There were a few things in the grocery store that were hardwired facts that couldn’t be disputed. First, Mr. Kim was the owner and had great intentions, but was too nice to be a proper businessman. Second, Mr. Wu was horrible at drawing. Third, inevitably, at the end of the month when the owners did the inventory, they would realize that at least three rolls of toilet paper were missing. Soah suspected Chen and Chanyeol were doing it on purpose, probably to remind everyone of their famous toilet paper prank. The whole store had been covered in it. Fourth, this place was so full of gossip-hungry employees that no secret could stay on the low once it started to circulate.

But what Soah didn’t expect was that she was the fifth fact – her orange hair color to be precise. She had noticed when she walked in that morning and no one greeted her. She would just silently take her spot and when a coworker would raise their eyes and see her, they would always be shocked for a few second and ask what happened. Even Baekhyun who had claimed multiple times that he didn’t enjoy her hair color hadn’t been sure what to say to the change. Soah herself thought it suited her pretty well, but it did change her whole look. She thought brown hair made her seem older, classier and to be honest a bit more like a rich lady and less like an artist. She could deal with that change, though.

“Soah? What happened to your hair?” asked Jinah when she walked by.

“I just felt like changing it,” the newly brown-haired woman answered simply. It wasn’t worth it to go into the details, she figured.

“It’s very different, but it suits you.”

Jinah’s own hair was dyed a golden blonde color and Soah had to admit she had been tempted to try it too. When she shared this information with her coworker, Jinah looked particularly enthusiast to the idea. Soah promised that the next time she changed her image she would go into that direction with a laugh. That would have to be after the wedding, though.

The morning passed very slowly as the few clients that were in the grocery store were very quiet and sparse. Apparently that proved too much for Chanyeol who decided it would be a good idea to run after Daehyun with whipped cream bottles. Armed with one can in each hand, he was laughing and running along the aisles looking for the blond employee. Jinah’s assistant was hiding especially well and chose as weapon two can of aerosol cheese. The two guys kept treating the whole area like a paintball game, clearly enjoying the fact Kris was on a business meeting half-way across the town. Suho, however, was looking at them play from the other side of the shop with a soft smile. The few clients that were presents in the area were also smiling, probably used to the weird things that could happen in this particular shop. Older people in particular appreciated the youth and vivacity of the youngsters.

Soah and Suho’s eyes met and he smiled, pointing at his hair, then at her and giving her a thumbs up. He thought her new hair looked good. She replied with the sigh for OK that was used by divers, signifying she had everything under control, especially her hair.

When the noon came, she took her break and went to eat in a neighboring fast food restaurant and used her free time to roam the street, looking at the shop windows. When she went back to work, she noticed Kris had came back during her break and had forced Chanyeol and Daehyun to clean. Apparently, Chen had been implicated in a way or another because all three were cleaning supplies. From her counter, Soah had a perfect view of the fight that broke when Chen sprayed Chanyeol with cleaning spray and Daehyun held his mop in Chen’s face. Soon, the three men were having another one of their games, running around with their improvised weapons, laughing and giggling like schoolgirls, Chanyeol unknowingly knocking a few items with his broom. Seeing she had no clients, Soah left her register to pick up said items and place them back. Kris was also doing the same thing, but he had an exasperated look on his face.

“It’s good to be young,” Soah tentatively stated, giving a side glance to her boss.

Noticing her presence, he looked up obviously wanting to retort something about how he was the boss and it was his responsibility to make sure everyone acted professional, but he gasped at her in shock once he saw her hair. Soah politely waited for him to proceed the information with a smile.

“You changed your hair…”

“Yes. Does it look good?” Soah eyes widened as she asked him the question, doing a quick turnaround so he could have a full view of her new do.

“Yeah, you’re pretty. I mean… It looks good.” He lowered his eyes, embarrassed, but Soah didn’t pay attention as she was already thinking of ways to phrase what she had to ask next.

