someone // jiyoo

xviii

Minji froze. 'Gahyeon, what the-'

She blinked and looked at her cousin, whose hair, once brown, now framed her face in a light shade of pink. 'You... dyed your hair?'

The younger girl nodded, slightly out of breath.

'Gahyeon, you're only 16!'

'So?'

'So you shouldn't have dyed your hair. Plus, your dad isn't going to like this,' Minji warned.

'That's why I need your help!'

Minji crossed her arms. 'And why should I help you? This is your own fault,' she scolded. 'You didn't even tell me why you dyed your hair in the first place.'

'Fine. Yubin and I wanted to do something together, okay?' That made sense. Yubin was Gahyeon's girlfriend and, as anyone who had seen them together before would know, Gahyeon was head over heels for the girl. 'Yubin got permission from her dad to dye her hair blue, and I wanted mine pink to match hers. But I didn't know how to ask my dad so, uh, I kinda just went ahead with it.' Gahyeon explained sheepishly, knowing that this was somewhat her fault after all.

'That was extremely foolish of you. Hair dye is very harmful to your scalp, you know.' Minji said, shaking her head in disapproval. 'How am I even supposed to help you, anyway? I mean, I can always help with cutting your hair off and making you bald. I think you'd look pretty cool.'

She could tell that Gahyeon was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. 'Can you help me tell my dad? You're good at this stuff.'

'No.'

Gahyeon put on her best puppy face. 'Please?' She pleaded.

It was Minji's turn to roll her eyes. 'Fine,' she gave in. 'Only because I know you won't take no for an answer, and I don't want you to cause a scene.'

'Thank you so much!' The younger girl momentarily wrapped her arms around her, then stepped back and twirled a strand of her newly dyed hair around her finger. 'You still haven't told me your opinion yet, though. Do you like it?'

'It looks good on you, kiddo.'

'Hey, how many times have I told you not to call me-'

Minji held up a palm in the younger girl's face. 'Now shut up before I change my mind.' Gahyeon wisely shut her mouth.

That night, Minji endured a lengthy phone conversation with her uncle, who was so mad that he wanted Gahyeon to break up with Yubin because she was, apparently, a 'bad influence'. After fully explaining that it was not Yubin's fault and idea to dye his daughter's hair pink, Minji put her charms on full power and somehow persuaded him to minimise his punishment from forcing a breakup to grounding Gahyeon for a week. Considering the fact that it was winter break, he agreed that being grounded as a punishment was already bad enough and decided to let her off this time.

Then, after what seemed like a decade, her uncle finally wrapped up the conversation and Minji politely hung up.

Throwing the phone onto her bed victoriously, she muttered bitterly, 'That little brat better be grateful.'