Crescent // ATEEZ ✔

26 [nice]

Jongho almost drops the board game he was playing with Hwayoung, Yunho and Hongjoong, the gamepieces rattling around in the box as he balances it on his palm. He was about to keep back the game in the store as Yeosang and Byul seemingly materialize from thin air at the space between the washing machine and the wall.

Yeosang wordlessly crouches beside the machine, sticks his hand into the opening and pulls out shopping bags until it looks like he's about to spend the whole night doing it. He stops after it comes to the tenth bag, and leans against the wall, tiredness evident on his face. It's less of their sudden appearance that made Jongho startled, but rather Han Byul's new look that's making him do a double take.

Byul has chopped off her long locks, replaced with a bob cut with bangs, dyed in gradient red. A ring is hooked on her lower lip, which is complemented by her nude lipstick that accentuates her plump lips. Over a t-shirt with a cat applique on it, she puts on a black leather jacket, which looks like it has been taken straight out of Seonghwa's wardrobe.

In short, this Han Byul looks nothing like how he first saw her.

Seonghwa appears at the laundry room from the front not long after, helping to carry some of the bags to Byul's room. Yunho, Hongjoong and even Hwayoung stare at the new Byul, taking the least effort to hide their surprise.

Yunho rubs his eyes with his knuckles, while Hwayoung pokes his cheeks, muttering, "Dad, is that really Han Byul?"

"I... think so. Is that really Han Byul?" he repeats the question to their leader, whose eyes look like they've never seen a human being quite like her.

Yeosang walks side by side with Byul, with the latter looking sheepish as the whole house can't hide their shock over her appearance. Jongho trails behind them, bending his body forward so that he can get a good look of her face, still not believing that this was the same person he had chased while holding on to her high heels.

She looks like a new person; apart from her expression she looks fiercer, more confident and he wonders whether it's the help of her attire, or this is who she really is. Her demeanour is different; like this is how she originally is and that her appearance when they first met at the cafe was merely a disguise.

"Byul-ie you look really pretty," Hwayoung gushes, getting over the shock much faster than her dad and uncles. "I like your hair, it looks nice on you."

"Oh, thank you. Aren't you a sweetheart?" Byul muses, looking fully appreciative of her compliment. Her face breaks into a smile and she's about to reach her hand out to pat her head, but lets it stay by her side when she's reminded of how wary Yunho is towards her. She wouldn't want to elevate Yunho's distrust towards her, especially by coming close to his daughter.

"How did your lip piercing to heal so fast?" Jongho asks, taking a seat next to Hongjoong. He had forgotten about his quest to keep back the board game so he sets it down on the table in the middle. "Didn't you get it pierced today?"

"Oh, this?" Her hand immediately flies to her lip as she tugs at the ring. "I didn't get it pierced today; I just bought a new ring- well, they did. I had no money left."

"You already had your bottom lip pierced?" Hongjoong finds his voice back, a look appearing on his face as though he's trying to hide that he's impressed by the fact. Maybe he's taken by surprise because the first image he had of her was definitely not this, and that he never had thought she would look... good with it.

"Well yeah," she deadpans, as if that's the stupidest thing one could ask. "I've always had a ring in but I took it out for the job interview. Never went well though, that's why I'm here."