M I S F I T S

i. a neon beginning

She glanced at him and couldn't help but grin, "ring?"

"Oh yeah. It's not actually a street fight, but they're all the same really. It's a small underground tournament." Taeil took out his wallet from his pocket and pulled a red and black business card. "Here,"

there was an address of the said small underground tournament on the card.

"Be careful—"

She gave him a hug, cutting him off from finishing his sentence. "Thank you."

Taeil smiled and ruffled her hair. "Gonna miss you, kiddo. Tell me if you get in, 'kay? I'll watch your matches."

~

Tomi stopped herself from opening the front door of her humble apartment. She positioned the white envelope containing the fight money properly inside her backpack, didn't want it peeking out of her purse. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself to get scolded. Because she was sure of it.

After taking off her shoes and storing them, she proceeded to enter the common area. "I'm home!" She gleefully announced, though deep down afraid that her mother would come out with a frown.

"Where have you been?"

She found her mother coming out of the kitchen. Arms folded on her chest with a disappointed look.

"Work?" She pointed at the uniform she was wearing. A uniform of the cat café she was currently working part-time at.

"I called the café they said you skipped work, again."

"I'm sorry." She looked down. "I was out with Wooyoung." She admitted with a small voice, still keeping her head low.

Kaya sighed. "Just tell me if you're not working the next time, okay? You don't have to lie like that." She said with her softest voice. "I left some of the curry in the fridge. Go on and take a shower quickly. You have work and gymnastics tomorrow."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled an apology, didn't dare to look at Kaya directly.

She then excused herself to her room. Running to her full-body mirror, she studied her entire body. Then found a purple bruise on the right side of her right wrist. It wasn't a big bruise but it was distracting. Big enough that her mother probably did catch it, maybe even wondering what could've caused it.

~

"Tomi," Wooyoung called her, "what the hell are you doing with that whisk?"

Tomi was trying to get rid of the bruise on her wrist by twisting a whisk on it. "I saw a video on the internet, where this guy tried getting rid of his hickey by doing this."

Wooyoung snickered, "A hickey?" He then started noticing people who were giving them side eyes from their tables. "Quit it, will ya? People are looking at us weird!"

"It's almost gone! Look! Oh my God, I can't believe it's actually working!" She said a bit too loud, while still twisting the whisk on the bruise.

"How did you get it anyway? You usually never got a hit from that street fight. Also, why there?"

"Probably punch-sliced the fucker a little too hard." She smirked, eyes still on the whisk and bruise. Then lifted her hand to show it to her bestfriend. "How does it look?"

"What the fuck? That actually worked??" His eyes widened as he grabbed her hand for a better look.

"I know right!—" then a golden Maine Coon cat jumped to their table. "Hello, Leo!" She pet the cat who purred back.