Josephine Swan never imagined that her stay in South Korea would lead her into K-Pop's glittering and challenging world. Each day, she encounters new hurdles and adventures that fate has in store for her and her four team members. Between gruelling...
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I closed my eyes with a small sigh as the stylist ran a certain amount of pressure over my scalp. His fingertips circled the top of my head massagingly for several minutes and then turned their attention to the side parts, my throbbing temples and the back of my neck. The gentle plant-scented shampoo foamed and squeaked in my ears before a warm stream of water silenced the sounds. A warmed towel immediately lay on my wet scalp and began to carefully catch the excess water.
Soft jazz and instrumental music sounded from the adjoining rooms, mingling with muted tones from the rest of my members and their respective consulting staff.
The modernly equipped hair salon "Hair & Joy" was located near Honggik University Station and in the centre of the Hongdae district. Its motto "Where hair meets beauty." enjoyed great foreign customer popularity due to its employment of bilingual hairdressers and stylists who had received further training in Korea and abroad.
"Is everything to your satisfaction so far?" the long-haired Korean Jason Kim asked me in English as he carefully helped me stand up from the mobile washbasin.
"Yes, thank you," I replied with a tentative smile on my lips and slid my back against the back of the chair as my wet white blonde hair fell back out of the towel and took up most of the back. I felt the pointed end of the comb on my skin and triggered a small goosebump as Jason carefully began to section and unknot my hair.
"An impressive hair colour..." he said, giving me a curious look through the upturned mirror.
"I'm guessing a Scandinavian country, possibly Sweden, Finland or Norway." he prodded and I nodded with a smile.
"My mother is originally from Sweden and currently lives in England with my father and grandfather," I explained as the Korean worked a white conditioner into my towel-dried hair with the help of a rough-toothed comb. His sharply accented eyebrows lifted slightly.
"And what part of south-west England are you from?".
Surprised by his realisation, I looked at him as a small smile appeared on his lips.
"I lived in the UK for several years and received much of my hairdressing training in London, including at the Sassoon and Toni & Guy academies," he explained to me, checking the heat of the hair steamer, whose fine mist then spread around my head, encouraging circulation to the scalp as well as treating the differently incorporated hair growth and maintenance moisture products.
♛
My fingertips ran over the thin paper of the narrow book and felt for the next page. A cup of fresh tea, already half drunk, stood on the small sideboard in front of the large wood-lined mirror of the cutting station, still steaming with heat.
"What are you reading, Josie?" asked Choi curiously, her almost black eyes staring intently at me through the mirror hanging next to me, her face slightly distorted by trying to decipher the mirror-image title of my book.
"Romeo and Juliet." Lisa and I replied in sync before a small laugh escaped both of us and I passed the book to my right. Gingerly, Choi took it and flipped over the English/Korean edition of William Shakespeare.
„Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale."
The soft music of the salon and the increased snapping of haircutting scissors blurred under Choi's piercing voice that filled the room and penetrated each of our seats. I smiled slightly as the beginning of the fifth scene of the third act reached my ears and my lips joined Choi's voice soundlessly, joining hers with the onset of Romeo's words.
„It was the lark, the herals oft he morn;
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks
Dolace the severing clouds in yonder East.
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountains tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die."
"Unbelievable..." I heard Choi murmur next to me and turned my head slightly in her direction. Her arms lay relaxed on the U-shaped pillow while a small Korean woman cut her short hair into shape. A small incredulous smile lit up her narrow face.
"I can't believe you can recite passages of text from Romeo and Juliet by heart. The language alone..." she said, her brown eyes skimming the pages, predominantly the left-hand Korean translation.
I smirked slightly at her statement, which, however, probably held a shred of truth for most people in the world, as the publication of the tragedy dated back over 400 years, was written in the then Early New English resident language, and included sonnets and blank verse, among other things.
"When were your exams set for, Josie?" asked Rosè, who along with Lisa and Ji-soo had taken seats on the opposite page.
"In exactly one month, almost coinciding with the CSAT and only a few days before the next monthly assessments." I sighed audibly and took the book from Choi's hand. My fingers searched the previous page I had read and flipped it open, the looks of surprise and slight concern from the members not escaping me.
"Is there anything we can do to help you with your preparations?" echoed Ji-soo, leaning sideways into the small passageway that separated the other tables and allowed the stylists' frame of movement as they cut and did their hair.
"Yeah...you could read to us like you do with the kids at the hospital," Lisa said with a smile.
"Or...we could take turns quizzing you on your subjects," added Jennie quietly beside me.
A great lump of gratitude arose in the middle of my chest and under my heart, which however was increasingly supplemented with burgeoning guilt as soon as I thought of our strict schedules. Even the scheduled breaks between training sessions were spent repeating choreography or rehearsing for our solo performances.
With a small sigh, I finally shook my head, causing the excitement that had quickly arisen to instantly subside.
"At the risk of sounding ridiculous...I have come to feel that the remaining time we are given for leisure activities is a very precious thing. Each of us needs this time to regenerate, rest and gather strength, call our family...or just spend some time away from home on the streets of Seoul," I said.
"These school preparations...it can take many hours depending on the subjects. And I cannot allow, let alone be responsible for...you sacrificing the last bit of free time for me in addition to our, as well as your training," I declared in conclusion.
