Rosé giggled as she watched her daughter in her hand-held mirror. The little girl had her cheeks puffed up in concentration as she tugged on her mother's hair, attempting to plait it. Currently she held fistfuls of fiery strands, her eyes almost crossed with effort.
"I keep messing up!" she whined, pouting. "How do you even do them on yourself, Mom?"
"It's okay sweetie, it took me a while before I got the hang of it too. Patience is key," Rosé said fondly, hoping the knots being tangled up in her hair wouldn't require scissors.
"Does aunty know how to do plaits? She told me she could show me once."
"Jisoo?" Rosé chuckled. "If your aunt knows how to do plaits, I'll eat two avocados for breakfast tomorrow."
Her daughter giggled. "For real?"
"No, of course not," Rosé shuddered, "avocados are..." she pulled a face, making her daughter snicker. "But I'm confident she doesn't know how, so I'll win," she added smugly.
"Avocados are the best!"
"Noooooo!" Rosé gasped, horrified. "You're not my daughter! Where is she? Where is she? Out with it!"
Rosé ended up chasing the hysterical girl who ran into her room and jumped on the bed, with Rosé following suit and tickling her hard. Startled out of her peaceful nap, Bori leapt off the bed with a miffed meow.
"Who are you?" Rosé demanded, as the girl squealed. "We don't love avocados in this house!"
"Mommy stop, stop! I'm sorry! I hate avocados! I love MANGOS!"
"Now that's more like it!" Rosé sat back in satisfaction. As she did so, she caught sight of the alarm clock. "Oh, it's almost time. Sorry, sweetie, gotta get ready for the next client."
"Aww already?" her daughter clung to her, "but I wanted to keep plaiting." She pouted, making her bottom lip jut out as she looked at her mother with pleading, puppy-eyes.
Rosé shook her head in amusement. "I haven't forgotten your homework. Don't for a second think you're off the hook, young lady."
"But it's so boring!"
Her mother climbed off the bed. "I can try help you afterwards, but I have to go now. If you manage to finish all your exercises, you can have an extra helping of ice-cream later, how about that?"
Her daughter dutifully went to rummage in her school bag and took out her textbooks, settling down to work with a determined expression—she was going to get that ice-cream for sure.
Rosé smiled to see the little head bent studiously over her desk.
"I'll make some snacks later," she called from the door, "make sure to stand up and stretch every now and then, okay? I don't want you to be getting scoliosis this early in life."
She closed the door and walked down the hall to enter the studio, which was housed in separate section of the apartment, adjacent to their living quarters.
Rosé cleared up the area and put aside the equipment used for the previous pilates session before she had to stop to fetch her daughter from school. They had gotten sidetracked when they started plaiting each other's hair.
It looked to be a good day today.
The weather was crisp and not too cold—the first hints of spring after the harsh winter were slowly becoming more apparent with each passing day, like the cherry blossoms that were gradually flowering.
She adored those little pink flowers floating down around them like pink snow, and frequently took her daughter to watch the trees blooming at the park on weekends. Jisoo would join them, although the older girl preferred the trees when they were decked out in lush, vibrant greenery. They spent many an afternoon chasing after Jisoo's beloved pet, a white Maltese named Dalgom while Jisoo sat by reading, since she hated running.
Rosé hummed under her breath, standing with hands on hips and nodding to herself in satisfaction once the clutter had been neatly stowed away. She had some ten minutes left before Ms Kim arrived so she sat down on the nearest beanbag and busied herself scrolling on her phone. But even so, her mind was elsewhere, or more specifically, on Ms Kim.
Rosé knew that she hadn't been the most welcoming host with the blonde boxer the other day. And not to mention she had been rather prejudiced as well.
When she had made it safely back home after an exhausting night's work, eyes almost sealed shut with fatigue, Rosé barely managed to drag herself into the shower for a warm rinse before collapsing into her daughter's bed. It was her habit on such nights to do so—a guilty reflex to repent for leaving her little girl all alone in the apartment until the small hours of the morning.
Rosé's last thoughts before she fell asleep drifted back to her earlier session with the blonde boxer, briefly remembering the compliments, the lingering gazes, the enthusiasm, the child-like aura emanating from her.
Although Ms Kim had been rather too cocky for her liking, Rosé's observant eyes also glimpsed a shadow of fragility through the cracks in the boxer's confident exterior.
And the way Ms Kim tenderly picked up her faded, oversized jacket made Rosé's heart give a slight twinge when she had seen the girl out after their session.
Rosé stroked her daughter's head who slept on, oblivious. The cat, Bori, was however wide awake as it lay curled up next to the sleeping girl. She watched Rosé closely, her keen eyes gleaming in the dark.
"I have to be nicer," Rosé murmured as her eyes finally fluttered shut. "Maybe it's not too late..."
After all, it ought to be second nature or verily, her instinct, by now, since it was what she had been instructed to do nearly all her life—be sweet. Caring. Sympathetic. Understanding.
