Confident || Changbin

First Day

Heather was already setting up, just as Lily said. She's a young girl, probably about my age, I guess. Shoulder length blonde hair.

"Good morning!" I smile, putting my best face forward.

"Who are you?" She doesn't even look at me.

"Oh, I'm Sage. I'm filling in for makeup today."

"Have you ever worked with K-pop idols before?"

"No, but—"

"Do you at least know Stray Kids?" She interrupted.

"Isn't that the band we're working for today?" Bad answer.

She scoffs and throws her hands in the air. "I don't know why they keep sending me incompetent help." She mutters to herself. I'm taken aback. I guess I just assumed that she would be a little kinder.

"Okay...Should I just set up here?" I gesture to the empty counter space in front of one of the salon chairs. She walks over to me and hands me a stack of papers. They're face charts with different makeup and hair looks on them. At the bottom of each paper are what I assume to be names of the group members. Hyunjin, Seungmin, Felix, and Changbin. I wonder which of the guys was the one I made eye contact with, and I hope—out of embarrassment— that he's in Heather's stack.

"These are the concepts for today's look." She explains. "Just follow the notes and try not to mess up."

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

There's a basket in the middle of the counter filled with items specific to the music video. Things like gems, glitter, hair extensions, jewelry, and eye contacts. Thank goodness, because I have nothing of the sort prepared. I'm just finishing laying out my palettes and brushes when the guys start coming in the room.

They've obviously already been to wardrobe because they all have on different outfits than they were in this morning. They're dressed in combinations of bright green, pink, and black. They are boisterous when they enter the room and they plop themselves on a small couch against the wall that is opposite the salon chairs. A few of them sit in the floor. They're chatting, looking at their phones, and teasing each other. They seem so effortlessly cool and I feel that I must appear underwhelming compared to them.

Of course my eyes meet his again, and they're just as dark and intense as they were before. I still can't read the emotion on his face. Is it annoyance? Curiosity? This time he breaks eye contact first and looks down at his phone, almost as if he's pretending like we haven't been looking at each other.

Heather calls one of the names on her face charts.

"Chan."

One of the taller members gets up and walks to her seat. He's the one with his hair dyed blue. I figured I should probably follow suit and I read the first name on my charts as well.

"Hyunjin?"

He's the tallest one, the slender one with long, red hair. He gets in my chair quietly, but then smiles at me once he sits down.

"Hi, I'm Sage. It's nice to meet you." I greet him warmly, but I am so nervous. These guys are extraordinary and ethereal. I look at his face chart. His look seems easy enough, with most of his hair pushed back and minimal makeup. I try to match Heather's time as I straighten, hairspray, and style his hair. Hyunjin's complexion is beautiful and he doesn't need much makeup, but I again follow Heather's lead and apply foundation. After some eyeshadow, we finish his look with jewelry and some blue contacts.