“So…” She started. “You remember my sister that we met at the restaurant? Well, she will be getting married soon and she thinks we are dating so she’s inviting you to the reception and I said you’d be there?”

She had spoken really fast and her voice had trailed up at the end as if she was asking a question, unsure of how he would react. Kris furrowed his brows, trying to make sense of the information she had just thrown at him.

“I thought you told her the truth?”

“That was the plan,” Soah explained. “But I forgot and now I really need you to be there because my whole family will be there and they will destroy me if I’m alone. It’ll be awful unless you’re with me!”

Soah’s plan were always falling short, but this time she was making sure to sugarcoat her words and play the lady in distress. She had learnt through her short life experience that there were ways to ask things with a higher chance of success and it was one of them. Making the other person feel necessary was another trick. It generally enabled people to think they were helpful and important. Soah gazed at Kris, curious to know if it was working on him. For all she knew he could be pretty harsh and maybe immune to those ruses.

Kris was still frowning… The first she had asked him, he had said he couldn’t. Then, he had changed his mind and said he could help, but she had rejected his kind offer, and now she was again asking him the exact same thing.

“I’m sorry, Soah. Like I said before, I would like it if I could help you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea. I thought we agreed you shouldn’t lie.”

The brown-haired girl sighed. “I know, you are right. I’ll tell my sister the truth and I’ll courageously go on my own.”

Kris smiled and gently patted his employee’s hair. “That’s a good girl.”

Later during the day, Soah found a moment when there were no clients to communicate with Yuri. She told her sister how she had no boyfriend but had lied because she felt she didn’t live up to the family’s expectations of her. Yuri had said she was an idiot and that she would always accept her and be proud of her for the person that she was, not because of whether or not she had a boyfriend.

“You can still bring a date, though, I’ll leave an empty place at the table. It can be a friend or a boyfriend, I don’t mind.” Had said Yuri and that made Soah wonder. In fact, even if she didn’t have a fiancé like Suzy, nothing stopped her from bringing a friend that could make the whole evening more fun and less awkward.

“A date…” Soah thought to herself.

She must have been thinking out loud because Suho who was walking by her register turned around.

“Did you say something?” He asked her.

Ah. Suho. He was a friend. And he was nice enough to say yes and he would definitely be polite enough to leave a good impression on her friends and family. At first she had thought of bringing Chen or Baekhyun, or even Kyungsoo, but she didn’t want them to know about her family circumstances. For now, she was rather fond of the way her friends saw her and she felt everything would change if they knew the truth. Suho, however, would keep it a secret, she just knew it. And she didn’t mind if he was the one who knew.

“Oh, perfect timing!” she told him, smiling. “Would you like to come with me to my sister’s wedding? She said I could bring a friend and I thought that would be fun if you came with me.”

Suho blinked before his mouth parted in a wide smile. “I’d be happy to be there.”

That evening already promised to be way more fun. Suho had great conversation skills and although he was very discreet, he was still very charming. Soah was sure he would get along great with everybody.

Once she got home that evening, she pulled out the invitation Yuri had given her and sent the details to Suho, making sure to mention he had to dress in white. He found this theme to be quite fun and creative and promised he had something right for the occasion.

That night when she went to sleep, Soah was all smile. Despite her happy state of mind as she closed her eyes, she opened them a few hours later in stupor, breathing heavily and sweat coming down her brow. She just had the most terrible nightmare, something that she thought she could forget but that was clearly still floating in her mind. Maybe it was time she stopped running once more to face her demons. Soah considered turning on the light but decided against and sat in her bed, grabbing the phone that was on her night table. She entered a number and composed a message.

“I think it’s time we meet again to talk, if that’s okay with you. Don’t we owe it to ourselves, after all.”

Sitting alone in the dark she sent the message and waited. It was almost three in the morning on a Wednesday, but she knew there would be an answer. As she had guessed, five minutes later, it came.

“I agree. Tomorrow at 2pm at our usual place. I miss you.”

And it was signed: Tiffany, her former best friend.