Lure them in, like the treacherous sirens did to the poor ignorant sailors that fell for their fatal song.
Every person that crossed her path was a potential opportunity that could—no, must— be tapped into and exploited. Every. Single. Person.
And that included lowly Ms Kim, with her destitute background and affinity for that hateful sport.
Today was different—there was no impending danger, her daughter was quietly doing her homework safely in her room, everything was fine, Rosé was relaxed and untroubled.
Today, she was determined to start a fresh page with Ms Kim and hopefully, the other girl wouldn't reject the olive branch Rosé extended to her.
The doorbell rang and Rosé hurried to open the door, aware of the faint tingles at her finger tips.
Now's not the time to be nervous, you got this!
She inhaled, composing herself one more time and opened the door. Her face broke into an immediate smile once she took in the same blonde girl wearing the same jacket with a different shirt this time—a plain white tee.
"Hello," Ms Kim said in a low voice, head bowed as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Rosé almost giggled—where had the cocky girl gone? Seeing her in this light, so shy and soft-spoken, was rather jarring after their previous encounter.
"Come in Ms Kim, come in. Hope you are well?"
The boxer raised her face, a slight frown etched on her doll-like face. The discoloured bruises on her jaw had all but faded now—shadows remained.
"Uh, I'm good...I'm okay....Ms Park....hope you are too..." she replied stiffly.
Rosé stifled a grin, internally cooing.
The blonde boxer was rather adorable when she was trying to sound refined and polite, like a kid made to sit through dinner and forced to use their table manners in front of relatives, Rosé thought.
"I don't seem to recall you being okay at all yesterday—"
"Yes well, I never experienced it before. It was quite a shock to my system. I...it turned okay in the end. I mean, I'm alright now. Can I hang my jacket?" she said abruptly.
"Of course. And if you wish to use the bathroom again, by all means."
Ms Kim gave her a brief side-glance before she muttered 'thank you' and hurried into the bathroom, locking the door.
Rosé exhaled, sensing the brittle tension between them still lingering but she wasn't giving up yet. She was confident she would coax out a smile, like the ones from the other day.
It was unthinkable for anybody to resist her charms, mortifying even.
By the looks of it, Ms Kim had been quite intrigued by her, and now Rosé prayed she hadn't wasted the opportunity. She hadn't been in her right mind the other day but now she was determined to start anew.
That silky, treacherous voice whispered in her ear, always too repulsively close for comfort: Don't let me down Rosé. Or else...
She didn't need to find out what else.
"Let me take your knapsack," Rosé offered with a warm smile once the other girl emerged from the bathroom. The blonde nodded silently and handed it over before walking barefoot into the studio area and stood to the side, waiting.
Rosé took it as her cue to speak. "Ms Kim, I'm aware my behaviour when we met last time wasn't exactly welcoming and hospitable and for that, I would like to fully apologise and start over. If needs be, I can even provide a refund. I have reflected long and hard and I have come to a conclusion that it was unprofessional of me, regardless of my mental state at the time. So... I would like to start over."
She held out her hand for a hand shake. "My name's Roseanne, but you can call me Rosé."
She waited, her heart beating slightly faster than usual as the boxer merely stared at her, eyes flickering from Rosé's hand to her eyes and back again.
"How about nah?" Ms Kim said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Rosé froze. Her eyes widened, mouth dropped open. "W-what?"
Ms Kim held her gaze for several tense seconds, face grave and serious such that Rosé felt the sweat start collecting in her palm and—
"BAHAHAHAAAA GOTCHA!"
The blonde girl broke down spluttering and laughing, even dropping to her knees and leaning over them as she held her stomach. Rosé looked on in utter bewilderment.
"Oh man, your face!" the blonde chortled, "priceless! I wish I took a picture! Oh jeez I got you good! Hang on—I need to breathe!"
She drew several ragged breath before sitting up, eyes twinkling with mirth.
"I think that should do for an ice-breaker," she grinned and held out her hand as well. "The name's Lalisa, but you can call me Lisa, so enough of this Ms Kim nonsense. Also, you're not that older than me, I think, so can we please talk normally? I'm sure you can, my friend says you can."
Rosé goggled at her, speechless.
Lisa tilted her head to the side. "Hey, say something. I know I dazzle people with my wit and beauty, it's okay, you'll get used to it before long."
Rosé felt a bubble of laughter threatening to rip forth from her throat, catching her by surprise.
She wasn't supposed to be laughing!
The instructor composed herself and finally took Lisa's hand, shaking it.
" Well...that was quite...something," she managed weakly.
"But it totally worked!"
"Were you trying to punish me?"
"Nah, I just thought it would be funny to mess with ya," Lisa grinned, her cocky self newly restored.
"You scared me! I thought I was going to be rejected!" Rosé said indignantly.
"Look at us, we're already bickering, like we've known each other forever!" Lisa said in delight and nudged the instructor. "See? My little prank paid off."
