Lucid

Chapter 24

POV: Fixer
I shut the door behind me, and take a look around. It's not too crowded, so we aren't shoulder to shoulder like some of Seoul's more popular destinations. I flip the collar of my trench coat up, and keep my mask tight. Wonyoung is alongside me as we walk towards the shopping district, with my hat and jacket keeping her well hidden. It doesn't take long, though. She grabs my arm and pulls me, and I follow her into a store. She lets go once we're inside, and she starts moving across the store making quiet excited noises. It's sort of cute to see her excited like this. I'm not one for shopping, so I follow behind her slowly, mostly staying at the edges and focusing less on her and more on the rest of the area around us. There's a lot of couples here, especially for a weekday. That'll help us blend in, I suppose. The clothing store is almost empty, and I can see a few people waiting until the polite time to come and help Wonyoung. I gesture to one of them, directing them to her. She's already carrying clothes, so as he walks up he bows and asks,
"Do you need any help?" She bows to him back, then says,
"Yes, may I try these on?" He nods and directs her to the fitting rooms. I follow, making sure to keep her in sight until she goes in alone to try on her clothes. The assistant eyes me up, probably examining my clothes to see if I'm rich enough to upsell on something. But after noticing I'm not Korean and not flaunting any wealth, decides not to. After a moment, Wonyoung steps out. She changes fast, that was impressive. Guess it's apart of the job. She's starting off in a dress, fairly slim, black to the waist then white below it. Neckline's a little low. I nod, and give a thumbs up.
"Looks nice." She looks in the mirror again, then says,
"I think it'll look better on one of the others. I'll send a picture and see if anyone wants one." She goes back in, only to return with a new top, all dark blue, strapless with those strange things around her arms at the upper edge of the top. It's not as good though. I shake my head, and she agrees. "Gaeul would like this I think." She turns and goes back in. We spend a few more minutes doing this, then she comes out again. She leaves a small stack of clothes at the counter, getting some changed out for sizes that fit the other girls and others are given back. She gets the second round of clothes, and starts changing once again. I help to pass judgment, and we usually agree on what flatters her and what doesn't. She gets more for her and the other girls, and we head out with two mostly full bags. "Alright, that's one of my major stores. Only a few others like that. There's a bunch I want to stroll through though."
"No worries. I can carry these." I say, taking the bag she's carrying and holding it with the one I'm already holding. She looks at me, vaguely endearingly. She doesn't need to thank me, it's just a normal thing to do. I wonder if she doesn't get enough help sometimes. As we continue our shopping, boredom starts slowly getting to me. I've never been one for this kind of thing. I usually get what I need, often custom made. And the other things, such as equipment, I can judge based purely off of numeric advantages.

Eventually our arms are full, and since we're not quite finished, we head back to the car to drop off the bags.
"So, how would you say things are going?" I ask, trying to gauge the situation.
"It's going well, for the shopping. I've gotten a lot of good things." Hmmmmm
"So what isn't going well?" It's obvious from how she said that, she was leaving it unmentioned. Let's fix that. She pauses for a moment, then sighs.
"A few people back there were making comments about me. Mostly rude, about my weight." Ah, this again.
"Mmmmm." Unsure of what to say, I murmur supportively. "People don't understand you. They don't know you, so they judge based off what they see instead, and they're blind in some ways. Many ways." That's close to what I meant. She seems to like that.
"I know. I usually don't let it bother me, but somehow when they don't even know I'm... well, me- it feels worse."
"Of course it does. But they know even less about you. Their opinions are like dust in the wind. They dissipate within moments, and they only hurt if you rub them in. Just let them flow past you." We reach the car and I drop the bags into the trunk. "Does that make sense?" She thinks for a moment, then nods.
"I get it." There's a pause, then she says, "Thanks." As she says that, she pulls me into a hug, sort of. Really, I didn't move, she just wrapped her arms around my chest and I covered her, partially on reflex. But I patted her shoulders once I got the gist of what she was doing. She pulls back after a moment, and I look down at her.
"Let's keep shopping. Hopefully that can keep your mind off things." She nods, this time with a bit of teariness in her eyes. Gosh, idol life must be hard, and it's been no easier since people from my line of work showed up.