Chapter 8
What is up with this?

            Every single year, around the same date, Soon Bok’s mother manages to force her daughter into going to the salon.  “Mommy daughter bonding” she would call it.  Even so, neither of them ended up bonding, they barely even spoke.  It wasn’t as if they didn’t have a comfortable relationship with each other, Soon Bok was just quiet in nature, and her mother was honestly just content with the fact that she had her daughter so close. 

            Every visit to the salon was the exact same.  First, when the two entered the small shop they would be greeted with the gleeful cries of middle-aged women, then the hairdresser wearing way to much blue eye-shadow would rush her mother over to one of the sinks and start chatting her up right away.  For the remaining time that Soon Bok was there, various assistants would try sparking up conversations with her, and she would easily weasel her way out of there many offers of a ‘new and improved hair-do’.  She was perfectly fine with looking ‘plain’.   All she wanted to do was peacefully read whatever book she had brought along and then leave peacefully.

            However, this time her mother dragged her to a different shop.  “I have a two for one coupon!” her mother grinned.  Although she refused many times, Soon Bok still found herself sitting beside her mother with tons of suds bubbling in her hair.  Honestly, she had to admit, it was quite relaxing, she liked it much better than the other salon her mother attends.  This salon was a bit more spacious and they even offered free tea and coffee to all of the costumers.  It really was a classy establishment, even the employee’s seemed fancy.

“So,” the man scrubbing Soon Bok’s hair began to converse  “Might I ask what grade you are in Ms…”

“Soon Bok.” She answered as she finally peeked open an eye.  She hadn’t really noticed before, but the man’s voice was deep and tranquilizing, or maybe it was the scalp massage she was getting, whatever it was she was feeling drowsy. “I’m in my last year of highschool.” She yawned.

“Is that so,” he smiled as he continued to scrub her scalp. “Well, Ms. Soon Bok, do you have a boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” She answered automatically.

After hearing his deep chuckle along with the teaseing giggles of the other employees, she soon realized her mistake.

“Wait! That’s not… I mean no.” She popped her eyes opened.

“Oh, ok.” He grinned at her. “Sure.”

“I don’t!” She protested, leaning forward.  It was hard for her to protest when her reddening face was working against her. “I swear.”

He rose his hands “I didn’t say anything!”

Slowly she laid back and allowed him to rinse the suds out of her hair.  She just remembered why she hated beauty parlors, everyone’s always so nosey.

“Hmm, so do you have anyone you like?” He continued to pry.

“No.” She said right away. “What about you!” she asked snarky.

“Me?” he chuchkled “I’m engaged.”

She scoffed. “Good for you.”

He grinned and wrapped a soft towel around her wet hair. “Please take a seat there.”

After being placed and set up at the dryer across the room from her mother, the male employee started sweeping up the floor.

“You really don’t have a crush?” A younger employee apparently named Marie suddenly asked as she continued to cut a womans hair. “You’re in your last year of highschool and you don’t even like anyone?”

“There is no one…” She stammered a reply.

“When I was in Highschool, I had three crushes!” the older woman sitting beside Soon Bok exclaimed. “And I married two of them!”

Not knowing how to respond to that, Soon Bok tried to laugh like everyone else, but her thoughts were really distracting her.  She never even considered marriage, especially with anyone from her school.

“Soon Bok,” The male employee propped himself using the broom stick. “You don’t even have someone come to mind when someone mentions the word “crush” or when you see a couple passing by?”

“Ah, there has to got to be someone like that.” Marie chimes in once again. “Someone that comes to mind instantly when a romantic scene comes on, or a guy you want to become closer with?”

“No.” She bit her bottom lip,  She refused to even put those thoughts in her mind, but somehow, just as easily as they employees spoke, that certain person appeared in her mind. “There is no one like that.”

“Hey, What about that young boy walks you home sometimes?” Her mother chirped.

“What!?” Soon Bok almost screamed.

“Jimin? Yeah, he seems so nice.  He’s very handsome too!” Her mother continued to gush as Soon Bok began to sink further and further in her seat.  The shop broke out in “ooh’s” and “awe’s” as her mother continued to described the teen.

“He’s always so nice! Walking you home and all, he even convinced you to go to the haunted house with him!”

