Remnants of the Heart | Kim Taehyung

31: déroule

ACT 3 — SCENE 7
SHE UNWINDS.

"WHY IS YOUR HAIR PINK?"

It's another one of those times where Arai invades her apartment uninvited with the sole purpose of trying to get her to do anything but her assignments. And oddly enough, Seojung never minded sudden interventions like this, always willingly stepping aside as her friend barges into her home. Arai's the only person Seojung lets pull herself away from her studies, knowing just how bad she is sometimes when she's already in too deep. While some people can't even bring themselves to start, Seojung finds it hard stopping until she gets everything done. It's both healthy and not.

This time, however, her friend's appearance catches her off guard, for she wasn't expecting the girl to have another hair color when she had just died it a coppery shade last week. It's a pretty color—it really is, especially since Arai's the one who has it, but Seojung can't help but worry about her friend's scalp.

"First of all, it's rose gold. And second, I can dye my hair whatever fucking color I want."

"You're gonna go bald before you even graduate."

"If that ever happens, it would be from stress first and foremost." Arai plops herself down on the couch, completely unaware that she just sat on Seojung's notes from yesterday's lecture. Seojung opens her mouth to protest, but Arai beats her to it. "So. It's Saturday. What are we doing tonight?"

Seojung plans include finishing if not all most of her assignments tonight so she won't have to worry about them tomorrow. Taehyung said he'd be busy all weekend, so Seojung had been hoping to spend some time for herself for once. There's this new stationery store that just opened a few days ago near campus. She passed by the place a few days ago on her way home and judging by the looks of it, it's big enough for her to spend her whole day in.

"If by we you mean me, then I'll be having a date with a five-page essay on the use of objects as metaphors."

Arai groans. "Lame. Let's go out."

"You're not my type."

"Didn't know you had some humor in you, Park. But hey, let's go clubbing. Yeah. We're going clubbing. Go get ready."

"We're not going clubbing."

"Yes, we are."

"You have other friends. Ask them instead." It shouldn't be a problem for Arai to find a replacement companion, judging by how large her social circle is. How easy it was for them to click makes her sometimes forget that Arai is two years her senior. It baffles Seojung just how much time Arai spends with her when she's got a long contact list to go through every day.

"I do, but you're my favorite," Arai coos. "C'mon. It's been a while since we've had a night to ourselves. You're always with that boy toy of yours nowadays."

Guilt tripping her with Taehyung is all Arai's good at nowadays, even when they've agreed to never bring up his name if possible. They've had their fair share of reminiscing each other's past that the boy had entwined himself in, and yet there's still tension just from the thought of Taehyung. It just wasn't one of those things that neither Arai or Seojung would want to talk about with each other. She still doesn't know how to handle the fact that her best friend and her current lover had once been involved romantically (or lack thereof), had been as intimate as she and Taehyung are right now or maybe even more.

It's awkward and complicated, and those are the things that both girls don't want surrounding their friendship, so they chose to bury it deep down and leave the subject untouched. But Arai has a knack for breaking the rules, unfortunately, and Seojung feels too guilty for making things complicated to call her out on it whenever she uses it against her.