, they only did that once…”

Despite not having known each other for long, Sulli and Hyun Jin seemed to be the perfect shopping team. The two girls were excitedly whispering to one another and Sunhwa caught snatches of their conversation:

“…new Forever21 opened on the fifth floor…”

“…should go to Versace, I heard G-Dragon went…”

“…saw this amazing dress at Bean Pole…”

Sunhwa sighed at plopped herself onto the nearest bench. Her unnies pored over the directory and started methodically – almost obsessively – plotting the best route through the mall.

As Hyun Jin and Sulli argued over the most effective way through the second floor and whether to take the stairs or escalator, Luna leaned over and asked with a twinkle in her eyes, “Do you need anything, Sunhwa yah?”

“An outfit for Hyun Jin unnie’s party, I guess,” Sunhwa replied with some hesitation, “and maybe a new pair of converses.” She looked down at her dilapidated pair of All-Stars, where the sides of one had worn off so you could see her sock.

Luna nodded. “They have a very nice Converse store here,” she said.

Sunhwa brightened, if only a little. The Converse store was one of the few that she enjoyed going to. Rock, studs, and a nice pair of converse. “And you?”

“Of course something to wear for Saturday,” Luna said cheerfully. “Hyun Jin would be very upset if I didn’t. And definitely more practice clothes. I think I’ve sweated through some of them way too many times, and my socks keep disappearing,” she said, with a pointed glare at Sulli, who didn’t seem to notice.

Sunhwa laughed lightly. That was something that she seemed to do a lot more lately – laugh. She had rarely had time to enjoy herself during high school, and she was always ostracized as the “weird dancing girl”. Luna, Sulli, and Hyun Jin’s friendship meant more to her than they knew.

As if sensing exactly what was on her mind, Luna smiled and opened to say something, but was cut off by Hyun Jin.

“Yah! What are you lazy bums doing?” she half-scolded. “We have a whole mall to see!” With that, Sunhwa was unceremoniously dragged by her best friend towards the entrance.

-

A pile of gowns, a cream-colored number with sweeping silk and tiny crystals in the bodice lying on top, accumulated outside of the changing room. Hyun Jin emerged, frowning. “They just don’t…feel exactly right,” she declared, hands on her hips.

Sulli, wearing an emerald one-shoulder and scrutinizing herself in the mirror, nodded as if her friend’s situation were perfectly understandable. “It’s okay, we just need to keep looking,” she encouraged.

“You’re the best, unnie!” Hyun Jin smiled, and then disappeared back into the depths of the boutique.

“I never knew Hyun Jin was such a perfectionist,” Sunhwa grumbled under her breath as she and Luna sat on some plush stools and waited for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

Luna laughed. “You can’t blame her for wanting to look pretty at her graduation party.” She didn’t have anything to worry about, however. Luna had easily found a dress that suited her: a black dress with a pink sweetheart neckline and peplum skirt. Hyun Jin had given her approval, saying that it looked fabulous, and Sunhwa had also thought that the blonde looked very, very good in it. Sulli had winked and told a blushing Luna that she would be sure to steal a certain dubu’s heart the next night.

“Yeah,” Sunhwa lamented, “but she looks good in everything. So why doesn’t she just pick one?”

Luna patted the maknae’s back as Hyun Jin came back with another set of dresses. “It’ll be okay,” she said, and then grinned. “And keep in mind, they haven’t found you anything yet.”

Sunhwa groaned.

-

Hyun Jin dejectedly sipped her electric pink cotton candy frap and sighed, not feeling its energizing goodness. “Why is this so difficult?” she complained.

“It wouldn’t be difficult if you didn’t make it,” Sunhwa said matter-of-factly. The four girls sat at a small café, each holding their own preferred drink. Sunhwa’s had ordered one of her favorites: white hot chocolate. Chocolate. Mm.

Sulli tossed a straw wrapper in her direction. “Don’t be a poop. Shopping for the perfect outfit is a delicate process.”

“Besides, we’ve only gone through two floors,” Luna soothed, stirring her iced caramel macchiato. “There’s bound to be your dream dress in this big old mall.”

Hyun Jin chewed her lip. “I’ve never had this much of a problem picking an outfit before, though.”

 “That’s because you’ve never graduated high school,” Sulli said, raising an eyebrow as she sipped her passion fruit bubble tea. “Maybe we should be calling you maknae.”

They all laughed as Hyun Jin pouted. “Does that mean I’m in charge of aegyo?”

“She can have that job,” Sunhwa said hurriedly. “I have no aegyo whatsoever.”