“It was a hospital! And he didn’t convince me, you basically forced me to go!” She debated furiously. “And he’s not nice, he’s an idiot!”

“I know.” The man said as he ushered Soon Bok to another chair. “Why don’t we give you a new style?”

“No.”

“Something that stands out.”

“No.”

“Something that makes a statement.”

“…No.” Soon Bok denied. “Just trim the edges please.”

“Aw, but that’s no fun.” He frowned. “Don’t you want to go to school with everyone’s eyes glued on you? They’ll say who is she? And you’ll say proudly I’m—"

“No. Just trim the edges please.”

“Alright.” He sighed in defeat. “I’ll just snip the edges a little— oops.”

“Oops?” Her eyes widened. “What oops?! She got up.

“WHAT OOPS!?!”

♦♦♦

‘Nervous’ was a word that didn’t even come close to describing how Soon Bok felt when she walked into the populated hallways.  She had never once in her life had such a short hairstyle before, she had seen idols on television with similar style, but she never dared to try it out on herself.  She didn’t think she was cute enough to rock such an edgy style.

She tried to avoid everyone’s eyes as she made her way to the cafeteria, she had her fill of hearing comments about her new hair, at the moment, she just wanted to eat lunch.  So she put on her hood and made a dash toward her usual lunch table in the cafeteria.

“Would you take that off already.” Lina said as she smacked on her lunch. “It’s pretty, I already told you! I’m jealous, you have such pretty hair.”

Soon Bok rolled her eyes and rested her head on the cafeterias table.

“What?” Jungkook took his place at the table. “Noona’s got a new haircut?”

“Yeah!” Sohee nodded.  “She looks like a whole different person!”

“Really, let me see!” Jungkook said.

“Ohh, Jungkook.” Sohee gasped. “You sounded really cool just now!”

“Oh, really?” She nodded as he started stammering. “I’m originally from Busan so…”

The loud sounds of constant clicking drowned out the groups conversation, and everyone curiously turned their heads to find the source of the noise. Even Soon Bok lifted her head from the table to steal a glance.  Although, in spite of her intention being a glance, she ended up staring.  With every clink of his crutches, her heart throbbed. She suddenly remembered every single word that was said at the salon she had visited.  “You’re in your last year of highschool, and you don’t even like anyone?”

Groaning she slammed her head on the table.  Not only did she remember those words, she remembered what she did the last time she saw him.  That didn’t seem to bother her as much as those employee’s putting un-needed thoughts in her head.

“Hey guys!” She heard him sit beside her.  Just feeling his prescense near her was enough to get her shivering.

“What’s with the hood? Are you cold.”

“Shut-Up.”

“She got a new hair cut!” Lina explained with full.

“SHUT-UP!” She snapped her head up.  She hadn’t realized how loud she was, but she was in a panic.  She almost forgot that her hair had been cut, what if he hated it? She started worrying if Jimin even liked short haired girls. Then she realized that she shouldn’t even being wondering what type of girl he likes.

“Jeez, what’s up with you?” Lina frowned. “So loud.”

Soon Bok covered her face with her hands.  “Sorry.”  She hadn’t even looked at Jimin since he sat down.  She was so nervous she couldn’t even eat her lunch, she ended up letting Jungkook eat it while Jimin excused himself to grab some napkins.

“Ok, this is ridiculous Soon Bok.” Lina groaned. “It’s not bad! You look good!”

“I agree!” Sohee smiled “You look totally cute.”

“Right!” Lina assured her as she began to peel back

“I feel awful.” She whined. “People have been staring at me all day! People I don’t even know keep talking to me and it’s weird! I don’t like it!”

“Are you going to sit or what?”

“What are you even talking about—“

She felt her heart stop racing. All she could do was stare back at the pair of eyes that was staring back at her so intensely.  It was as if she had forgotten how to breathe, although she somehow managed to inhale a puff of air as they continued their staring contest. She was past worried, she was terrified.  His expression didn’t seem like the playful one that she had always seen, did he hate it?

“Hyung? Hyung!” Jungkook broke their stare off. “Give me the napkins!  And use your crutches next time! Stop walking on your cast.”

