The Cutting Edge

022

"What?" Hyunwon put down his coffee cup and stared at Remy, not quite sure whether or not he heard right. "Excuse me?"

"Ares has asked that Hyejin be his stylist for the MBC year-end awards."

"What is wrong with that man?" The hand that was holding the cup clenched a little and the cardboard began to buckle under the pressure. It just had to be Ares Hwang, creating trouble for him all over again. If not for Ares and his late night debacle, Hyejin wouldn't even have stepped foot into the Cutting Edge in the first place and he wouldn't have had to suffer the agony of becoming her mentor. Now, Ares was trying to pull another stunt by making such a ridiculous request.

Remington reached over and pried his fingers away from the cup, extricating the poor cardboard cup from his hand before he crushed it completely and created a sticky mess all over the desk. "Now now, don't get your knickers in a twist," he said. "I've already told Gina that it's not possible because Hyejin is just a trainee at the moment and we both know we should avoid another media circus like the previous one. I think Gina understands, because she didn't sound too happy about this request anyway. My guess is that Ares was being stubborn and she had no choice but to give in to him, so she's more than happy if we reject it for her."

Hyunwon drummed his fingers against the table, his brows furrowed as he contemplated the situation. He reached for the plastic folder that was sitting quietly at one corner of his desk, flipping through the sketches within. It was the assignment that he had given to Hyejin the day before, which she must have completed late into the night because that folder definitely hadn't been there when he left the office yesterday.

Suddenly, he looked up at Remington and said, "Call Hyejin in."

Remington seemed a little surprised by his sudden instruction, but he did as he was told and returned with the girl a couple of minutes later, after having found her in the laundry room folding towels.

"You wanted to see me?" Hyejin mumbled, staring awkwardly down at her feet as she spoke. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the half-drunk coffee and half-eaten vegetable pancake lying on Hyunwon's table, both of which she had hastily placed there before she rushed out of his office to avoid having to face him this morning. Evidently it didn't work, because here she was anyway.

Why does she keep staring at the ground? Hyunwon wondered to himself as he looked at her. He stood up and walked round to where she was, sticking the black and gold invitation in front of her eyes.

"What's this?" she asked, keeping her eyes trained on the invitation instead of at him. "MBC awards?"

Everyone knew what the MBC entertainment awards were—the three major broadcasting stations organised these star-studded events at the end of every year to honour the best in the country's entertainment industry, and this time each year, the rest of Korea would be glued to their television sets to witness the glitz and the glamour. Hyejin never really cared about the celebrities who graced the red carpet and she still couldn't name more than five of them if she was ever asked to, but she did watch the award ceremonies year after year just to ogle at the fashion and styles.

"The MBC awards ceremony is in a week's time. Typically the salon gets numerous requests to style various artistes for the red carpet and Remington will sieve through all the requests to decide which ones we eventually accept." Hyunwon picked up one of the designs from Hyejin's plastic folder and said, "I want you to do this one for the MBC awards."

It was a male style, a windswept look that Hyejin had spent the wee hours of the morning painstakingly colouring a pastel purple, the exact same shade as the purple hyacinths that she had gotten inspiration from. There was a field of hyacinths not far from where she lived and she used to cycle past it on her way to school every morning, and every year during springtime the entire field would be a glorious shade of purple. Not the most conventional of colours for hair, but she quite liked the way the sketch had turned out anyway.