She immediately had to fend off the hands of Sulli and Luna, who seemed to have a slight obsession with pinching her cheeks. “Unnies!”

“Sunhwa yah will always be our true maknae,” Luna said, eyes twinkling. “But Hyun Jin can do all the fan service.”

Hyun Jin brightened and she started throwing hearts to an imaginary crowd. “Kind of like Woohyun from Infinite!”

“He’s so dreamy,” Sulli sighed, placing her chin in her hands.

“Yah,” Luna said, poking her friend with a straw, “don’t let Jonghyun hear you saying that.”

“Jonghyun? Psht,” Sulli scoffed. “He wouldn’t care less.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Luna said, and Sunhwa nodded wickedly. However, when Sulli pushed her for more information, she refused to elaborate any further.

“You guys ,” Sulli grumped, slumping into her chair and downing the last of her tea.

Hyun Jin giggled and stuck her tongue out. “Love you too, unnie.”

“Hey,” Sunhwa suddenly bolted upright and stared at some point in the distance. “Is that what I think it is?”

“What?” Hyun Jin craned her neck but didn’t see anything.

Luna laughed, knowing exactly what Sunhwa had seen. “Just Sunhwa’s dream store, that’s all.”

“It’s calling me,” Sunhwa announced, entranced. She got up and all but rushed out off the café.

Her unnies were left looking at each other. “Well then,” Sulli said, standing up and brushing herself off. “Let’s follow her, shall we?”

Throwing their drinks away, they walked towards the Converse store.

-

“Noo!” A howl of anguish was heard as the three dancers half-dragged, half-carried their hapless friend to the changing room.

“This is your punishment for spending so long at the Converse store!” Hyun Jin scolded, her voice barely heard above the distress.

“But I don’t deserve this!” Sunhwa sounded close to tears once she was finally set down.

Sulli gently turned her around so that she was facing the curtain. “You knew this was coming, Sunhwa yah.”

“But…” Sunhwa unleashed the full force of her puppy eyes. The girls cringed as one and almost let her go. Almost.

Hyun Jin mustered up all of her will, shoved Sunhwa into the room/cubicle/stall thing (where there were already twenty-odd dresses waiting for her) and yanked the changing curtain shut.

“Thank god,” Sulli sighed. “I thought I was going to crack.”

Luna nodded in agreement. “No aegyo my foot. At least we’ll get this over with now.”

“Don’t come out until you’re dressed in one, arasso?” Hyun Jin called through the curtain.

The only response was a muffled noise that was a cross between a groan and a cry.

-

Hyun Jin actually gasped when Sunhwa stepped out in the third dress.

Luna grinned. “Twirl for us, Sunhwa yah.”

Looking supremely awkward, Sunhwa spun slowly in an uncertain circle. “…well?” she asked hesitantly.

It was Sulli who broke the silence. “You look…amazing,” she said.

“Really?” Sunhwa’s eyes widened and she glanced at herself in the mirror.

Hyun Jin nodded, picking some invisible dust off the dress and clapping excitedly. “You look like a queen, Sunhwa yah.”

And she pretty much did. The dress was white, with crystal detailing on the left shoulder and slight draping in the middle, and ended mid-thigh. It was simple, but it let Sunhwa shine.

Sunhwa squirmed at the praise and tugged at the hem. “Does it have to be so darn short, though?”

“Don’t touch it!” Sulli admonished at the same time Luna said, “It shows off your legs!”

“It looks perfect,” Hyun Jin concluded, smiling the biggest she had all day. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Sunhwa grumbled something that sounded like, “Didn’t have to drag me around…”

“Now all that’s left is for you to find your own dress, Jinnie,” Sulli said as Sunhwa went to pay for the dress. Sulli had found her own a few stores ago, with a colorful floral skirt and a daring black cutout bodice. She looked equally fierce and playful in it, and Sunhwa suspected that Jonghyun would not be leaving her alone once he saw it.

“That will be 210,000 won,” the cashier said.

Sunhwa, who had been reaching into her bag, paled. She had enough money, but it had been a very long time since she had purchased anything that expensive (the apartment rent didn’t count). Even the furniture Sunhwa had gotten on sale. And now…this dress?

Don’t buy it, you stupidhead! her practical, thrifty inner self screamed.

Buy it! the other half of her mind screamed back. It’s not like you would spend it on anything else anyway.

It’s just a dress! You would never buy something like this a few months ago.

But this is important to Hyun Jin. You saw how happy she was.

But you don’t buy things to please people, do you?
 

Whatever. You look really good in it – admit it. Why can’t you buy something pretty every once in a while?

