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SONG OF THE DAY :
style - taylor swift

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[ fast forward to january 4, 2020 ]

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Today 9:49 PM

< YOURE WEARING BRAIDS ?!:$?#:
< its unfaur were not tgt rn
< i wouldve looked so cute next to ur hair 😩
< send me pics bbg ;)

. . . . . .

chia was walking to the third floor's elevator, eyes glued to her phone screen as she texted jace who tolerated her crying about the french braids she spent nearly two hours on (which was confusing, since the lady on the tutorial she watched only did it for twelve minutes) and her numb hands. it made her look like anna from frozen but with pink hair streaks instead of white.

him asking to send pictures no matter how low the quality was made her frustratedly groan though. despite having a hairdo she had utmost confidence with and wanting her bestie to see it, she visually looked like a ghost with nice hair and attempting to document it while toning down her haggardness was hell.

since she focused too much on perfecting her braids, all the other features were drained of life. her face was colorless. not even a single dash of tint was applied on it. as for her clothing, she wore a cotton white shirt with a large, ugly ink stain as a top, since it was the easiest article of clothing to get from her closet. unbelievable to go to a public place looking like this, you may think, but she trusted the people at the ballet studio enough to show her not-so-pretty side anyway.

to her delight, there was only one other passenger inside the elevator. it seemed as if the delight wasn't mutual the moment she entered though.

there stood a business man in his 40s, wearing a tacky beige suit. she clearly saw his expression painted with dismay reflect on the elevator's silver walls, since she was only a few meters behind him. chia assumed it was all because of her scent of nicotine and cologne lingering around the confined area.

instead of being offended by him not even trying to hide his displeasure towards her, she wanted to burst out laughing there and then. then again, he'd probably deem her a crazy drug addict with black lungs who smokes eighty cigarettes a day and laughs because of the images her mind creates when she's high (he looked like the type to come up with those judgements).

the old man couldn't take it anymore so as they stood there with the doors still wide and a few minutes still left (the rusty elevator was slower in closing compared to others, so you had to press the door close button multiple times if you were in a rush), he pressed the button to keep it that way, stepping away and planning to use the stairs instead.

chia found this as the perfect time to snap the highly requested selfie. she stared at the camera with dead eyes and a forced smile, showing the left side of her face in a way where one of the braids were more highlighted than her facial features.

however, just when she thought she'd be all alone, heavy footsteps and pants from one person resonated nearer and nearer to the elevator. it looked like a scene from blockbuster action movies as he halted his running and made it just as the doors were slowly shutting, hands stopping the two doors from closing fully since it blocked the sensors. the person then entered, making heavy eye contact with chia.

in panic, she put her phone down halfway through her selfie session, subconsciously clicking the send button to kace's contact without giving it another look. larger panic washed through her as she saw an exhausted face she'd recognize anywhere.

fuck.

. . . . . .

Today 9:56 PM

< thats it ?
< y so shaky
< u look like the triggered hamster meme

< LMFAO

if im hamster u r bitchy fetus >

< bitch
< 😄🖕

. . . . . .

there entered the man chia cursed out for the entirety of her holidays after his disappearance. no amount of aggressive blinks broke her out of the dream she thought she was in, which proved that it was, indeed, reality.

seo youngho was there.

he's still hot. undeniably hot.

his overall style was casual, which fit his build, just like every typical day. his brown hair, a portion of it tied up, was longer than the last time she saw him. the smell of his perfume was alluring, considering how it wasn't too strong to hurt senses of smell.

"this elevator is going up?"

"it is?"

after the doors closed, he pointed to the screen showing red pixels changing by second, forming an arrow pointing up and the floor number ascending. the direction definitely not what they both came inside for.

"well damn."

despite the knowledge of having to go up twenty floors before the elevator could go to both of their idealized ground floors, none of them cared to exit to nearer floors and just take a quicker route to another elevator down.

"haven't seen you in a while," she struck up conversation.

"i went to chicago for the holidays."

her eyes almost widened, realizing that his unexpected trip to the states must've been the topic of the weirdly feisty call the night they last met up. "oh, chicago! the place with nice pizza."

"yeah! you've been to chicago?"

"uh-uh, no just . . . " she was thinking of the connections to its familiarity. "i order deep dish pizza a lot. chicago deepdish. good shit."

"oh! i love deepdish."

"why are you going out, if you don't mind me asking?" to avoid gaucheness overtaking their place together, he articulated the questions that his lips have been itching to ask.

"i have ballet class."

"at this hour?!"

she nodded to indicate yes, chuckling at his ridiculous disbelief. "you? why are you out?"

"my friends wanted to go out for a drink."

but as much as they tried to avoid getting eaten up by silence, it happened. and it started when the lift was finally going down. the tension continued when they finally walked out of the elevator and roamed the ground floor, him behind her.

"you look really pretty, by the way."

not knowing how to respond to his flattery, she blurted, "i'm aware."

in the midst of the unsettling air surrounding them, chia fastened her pace after remembering her having to catch up to the bus for 10pm sharp. thing is, it was minutes past 10pm and she never acknowledged it. another fuck echoed in her thoughts as she looked toward the bus stop with a walking distance once she exited the building, it not having the one big blue bus anymore.

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