She glanced at the instructor expectantly but Rosé was determined in flushing out the last remnants of guilt sitting in the pits of her stomach.
"Ms Kim...sorry, I mean Lalisa....I'm really sorry about last time. I...I wasn't okay."
"Eh, no problem, we all get bad days," Lisa said cheerfully. "As for me, I'm sorry I annoyed you with my narrow-minded views on pilates. It's actually...quite something." she added, copying Rosé and winking.
"I can't say the same for boxing, but I'll try to be more tolerant of it in the future, starting now," Rosé compromised.
"Works for me!" Lisa chirruped and she started stretching. "So....what are we gonna be doing today? More stretching torture? Will I wake up with a paralysed neck this time round?"
She chuckled as Rosé's brows shot up.
"You know, you're really easy to tease," Lisa told her.
"And you're...very blunt," Rosé returned. She gave a shake of her head, tossing the red ponytail behind her shoulder. "Let's just...get started. And I assure you, nobody's going to have a paralysed neck unless you twist yourself up like some contortionist."
"Let's get to it then!" Lisa smiled toothily. "Oh! One last thing!"
Rosé settled on the mat opposite Lisa. "Yes, Lis?"
"You're already calling me Lis!" Lisa looked positively ecstatic. "Does that mean I get to call you Rosie then?"
"What? No, it was a mistake, I didn't tack on the A at the end—"
Lisa cut her off with a giggle. "Relax, I don't mind. I'll call you Rosie."
"I...don't think that would be appropriate to have that kind of...closeness." Rosé said, albeit uncertainly.
"Why? We're practically the same age so it's okay."
"How would you know how old I am?" Rosé said stiffly. Her fingers curled up, her heartbeat picked up.
She was careful not to leave tracks, how could anyone know...
Lisa shrugged. "Wild guess? I'm twenty-two."
"Twenty-two last February me too," Rosé answered, internally screaming at the cool, nonchalant way this blonde girl estimated her age. It wasn't so much the fact that she had guessed that had Rosé flustered but rather the way Lisa ploughed forward, barging through the conversation as though they had known each other forever.
The blunt and frank manner with which Lisa spoke reminded her of Jisoo. The familiarity jarred with Rosé's reality, yet Lisa's direct and bubbly mannerisms were refreshing—unlike anything Rosé had experienced before.
Rose's brows knitted. Just who was this girl?
Lisa giggled. "You're mad that I guessed."
"What? No I'm not!"
"Your cheeks are all puffed up and pouting," Lisa pointed out, leaning in with her hand ready to pinch Rosé chubby face before she paused. "Wait, sorry, I was about to...I couldn't help myself," she chuckled, withdrawing her hands, "I guess not yet, we only just made up minutes ago...so cute," she added to herself.
"They're not puffed up!" Rosé cupped her cheeks, unnerved to feel the hot blush creeping up her face. What was happening?
"I hate them, all chubby fat," she whined again. "My body's fine, but... I can't make them go away."
She had them all her life, often making her the butt of cruel teasing from people she encountered along the way and earning her unwanted nicknames that stuck to her like tar. Although she had gotten used to name-calling enough to ignore it, the memories of taunting voices still stung.
"I think they're pretty, actually. Like a chipmunk's," Lisa complimented.
Rosé peered at her, scrutinising the blonde for any hint that might give away her insincerity, but to her surprise she found none—just Lisa gazing back at her with a warm smile on her face.
Rosé lowered her hands from her face in wonder. She really does think her cheeks are pretty?
"Will you answer my questions about all this stuff today?" Lisa gestured at the equipment occupying the area around them. "I wanna properly appreciate pilates...it earned my respect yesterday."
"Because it had you floored?"
"Yep. You start to appreciate being able to move around, you know?" Lisa tapped the side of her nose. "The mark of a good sportswoman is one who seeks to move beyond her mistakes and takes a defeat in stride while learning to be open-minded about her errors."
Rosé stared at her, making Lisa burst out into peals of laughter.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, I can be smart! Shocking, ain't it?" Lisa quipped.
"Clearly." Rosé bowed her head in respect. "I would do well to take a leaf out of your book and not form hasty judgements."
"We're learning," Lisa said giddily. "This is great, way better than I thought it would go!"
"Of course. It's the least I can do to make up for my attitude last time," Rosé said graciously, pleased that Lisa's enthusiasm had returned.
All was not lost—she had succeeded in mending the bridge. Now all she had to do was mine for useful information....
"You were kinda cold, not gonna lie. And I wasn't making it any easier on ya," Lisa nodded. "But hey, water under the bridge, you know? No hard feelings, eh Rosie? Let's make it a good one, yeah?"
This time, Rosé didn't mind being called Rosie, and her face broke into a wide grin. "Yeah!"
**********************
update yay!
i was really stuck on how to get them to talk
everyone was so awkward and fumbling around each other,
so I hope the final thing you read made sense ;-P
thanks for dropping by to read, vote and comment, I love reading your thoughts!
Adios and have a good day/night!