The Scent Of You

Chapter 5

The sense of smell,
like a faithful counsellor,
foretells its character.
- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

For the first time in their friendship, Joohyun asks Yeri to accompany her on a shopping trip for some new clothes, and the younger girl couldn't be happier. She peppered Joohyun with all sorts of questions on the bus to the shopping mall, thoroughly embarrassing the older woman in more ways than one, from her ridiculously loud voice when she gets excited, to the actually specific questions she is asking.

"So how did she ask you out? When's your date? Do you have a style in mind to seduce her?" Yeri nudges Joohyun and winks, emitting a dolphin-like squeal that causes other commuters to shoot glares at the duo. "Oh, what if your date is at a really fancy restaurant? What if she wears, like, a really fancy dress? Or what if she wears a really fancy suit?" Joohyun begins to realise that Yeri's imagination is limitlessly wild, but does admit that Seungwan would look pretty chic in a sharp suit.

To be quite honest, Joohyun doesn't really know where Seungwan will be bringing her to either, but she isn't planning on giving Yeri a chance to convince her to buy any expensive, luxurious clothes. When they arrive at the shopping mall, she grabs Yeri by the arm before the girl manages to run off to her clothing paradise. "I'm just looking for something simple, okay?"

Yeri groans and rolls her eyes. "You have a lot of simple clothes, Joohyun. We should buy something eye-catching for your first date instead, so when Seungwan sees you, she'll go, 'Oh wow, this is definitely a woman I'd want to live the rest of my life with.' Isn't that the case?" She wiggles her brows knowingly.

Joohyun doesn't need any words, and just stares at her companion until she relents. "Fine, fine, we'll get something simple," Yeri sighs, defeated. "But it should be pretty, and therefore you will also look pretty in it."

To that, Joohyun wholeheartedly agrees.

But it seems that Yeri doesn't fully comprehend the meaning of the word 'simple', from the way she beelines towards shelves of extremely revealing, obnoxiously bright neon crop tops and sparkly leggings. She looks at Joohyun with eyes as shiny as the silvery top in her grasp; Joohyun simply takes it from her hand and chucks it far away.

As she drags Yeri away from the disco-ball-like outfits, she hears a loud snicker from behind her. Turning around, Yeri grins when she sees a fit copper-haired woman standing behind her, jumping to wrap her in a hug. "Seulgi! What're you doing here?"

Seulgi pats Yeri on the head affectionately, then bows to Joohyun respectfully. Joohyun bows back. "I'm here to buy clothes, why else?"

"Excuse you, but have you forgotten about greeting a certain someone?" A snide voice remarks, and Yeri looks up into Joy's glaring eyes. Yeri quickly shifts back to bow to her, and Joy scoffs disbelievingly. "What's with this response? No hugs for me?" She tosses her hair back, the curled ends of her bobbed hair bouncing lightly.

"Um, Yeri," Joohyun whispers nervously from afar, "maybe we should buy something and get going?" The sudden arrival of Joy puts her off, especially the woman's air of pretentiousness and obvious contempt for others. Unfortunately, her question catches the attention of Joy, who struts forward to stick her hand out.

"Hi, you can call me Joy. Who are you? Are you with Yeri?" she asks brusquely, scrutinising Joohyun from head to toe. Seulgi leans in to whisper something into her ear. To everyone's surprise, Joy suddenly grabs Joohyun's wrist and announces: "I'll be taking her for a while!" out of nowhere and drags her away.

Once they are out of earshot, Joy offers a deep bow to Joohyun. "Sorry, I didn't know that you were much older than me, since you look so young and all." The shorter woman raises her brows as the statement that sounds very much like a compliment and an insult at the same time. "If you don't mind, I want to ask you something. I was wondering," Joy continues, unexpectedly assuming an air of awkwardness, "why did Yeri decide to pursue a career in modelling? Or entertainment in general."