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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter twenty-five ─── ʚĭɞ

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The black material swung around her, settling over her shoulders and hasitly pulled from over her arms, letting them rest in her lap. One clutched a notebook with pages that had folded corners, the other clutched a pen.

"And for Miyeon it's just a cut? No dyeing it?" The hairdresser stood behind her addressed Heekyung, who was sat in the seat beside her, focused on her phone as she had her own bob touched up.

The manager held up her own hand and the woman cutting her hair stopped, letting her stand up out of the chair. The Im woman didn't seem to care that her hair was very much lopsided at the moment, walking the short distance to stand beside Miyeon.

"Hm.. no length was specified." Heekyung replied, hand reaching out and running through the front length of the Hwang girl's hair. "But I say about.. this much." Her fingers came to a stop. "And then from there we can decide if to dye it or not."

"Alright, I'll get right to it." The hairdresser nodded as Heekyung sat down again, reaching for his hair brush. "You can do whatever you want whilst you wait, just don't move too much okay?"

And with that, the man lifted Miyeon's chin up and got to work whilst she began to look through her many lyrics. She had to choose a song, and what better place to try and find one whilst sat in a chair for a length of time with nothing else to do.

To be fair, she had it a lot easier than Maiya, Chanmi and Kai, who had much lengthier processes to go through in order to acheive the hair that had been assigned to them.

Miyeon had woken that morning with Seojun asleep by her side, managing to extract herself from the tangle of covers and limbs without waking him. Maiya had come to get her up - Seojun had told her that she had come home drunk and expected the scene to be a lot worse, but instead she had just been tasked with leaning over the Han boy to wake Miyeon up.

Then, she had showered, changed, gathered up her stuff and written a quick note to Seojun thanking him for the night before, especially considering she could remember almost everything that happened, before getting her breakfast which was to be eaten in the company transport to the idol hair salon.

There, Miyeon had had her hair washed - which was quite possibly the most relaxing thing ever - then sat down in one of the lime green leather seats, a tray slid over her lap to balance her items on as the hairdresser began to tend to her, and a second member of staff carried over a small tray of snacks to place in front of her.

Maiya, Kai and Chanmi were in similar situations, except their treatments were a lot more time consuming. Miyeon could only hope that she didn't end up getting her hair dyed - she could sit still for a long while, but considering she had been told she could go back up to the producer's studio whilst the others were dyeing and cutting their hair.

"Too sappy.. too sad.. childish.. too happy.. pretty but.. meaningless." Miyeon's frown reflected back at her as she mumbled the words, the hairdresser not even glancing up.

Because this song of hers was to be a part of their debut album, the pressure was on for her to find the perfect song. One that would fit their voices and group and one that, most importantly, she knew she would be able to bring to life through the art of producing and singing.

She had a few in mind, and Seojun had dog-eared a few pages for her to look through. But she need to be critical, brutally honest with herself. "Hm.." She came to a stop at one page, scanning over the lyrics.

"Is there such thing as being too empowering?" Behind her, the hairdresser was leaning over her shoulder and taking some interest in the process. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it but.."

"It seems pushy, you're right." Miyeon nodded. "I don't want to force anything on anyone.. maybe something more romantic."

"Ooooh yes!" A voice exclaimed behind them, one so energetic and filled with sweetness that Miyeon instantly recognised it and couldn't believe her ears.

Her head shot up at a speed that could have been lethal if the hairdresser hadn't pulled his hand away a split second earlier, and in the reflection of the mirror, she could see Sooa smiling back at her, jazz hands around her face.

"Sooa?" Miyeon repeated the name several times over. After the ordeal with Soojin and lack of ability to see any of her high school friends - including Jugyeong who was so busy with the bitch of an idol that was Chen, the Hwang girl almost felt like crying when she saw her best friend.

"In the flesh. And you're lucky I'm here, but I heard you had hair appointments and I could really use with a touch-up and a catch-up with my best friend." Sooa glanced around, watching as Heekyung got out of her own chair. "Good morning Heekyung." She greeted her with a bow.

"Sooa?" Heekyung's tone was a lot more surprised than expected. "How nice to see you - I didn't think that you would get up that earlier to come and see us, but here you are."

"Here I am. With big news as well." Sooa smiled at the woman as she passed, eyes instantly back on Miyeon as she sat down in the chair, crossing her legs and straightening her back. "I need some advice."

"Oh yeah?" Miyeon marked the page she was on a closed it, placing it down on the tray over her lap and taking one of the candys offered as snacks, holding one out for Sooa to take. "What happened?"

"So I went out last night and I.. had my first one night stand." Sooa admitted with a sigh, sitting back in the chair and popping the sweet into her mouth. "After I broke up with Taehoon, of course."

"I'm gonna need some backstory here?" The hairdresser looked between them, shrugging when they saw the faces staring back at them. "I am just as much as part of this conversation as she is, I'm going to hear everything."

"They have a fair point." Miyeon nodded. "Sorry!" She apologised after she got a gentle tap on the shoulder for moving too much. "Taehoon was Sooa's high school boyfriend. They were together for ages and broke up.. a couple months ago now."

"And who did the dumping?"

"Me." Sooa instantly set the record straight, sighing. "It sounds strange.. but I knew it should happen, it was for the best.. but I was still upset about it. Nevermind that, back to last night. Which is why I'm up so early, by the way."

"What's keeping you up?" Miyeon asked, holding out a hand and Sooa closing the distance as she grasped it.

"I feel bad about it. Which isn't normal - because we've broken up.. which was for the best, right? I mean you don't think he's seeing anyone right, I think I should call him up - I should call him." it all happened so quickly but seconds later Miyeon was moving the tray and out of her seat, grabbing the phone before sitting down.

"Looks like we're going just a little shorter." The hairdresser commented, staring at the piece of hair they had just cut off. "But no worries - that was a good move. You can't call him. First, that's a bad idea, second it's way too early in the morning."

"Yeah, besides, this is all happening so quickly." Miyeon settled back in her chair. "Take some time to think it over. There's no harm in waiting."

That had become her mantra, the repeated phrase that she reminded herself of so often.

Because it was true, in most situations at least.