Untitled, 2018

Chapter 17: Clearance

I dumped the ramen into a trash can by the bathroom sinks, all while muttering, "What do I do, oh my god, Mateo's gonna kill me, Kang is gonna kill me, what do I do?" The bathroom door burst open after me and Jimin strode over to grab napkins and started handing them to me.
"I'm so so sorry I didn't mean to drop that—"
"Whole thing!"
"Any of it!— on you."
"Well! You did! And I have to go for something really important at an entertainment company studio right after this."
"Can you wear some clothes that we might have back there? We tend to have merchandise stashed in the company–"
"This. Is. An. Expensive dress!!" I sobbed aloud now.

This dress was more yellow than white now, and I just kind of gave up and sniffled and stuffed napkins down and up my dress so I wouldn't start smelling like instant ramen. Jimin looked pretty guilty but stood there quietly, handing me paper towels as I stuck my hand out for more every few seconds. I was a paper towel snowman from the front and had stopped crying in the next couple of minutes, and Jimin and I just stood by the stalls, listening to him kicking the wall absentmindedly.

We heard noises from outside, and the door slowly pushed open, letting in the loud voices of a group of girls. I saw Jimin panic for a hot second and then drag me into the nearest bathroom stall and lock the door. Thankfully, there wasn't anything questionable in the actual toilet, so it wasn't terribly cramped, especially since I had a paper towel cushion of fake pregnancy keeping me away from everything. "Why are you always inconveniencing me, sir?" I whispered to him sarcastically.

He leaned back and nodded his head in he direction of the four or five women who were in the restroom on the other side of the stall door. I guess seeing us here would be weird, I concluded, so I pushed him so he'd be nestled in between the wall and toilet. He protested with a muffled whine, not understanding. I pointed at his shoes, and then promptly turned around and refused to acknowledge him until the girls had all left in five minutes, after which he initiated conversation. "Hey, I said I was sorry." I shrugged.
"I'm thinking of what to do- really."
I sighed and showed him the watch on my left hand, pointing to 1:00, which was 15 minutes away; 15 minutes I had before Mateo and I were supposed to leave.

He snapped his fingers, "Ah!" and tapped my shoulder, only for me to pull it away from him, still not turning around. "I actually just remembered I bought a dress a couple days ago!"
I opened the bathroom stall door finally and said while turned away. "You probably bought something really expensive for someone really important. I don't need your money nor your pity. Bye."

He followed me out, "No no! It was actually for you! I bought it as an apology for being mean to you. And like, now there's even more reason to give it as an apology." I stopped and turned to look at him. He took it as a good sign and continued, "It's super airy and cute, and not even expensive. It's from the clearance section."

— 5 minutes later, in an empty locker closet —

"Clearance section? Of what- a Kardashian wardrobe?!" I held the dress up in front of me. 'Light and airy' wasn't how I'd describe it if it was supposed to fit my body type. Jimin laughed.
"You're sure this was... for me?"
"Of course. And I didn't spend much money on it- dirt cheap. Why would I?" He scoffed.
I looked at him and narrowed my eyes.
He coughed, "You know what I mean..."

I spun my finger at him, and he turned to look away while I hid behind a clothing rack full of jackets. I lifted my dress and like fifty paper towel sheets balled up fell at once, making me sigh. I maneuvered out of it and wiped myself down a little more before trying on the brand new dress Jimin had bought... for me. It was a Chanel peachy colored that looked good with my skin tone and was hugging my curves, though dipping a little low. I thought it looked alright though, and I looked at Jimin's back, a little unsure of why he was giving this to me. I don't now if you folks know what it's like, but if the guy you like says he bought you something, you believe it no matter how suspicious. Besides, I was almost late and very desperate. I stuffed my dress into the bag he had the dress in. "Um... can you show me the way to the room? I bet my friend is back by now."

Jimin turned around and stopped to quickly survey what I looked like in the dress. "What?" "Nothing." "I don't look as good as Becky?" I laughed, while he just glared and unlocked the door for me to follow out. I pouted when he turned away, though. Maybe the dress was for her. I was careful with the dress as I walked up the stairs and to the front of the building. Jimin had disappeared somewhere,  but I supposed it was on purpose, so I just went to the cramped front, where Mateo already was, looking around nervously. 1:05 — not bad! We could make it on time!

"Where did you go? I heard you dropped some– wait, is that the dress you arrived in?"
I stuffed myself in the taxi and held the door open for him. "No of course it's not. I'll explain some other time, let's go!" I said breathlessly, before switching to Korean to give the driver the address.

Mateo looked like he wanted to ask again once we were in the car, and I brainstormed excuses. My best one was "It's an entertainment company! They have random clothes in random corners." Right. Believable. But Mateo did not ask. He just glanced at my dress a few times, which suddenly made me remember that when I grabbed my jacket I had accidentally left the white dress in the locker room instead. CLASSIC. I just internally screamed and concentrated on what I was supposed to do and say for the rest of the day.
____________________________
Jimin's POV

I slapped myself as I reread my chat log of the previous night in the practice room. I caught sight of Jungkook coming out of the bathroom and grabbed his sleeve and whined, "HELP ME!" to which the brat rolled his eyes and pulled away. "What now?"

"Come shopping with me." "No."
"I need at least two people to scan the whole mall with me!"
"Ew."
"Please."
"But why?"
"I need to find a literal one-of-a-kind designer dress in the next three hours."
He had the gall to laugh at me.
"Dude she told me that it's the anniversary of when we first laid eyes on each other! She wanted me to get it!"
"You guys didn't actually talk for months after that."
"I promised!"

I didn't realize Yoongi had walked up to us, muttering something about how it was going to rain later in the day, and I shut up with a pout when I did. "Whose is this?"
He held up a Chanel bag with white fabric stuffed in it. "It's... that girl's dress, isn't it? Why is it here?"
Jungkook picked at it. "Well then what did she leave wearing- nothing?"

I looked at Kook incredulously. What an idiot. "You mean... she was naked?" Yoongi piped up. And here's another. Namjoon slinked towards us, "Did... any of us see her leave...?" The three of them slowly turned their heads to face me.

I flushed a little and glared at them. "I didn't see her leave. But obviously she didn't leave naked." Namjoon sighed with relief and then took the bag from Yoongi to toss it to me. "Go dry-clean that."
"Why me?!"
"Because you ruined her dress."
"It was an accident!"
"Come on it's not like you can't afford it. You need to make it up. She's a fan too."
"Um... I've already done more than enough," I muttered under my breath. "What was that?"
"I said— it's not even like I'm her favorite or anything!"

"Dude that's petty." He tossed the bag at me, and I groaned and walked out with it, making sure to drag Jungkook to the dry-cleaner's with me.
Before getting in the car, Jungkook looked up as though he had been in deep thought, and suddenly said, "You are. You definitely are."
I just clicked my tongue. "Jungkook, nothing you say ever makes any sense."
He just smirked and got into the car with me, and we asked the driver to go towards the mall.