*𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟡𝟜

-나는 그들의 것, 그들의 내 꺼야-

her entire body shrank when she looked at me. she had been walking towards me with a bright smile, until she realized who i was. the sparkle in her eye left her immediately.

"eungjung, is that you?" i muttered. i was half amazed and half scared but i could decide which one.

this was the girl that made school unbearable for me, she treated me like i was a disgusting freak and made me feel scared enough to not get help.

but she was different. she looked timid and scared.

this isn't the same eungjung form my childhood.

"a-are i'm, hello," she bowed low, forcing herself to look at the ground, anywhere but me.

"how's life?" she stood up.

everything seemed to drown out around me. the loud sound of the hair dryer muffled and the sounds of people's voices seemed to vanish.

i was scared, but not of her.

"it's great," i squeezed myungho's hand, holding onto him like he was the only thing holding me up from drowning.

"what happened to you?"

she was skinny, enough to see the outline of her entire skeleton. it was alarming.

the eungjung i knew was lively, she looked healthy.  she was beautiful and held that over everyone's head, making herself the top of the social pyramid.

she looks sick...

"after you left, everyone turned on me," she finally looked at me, "they said you left because of me because i took it too far," there was something odd to the way she stringed together those words; it felt sour. she was bitter about the past.

how the tables have turned...

"i changed and i become someone new," she stepped towards me and again i held onto myungho even tighter. he knows my history with eungjung and i can feel his body tense behind me.

"i need to apologize for how horrible i was to you," she bowed at ninety degrees in front me.

everyone in the entire room turned to look at us.

"is this a joke?" a harsh chuckled left me.

"get up," i demanded. "please accept my apology," she stood up, hunching over herself to make herself look smaller.

"i won't accept your apology. you do not get to do that." i felt furious. she ruined every chance i had to a real friendship. she ruined everything, everything, for me.

"you do not simply get to apologize and think everything is okay. you made life unbearable for me," i felt the tears start to form in the corner of my eyes.

"areum?" myungho placed his hand on my shoulder, "it's going to take much more than a simple apology to make up for what you did to me," i let out a sigh.

i have been dreaming of the day i was going to see eungjung again. i dreamed about how i would get revenge for how she treated me. but this is nothing like what i expected reality to be.

"i know," she teared up as well, "i don't deserve your forgiveness. but i don't think i can live with myself if you didn't know how terrible i felt about how i was to you."

"i was jealous of you," she looked down again, her hands fidgeting with each other.

it's like she's become me

"you were pretty and likable, and you had the love of the people that raised you. i hated you because you had their love, but i could never get my parents' love. i'm sorry," she turned away from us.

she spoke without giving me a chance to even speak. she walked away from us and i was left standing speechless in my place.

i don't want an apology.

i want her to make up for how horrible she treated me.

🌷

"so, how are we cutting your hair today?"

the woman attending me was named seolhyun (a/n i pulled that name out of my ass so i don't know if it's actually any k-celebrity). she was a regular looking woman, but she was extremely polite. she had come up to me and apologized for eungjung making a scene, said she would have a talk with her later.

"um i-"

i froze. eungjung had disrupted my train of thought so much that i wasn't even sure what i was there for. i was shaken up, disturbed by what time had done to her.

"she said she wanted it to be short and pastel pink," myungho stood behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder, taking the lead. he saw how i couldn't find the right words to tell the woman.

my hair has grown to my mid waist, it's getting to the point that it's heavy.

"y-yeah, i want to get layers and i want it shoulder length," i pointed my hands to my shoulder.

the woman responded with a kind smile and nodded.

-2 hours later-

i was finally allowed to look at my own appearance, myungho had told the woman to leave it as a surprise in the end. i think he knew how excited i was to finally do this, eungjung's confession put a halt to that.

"are you ready?" soelhyun put a hand on my shoulder and once i nodded, she turned me around.

her new hair:

i was struck.

my hair has always been the same; long and chocolate brown. it was pretty but when you have something for a long time, you get bored of it, sometimes you even start to hate it.

but this was stunning.

my hair was the sweetest color of pink, and a good length. one that's easy to care for.

"do you like it?" seulhyun smiled hopefully at me, proud of her own work.

"it's amazing," i muttered out as a smile cracked in my lips.

the two hour wait was worth the wait.

"it looks great," myungho walked in front of me, taking my hand to help me up from my seat.

🌷

"eungjung," i walked up behind her. as seulhyun did my hair, i watched her in the background. she avoided me at all costs.

and as i watched her, i truly realized how much she's shrunk from the person she once was. she was timid, apologetic of everything, polite even.

but it felt bitter.

if only she had ever treated me with such kindness, maybe i wouldn't have been left with so many bad memories of elementary and middle school. she ruined it all.

"areum," she bowed deeply again.

"get up," i told her..

we were in the back room, where all the stored shampoo bottles and dyes were. i wanted to speak with her alone.

"the hair looks good on you," she pursed her lips together and looked down at the ground.

"stop acting like a submissive dog!" i exclaimed at her. tears formed in my eyes as i looked at her.

"you can't believe that simply apologizing will fix everything. you don't get to just pull a complete 180°. it isn't fair," i felt the blood rush to my face and my breathing become ragged. with every breath i felt like i was going to explode.

"i know, areum," she finally made eye contact with me, "i know- i can't make it up to you, but apologizing is the only thing i can do."

tears flowed from her eyes as well, her face was red. but i could only really notice how slim she's gotten. she looked sick.

"what happened? why are you so skinny?" i wiped away my own tears and took in a deep breath. if i spoke any louder myungho would hear and walk in.

calm down.

"i think my previous confession was enough to explain why," she mumbled and fidgeted with her hands once more.

i already assumed why she was so skinny. i knew from the first look she gave me.

"treat yourself like a decent person, maybe if you were actually kind to yourself, like you now treat everyone else, i could maybe forgive you," i stormed out of the room once the words left my lips.

it isn't fair.

"let's go somewhere else myungho."

next update : september 21st, est 10:10

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