“BUT MOM! PLEASE!” Jimin pleaded through her cries and held onto her mother’s wrist, not daring to let go. Her mom frowned and Jimin’s hair in an attempt to calm the teenager down.

“Honey, please… our family doesn’t have money for that and you know it.” The comforting voice from her mother didn’t waver Jimin one bit and she kept on pulling at her wrist.

“But everyone in my class is doing it! Everyone looks like they’ve come out from magazines and I look like a pig. They’ll make fun of me mom! Please!” Her cries got louder and Mrs. Park took her daughter’s face in her hands, Jimin’s cheeks to rid of the tears.

“You look gorgeous honey… why can’t you just see it?” Her mom asked with a hurt expression.

Jimin lashed out, “WHAT?! Have you seen my eyes?! They’re just slits as a sore excuse for eyes. And my fat lips look like a flounder’s! No one will ever love me with this flat nose! Why are you being so selfish mom?! Just because you didn’t have the money for surgery when you were young doesn’t mean you can ruin me too!”

Jimin’s mother looked at her with shocked eyes and anger was rising up inside her chest. Regret came as fast as the action did and Mrs. Park quickly retreated her hands from Jimin’s face. Jimin held her left cheek in shock and felt the stinging sensation ascending. She looked at her mom with vicious eyes as she gritted her teeth.

“Don’t ever talk to me like that again Jimin.” Her mom said sternly but there was still sorry left in her voice. “I’LL KILL MYSELF!” Jimin yelled, “I’LL KILL MYSELF IF YOU DON’T LET ME! I WILL!”

And with that Jimin stormed out of the house leaving her mother alone in the kitchen crying into her hands. Where did her little girl go?

The streets of Gangnam were always full of lights and music at night. Jimin dragged herself from shop to shop until she finally came across the dark alleyway that lead down to the cosmetic shop she has searched for on the internet. She felt her legs shake the closer she got to the shop with white and pink flowers decorating the sign board. She had secretly stolen 500 thousand won from her mother’s bank account before sneaking out to the famous cosmetic hospital that everyone in school was talking about. It was as if looking at a haunted house with the exterior painted in white and the eeriness it brought to the street. The smell of silicon and anesthetic attacked her nose even from the outside. Jimin fidgeted with her fingers and contemplated one last time before entering the plastic world of Barbies and face the beauty expectations of the world. Would she have enough money to make herself look beautiful? Would she regret the outcome of the product that they would make her into? Would her mom disown her for going against her like that? Jimin’s thoughts were cut off by a low voice.

“Jimin?”

Jimin jumped at the mention of her name and looked back at the pale girl that was standing a few metres behind her. The girl smiled and came up to Jimin.

“Ya! You rascal it is you!” She pinched Jimin’s cheeks but the other just stared at her confused. “Don’t you remember me? It’s Yoongi unnie!”

Jimin’s jaw dropped and she let out a high-pitched squeal before jumping on the elder, tackling her into a hug. “OH MY GOD UNNIE! IT REALLY IS YOU!”

“Ya let go you’re going to suffocate me!”

Jimin and Yoongi sat on the edge of the wall looking down onto the streets of Gangnam, people in all different size and shapes rushing through. But there would always be groups of girls who went together that resembled each other so much you could barely tell who from who. Jimin took another sip of her Iced Americano and gulped at the silence between them. She had told Yoongi about the reason she came here and the elder seemed pretty upset with her. Yoongi’s hands held on tightly to her Caramel Macchiato and her fingernails dug into the plastic of this cup. She even remembered back there in the shop when Jimin told her not to drink Macchiato because she would gain weight and that Americano had no fat at all. What was all this about? This wasn’t the Jiminnie she knew back when they were kids playing in her grandparent’s backyard.

“You don’t need to change your face you know.” She said quietly next to the younger and took a sip of her coffee. “You have a pretty face.” She looked at Jimin this time to show how serious she was being. And Yoongi was telling the truth, it wasn’t one of those petty lies you tell someone to make them feel better about themselves, Jimin really was beautiful. Her eyes weren’t big but they formed into the prettiest crescents when she smiled. Her nose was small and cute just like her. And her lips were full and luscious, just enough that any guy would fall head over heels for her.

Jimin laughed and waved her hands in front of her face. “No way unnie! I’m ugly…” she mumbled and started biting her straw. “Unnie is really pretty…” Jimin suddenly said and Yoongi’s face got warmer under the street lamp. “You have really nice and white skin. And your legs are really pretty.” Jimin sighed and looked down at her own thighs. She has always been conscious about them looking too big or too round that she never dared wear shorts.

Yoongi shook her head and said, “But you’re beautiful Jiminnie. Even if in any universe or dimension you were to be ugly, it’s okay. You’re still a teenager going through puberty, this should be one of your smallest worries. You’re still growing, so don’t worry about it okay?” Yoongi put her hand on top of Jimin’s and tried to comfort the younger.

“You don’t get it unnie, kids will make fun of me for my face. This world IS about beauty. No one cares if you have a good personality or not because all they’ll ever see is your face and your body. So it’s no use saying stuff like that.” She took her hand away from Yoongi and the elder looked at her helplessly. She sighed and felt bad that she couldn’t do anything to convince Jimin to stop her actions before she regretted them.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Yoongi whispered and gave Jimin a small smile, not reaching her eyes. Jimin looked at her unnie questioningly before saying a little: “Yeah.” Yoongi took out a compact powder and opened the lid.

“Here.”, she handed it to Jimin.

The younger looked at the cosmetic in her hand. It just looked like normal foundation. What was so special about it?

“Close your eyes.”, Yoongi instructed, “Picture the most perfect face you can imagine. Your dream face if you will.”

Jimin complied and started drawing the face she wished she had. With eyes as beautiful and Sohee’s, a tall and petit nose like Dara’s and perfect pink lips like IU.

“Got it? Now open your eyes.”

Jimin opened her eyes and was met with her own reflection on the compact mirror. Sohee’s eyes now blurred with her small ones, Dara’s nose blurred into her flat one and the pink lips that belonged to IU were now merged with her ugly ones. Jimin sighed at the image before her.

“Unnie… this isn’t making me feel any better.”

“Listen to unnie, if you do this every day for five minutes, one day you will have the face that you have imagined and be satisfied with it.” Yoongi gave Jimin an encouraging smile and patted her shoulders. “Trust me. Try this and that dream face will be yours.”

Jimin bit her lips and thought about it for a bit before nodding her head agreeing, “M-maybe you’re right unnie.”

Yoongi smiled revealing her pink gums and swung her arms over Jimin’s shoulders.

“Of course I am you punk! I’m always right.”

Jimin laughed and it was the most genuine one Yoongi has heard all night.

“Come on let’s go! I’ll treat you ddeokbokki, twisted potatoes and even fishballs if you want!”

Yoongi jumped off the wall and held out her hand to the younger.

And for a moment there all the thoughts of her scale, dieting and measurements flew out of Jimin’s head as she followed the elder from store to store, eating everything she fancied. It was nice to be her again. 

bcoz we really need positive image yoonmin here