Noona [Ateez]

Let's Get Pretty

Seonghwa's point of view
Tuesday, 10 am

A head of short brown hair peeked into the dressing doom. Bosam's small, upturned eyes looked at me. "Seonghwa? You're up." Is all she said before whipping her head away, surely expecting me to follow her.

I carefully moved, caring for Hongjoong's sleeping head that had been lying on my shoulder and gently guiding it to lie down properly on the spot on the couch where I had been sitting before jogging up to Bosam.

I followed her into the hair dressing room. The walls were the same color as our dressing room, but filled with shelves brimming with hair dyes arranged in the order of the rainbow. Various other shelves were also filled with hair products, and a massively wide vanity took up one of the walls. At the back, there was one of those areas for rinsing the hair.

I noticed that Rowoon wasn't around, which was weird. Where was he?

"Take a seat," Bosam's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, as she patted the chair facing the vanity. I nodded and quickly did as she asked.

Wasting no time, Bosam quickly got to work. She secured a black smock around the base of my neck and quietly began sectioning and bleaching my hair.

The silence was killing me.

"So," I started, hoping to not be a complete disaster at conversation "how old is Rowoon?"

She seemed caught off guard as I gazed at her through the mirror's reflection. "Oh- he's three," she said. I could see the tiniest hint of a smile on her features, and it made me relieved.

"He's so cute. Yesterday when you were helping Wooyoung with the food I asked him if he wanted to play hide and seek and he seemed so happy." I said with a fond grin, making Bosam chuckle.

"Yes, he's really playful. He loves playing with boys, so I'm really happy you guys played with him. He doesn't get to do that often." She said, a small smile on her face. "I'm usually his only playdate,"

My smile fell slightly. It seemed safe to assume that... the father wasn't around. "How come?" I asked softly. "My mother and I raised him by ourselves. And she's not exactly as young and energetic as me to chase him around," she explained.

So the father really is not in the picture huh?

"Is it hard?" I asked curiously "Being a parent, I mean." Bosam paused for a second. "It... gets easier the more you do it. In my case there were... a lot of complications before he was born," she said vaguely "but once he was in my arms... I just knew everything would be fine. I'd have to make it be fine. For Rowoon." She said, a warm smile on her face. "Why do you ask?" She asked, glancing briefly at me.

"Oh- I love babies. Kids in general actually. I really want to be a father some day. And I wanted to hear what it's like from someone who is close to my age," I said, the last part a little uncertain. I honestly had no clue how old Bosam was. Physically, she looked anywhere between 19 to 27, and the fact that she had this aura of maturity and wisdom to her made me even more lost about what her age might be. "You are close to my age, right noona?" I asked with a small chuckle.

"How old are you?" She asked, smiling. It was so refreshing to see her being this open and happy. Just a few days ago when she first arrived at the dorms she seemed so cold and curt.

"Twenty. I'll be twenty one in April," I said. I caught her eyes widenning and her lips twitching slightly. "Yeah, I'm close to your age."

"So how come you're already thinking about being a father at your age?" She asked, sparing me a glance before returning her gaze to my hair, where her skillful hands hadn't stopped working.