Clearing his throat, Jimin tossed him the napkins and took his seat without saying anything.  There were only sounds of chewing between the group ever since he returned.  The awkward vibe was almost suffocating, but not as suffocating as the glances Soon Bok and Jimin stole from eachother.

“Hey hyung,” Jungkook finally broke the silence. “What do you think of noona’s new hair, did you even notice?”

Soon Bok shot a glare at the mischievous maknae, she wondered why he could never read the mood of the room.  He always had to throw her under the spotlight as well.  She could just feel her entire face heating up, it was staking a long time for him to answer.

Eventually, she gathered the courage to look up at him, his face seemed to be a matching shade of red too.  He was playing with the spoon in his hand, and kept opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then decided not to.

“Well.” Lina said impatiently. “How is it? What do you think?”

He cleared his throat and somehow managed to confidently look her in the eye for the first time. “Soon Bok, you look beautiful.”

As the rest of the group chuckled, Soon Bok didn’t know how to react.  She could feel her face broiling, and she suddenly felt as if she had ran a mile. How should she respond to such an answer, he didn’t even seem to be joking even a little bit when he answered, and that made Soon Bok all the more nervous.

“Th-thanks.” She stammered as she stole a glance at him.

“Yeah.” He nodded, looking the other way.  He wasn’t as loud as he was today.

“What’s up with them?” Lina asked as the two continued to act awkward towards each other.    

        ♦♦♦

It wasn’t unusual for Soon Bok to linger for an extra couple of minutes after school when she was in the library.  Today, she immersed herself in the world of 1988, for educational reasons that is.  According to her instructions, she had to write a paper about various big world events that happened during that year.  In her opinion, her teacher should’ve just screamed “OLYMPICS” in their faces, that would’ve been less subtle.

After grabbing a couple of dusty books, she scanned the room to find the nearest empty table, but instead of sitting down alone like she was used to, she somehow ended up sitting across the apple headed idiot who complimented her before.

“What are you doing here?” she tried to sound uninterested.

“While I’ve been using my crutches, I’ve been waiting here for Hyung to pick me up.”

“Oh.” She nodded and then buried her face behind a book.  Everytime she looked at him, she couldn’t stop thinking about what the stupid salon people said about “crushes” and what not.  The things her mother said really made her uneasy.

Soon Bok couldn’t help but to glance up curiously at the noise Jimin was suddenly making.  He had his hand in his backpack as if he was searching for something. When he finally dug out a little plastic bag, he made eye contact with her.  Embarrassed, she stuck her face back in her book.

"Here…” he murmured. “…for you.”

Slowly laying her book down flat, she glanced down at the plastic bag, then up at his blushing face.  Her heart began beating rapidly again.

“Take it.” He pushed it toward her.

She nodded and took the plastic bag in her hands.

“They were selling it at the school store,” he stammered as he scratched the back of his neck “I was getting snacks and I just happened to notice it…”

Her eyes widened as she took out a small hair clip that had a blue butterfly on it. She held it as if it were an actual fragile butterfly.

“I don’t know if you like those sort of things, you don’t have to wear it-“

“It’s pretty.” She whispered.

He smiled at her, and let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad you like it.  I didn’t know what I should get you, and I remembered that you got a new haircut and so I…”

“Get me, for what?”

Within an instant, the old playful Jimin was back, and she did not enjoy the mischievous look on his face.  He laughed as he began zipping up his bag.

“You said that I should’ve return peoples gifts,” He leaned across the table “So I decided to buy you a gift on my own.” Her eyes widened as she felt the familiar sensation of his lips being pressed against her cheek.

“Hyungs probably waiting for me, I’ll see you later Silence.” He said with a wink as he left the library.

Astonished with his brave and very public display of affection, she couldn’t have responded back to him if she even wanted to.  She couldn’t believe he would do that in such a public place, in front of everyone.  She could hear people whispering about their relationship, which only made her even more embarrassed.  She wasn’t sure of it herself.

Looking down at the pin he got her, she couldn’t help but to smile and place it in her hair. At least she was sure of one thing, although he was an idiot, he was nice.

♦ A/N ♦
              Thank-You so much for reading! (and hopefully subscribing!
          This was an unplaned upload, 
               This story might end up having 12 chapters instead of 10
    becuase of reasons
               i didn't edit it and sorry for the weird format
           I copy pasted it from word docx.