TIMELESS

forcing out a few chuckles from her lips once in a while, jinri tried really hard to keep herself interested and excited throughout the long list of names she’d never head before. midway she had stopped nodding but continued eating away at her granola, taking more notice at the texture of the raisins than the backstories of jinah’s friends. “wait i thought you said some of your friends? it sounds more like all of your friends, or at least the agency, unnie.”

at about the eighth name the girl started to notice, the sheer number of people who had been invited to their night out. “i mean, i don’t mind your friends - they sound great - it’s just that i thought we could have more of a bonding thing? like you’ve said, we haven’t gone out in ages.” she hated herself for being the buzzkill, the pathetic one, and she certainly was not used to feeling this way. jinri bit her lips trying to stop herself from yelling at the other telling her she was the one who should be making decisions, not her, but she held her tongue, to keep the peace.

“Oh...” Her smiled faltered for just a mere second, the disappointment in Jinri’s voice is palpable-- and she could only imagine the actual fire underneath her words. She couldn’t possibly tell the younger girl that she had already made plans, and Jinri was to simply join the group. No, Choi Jinri would not stand for that in the slightest, there was no way that she could accept being just another face in the crowd, not just another a pretty girl sitting in a table full of beautiful faces. 

“Well I can always text them and say that I’ll hang out with them some other time...” Jinah raised an eyebrow, trying her best not to look too disconcerted at the abrupt change of the conversation, she was -- after all -- loyal to her girls first. “I mean- they would make time for me, y’now.” She said it as a joke, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Having known Jinri for far longer than she would like to admit, she could tell the sweetness dripping off her tone was far too fake-- and the whole thing just seems reminiscent of the girlish games of high school past. The games that she always witnessed but never really participated in, of course it doesn’t mean that she hadn’t picked up a few tricks over the years. 

It just wasn’t pretty.

He doesn’t make himself a part of it when the girl turns around, cascades of hair swaying to reveal a familiar face rush past him. He almost isn’t a part of it at all, a split second too late and it would just be a passing detail in his evening. He possibly would have preferred it that way.

But when the man charges after the girl, forehead creasing and teeth baring in the most unattractive fashion, he lurches into his path, one hand flat on his chest to give it a solid shove. It’s a split second too early, it turns out, and it happens before he can calculate the motion, before he can even blink. Impulse beats rationality, but only by a slight beat – his mind recoils almost immediately when realization dawns upon him. Still, he never flinches.

A goddamn white knight right there, ladies.

It could have been worse. He only misses a single punch (stumbling back into someone’s drink, ice cold liquor seeping through layers of clothing to spread over his back) before the club’s security handles the issue, bulky arms projecting around the guy’s biceps to immobilize him. He allows himself a second to savor it, the gritted teeth and the bark thrown his way as the asshole is yanked out of his sight. Over before it ever beings, one less headache to nurse at the morning.

Jinah isn’t hard to spot – she never was, by any means, but it would be quite a feat to miss the tall figure fidgeting in frustration with her cigarette. Sidling up to her unnoticed is no less easy, and he’s reaching for the lighter before she as much as acknowledges his presence.

Even though she was on the other side of the world the news still reached her well informed ears, an indistinguishable Jinri’s distress call on Skype in strange hours in the morning kept her informed on the whole ‘Taemin’ situation. And of course she was indignant for her young friend, as any sister would-- Jinah promptly launched on an incensed tirade of disappointment on her behalf. 

“Thanks.” Her voice is small, and her eyes wide with pure surprise. It has been years, she only managed to see a glimpse of him in the reunion but found herself unable to say a word-- busying herself with other shadows of the past. She’s surprised that the male managed to recognize her at all, her old high school friends know that a club would be the last place to find Im Jinah on a Friday night. 

“Long time no see, Lee Taemin” Her fingers lifted the cigarette to her lips for a drag, inhaling the fumes deep into her lungs before exhaling. It felt like a sigh than anything else. She was still fuming, the incident earlier fresh in her mind and even the appearance of a ghost from high school past could not distract from the bubbling anger in the pit of her stomach. 

but she was never really a fan of the drama club so maybe it was all for the best.

“international is where all the business is though!” she pouted, sad that she wouldn’t have her friend with her at fashion month. jinah was always there with sungkyung — the top model and the blogger, and together they were an unstoppable kind of force. tall, fashionable, and always looking completely on point. “when have you ever heard of people raving over seoul fashion week?”

but she understood where jinah’s parents were coming from. well, kind of. her parents never had that same kind of concern for her, but she could imagine.

“Well I know some of the losers in Cheongnam used to ask me if I had extra front row tickets-- even when we’ve never spoken before.” 

Jinah rolled her eyes playfully, elbowing the younger girl with a little scoff. “Oh please! It’s not even an actual blog blog, all I have to do is take selfies backstage ...and maybe try to get a selfie with the back of Kendal Jenner’s head-- that’s what they’re looking for, pretty much. Nothing like what you do, Ms Professional.”

Eyes scanning their surroundings yet again, the young brunette twirled a strand of her hair around her finger before lighting up-- immediately turning to call the bartender, grinning wickedly at the younger girl. “Kay-- so what about a game, S? For old time’s sake. Take a shot of what ever is on that top shelf- then we have to do what ever the other person says... No matter how ridiculous or embarrassing-- no take backs.”