It doesn’t need to be two hundred and ten thousand won’s worth of pretty.

“Um…miss?” Sunhwa was jolted out of her mental argument with herself by the cashier, who was looking at her curiously.

“Oh! Mianhe,” Sunhwa said. She hesitated and asked uneasily, “Can you give me a discount?”

The cashier looked at her kindly. “I’m sorry, but this is a limited edition dress – no discounts.”

Why couldn’t Hyun Jin just have found something from the sale rack? Sunhwa thought desperately.

“You seem like a nice enough girl, though, so I can do a little. How about 200,000 instead?”

“Sunhwa yah! Hurry up!” Sulli’s voice came from the front of the store.

Whatever. “I’ll take it,” she said reluctantly, counting out the correct amount.

“Kamsahamida,” Sunhwa bowed as she took the bag with the two-hundred-thousand-freaking-won dress and vowed that she would not think about it for the rest of the day. Preferably never – but Sunhwa knew in the back of her mind that she would, especially when she would have to rework her budget.

-

“I think…” Hyun Jin breathed as she looked at herself in the mirror, “this is it.”

“Seriously?” Sunhwa said, disbelief coloring her voice as she rose from her seat to take a good look.

Sulli patted down the long tulle skirt with approval. “It’s beautiful, Hyun Jin.”

“Fabulous, as you told me,” Luna offered with a smile.

The chosen dress was a daring shade of ruby red, with a strapless sweetheart neckline. The front hem cut off at the thigh, but the back cascaded down in a long, graceful skirt. The end result was that Hyun Jin’s legs looked even longer than normal and the sweeping effect of the train was majestic.

“What do you think, Sunhwa yah?” Hyun Jin asked as she twirled, the skirt flaring out.

Sunhwa looked at the dress with a critical eye. She was no pro when it came to fashion, but she knew a hit when she saw one. “That’s the one,” she said with finality. “You look great.”

Hyun Jin’s face lit up with a beautiful smile. “Really?”

 “Really, unnie.” Sunhwa nodded with a small grin.

Hyun Jin twirled again, loving the way the fabric swished against her legs. “It feels right.”

“Good!” Sulli clapped her hands. “Are we done here?”

Hyun Jin nodded, glowing with having finally found her dream dress after hours of searching. “I have the perfect pair of shoes at home.”

“Does that mean I can go home now?” Sunhwa asked hopefully, eager for the whole shopping ordeal to be over.

“Yah, yah, you can’t get rid of us that easily!” Luna teased.

“Sometimes I wonder if you really like us, Sunhwa yah,” Hyun Jin laughed. “We’re going to my house!”

“What.” Sunhwa’s face dropped.

Sulli couldn’t resist tweaking their maknae’s cheeks. “Didn’t Jinnie tell you? We’re going to have a sleepover!”

Sunhwa thought for a moment. “Maybe she told me,” she admitted, “but I was probably too tired to remember.”

Luna ushered Hyun Jin to change out of the dress. “We’re going to have so much fun,” she said excitedly.

“We can watch movies and do each other’s nails and have a pillow fight…” Sulli listed.

Sunhwa frowned, considering. “Do I want to spend that much time with you crazy people?”

“Of course!” Sulli slung an arm around Sunhwa and skipped around. “We’re the BEEEEST friends ever!”

Sunhwa hurriedly shrugged out of her grasp. “Scratch that, you’re both embarrassing and crazy.”

“There’s going to be food,” Luna coaxed, knowing the exact way to convince her.

“Food?” Sunhwa’s eyes immediately lit up.

Hyun Jin promised from behind the changing curtain, “Pizza and all the greasy snacks and chocolate I could find.”

Manager Kim oppa and Oh seongsang-nim had the dancers on somewhat of a strict diet (though really nothing compared to SHINee’s) and they weren’t usually allowed to eat greasy or fast foods. But that could be waived for tonight.

Sunhwa practically jumped up and down. “What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go!” 

(Side note: I know Infinite didn't technically exist back when SHINee debuted, but let's just pretend, shall we? I love them so ahhh)

Hello, everyone! How are you all? School has started. Ugh...but I have written a lot recently :D You guys should all appreciate me very much ;) Thank you so much for all of your encouraging comments and subscribes! Please keep it up.

Also, I saw someone upvoted my story!!! OMG I spazzed out for a while...heh. Thank you all so much for all of the support! It means a lot to know that people enjoy reading this. (If someone wants to tell me how to see who upvoted so I can thank them, that would be much appreciated.) Yayyyy~

- tigress