Page 48 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
Jun tried to imagine the emo tech guy who’d helped them out with their website painting his nails and failed entirely. But to each their own. The guy didn’t seem that in touch with his fashion side. Nor did Alice, for that matter.
Maybe it was code for something else.
“Send me the address. I’ll meet you.”
“No, I have your outfit. I’ll come to you. Did you forget?”
Jun slapped his forehead, making Habibi’s eyes get big and startled. “Yeah, I forgot.”
“You sound tired.”
“Kids. It’s all day, every day.”
“And this is why I’m not married. See you soon.”
Mi Hi was a breath of fresh air he didn’t know he’d been starving for. She breezed in, Korean bubbling out of her mouth and no one the wiser except for him of what she was saying. She had a variation on the outfit he’d worn before in a bag. Different shirt and tights but the same skirt and coat.
“You kept it all.”
“There wasn’t that much else to pack when we left Seoul.” Mi Hi frowned, adjusting Jun’s hat and teasing out a tendril of hair onto his forehead. “Okay, that’s going to look great. Now take off the hat and sit. I brought makeup, and this time, we have fingerless gloves. Your hands are the biggest giveaway, and we’re going to be inside sometimes.”
She gave him a full face in fifteen minutes, even covering up the last of the bruises around and under his eye. It was odd looking at himself without those fading remnants. The contour took her the longest, but in the end, she stepped back, satisfied, and had him try on a pair of decorative gloves. They were thin and partially made of lace but only covered half of each of his fingers. They did wonders to cover his large knuckles and knobby wrists.
“Hat.” She gave the article back to him. “And sunglasses.”
“You’re magic, you know that?” Jun said. He slid the sunglasses onto his nose. They were large and stylish, a chocolate brown, not harsh and edgy but girlish and ignorable.
Mi Hi smirked. “You’re my favorite doll. But don’t tell anyone.”
Cedric stuck his head in the door. “You said we needed to leave by ten thirty, ma’am?”
Mi Hi jumped up and clapped her hands, switching to English “Yep. Jun, show him.”
Jun groaned. He stepped around the wall so Cedric could see him from the doorway.
Cedric blinked twice. “Well. I, um…fuck me sideways.”
“That phrase never made sense to me,” Jun complained.
Cedric shook his head, still taking in Jun’s transformation. “It’s just hard to believe it’s you.”
Jun held out his hand toward Mi Hi, giving her all the credit. “We better get going. Let me get Habibi.”
“Oh, I got him an outfit, too.”
Mi Hi dove into her bag and pulled out a winter onesie. It fit well over Habibi’s other clothes, and it was warm. And it made him look like a little bunny with long floppy ears on the hood.
They got down to the car and buckled in, including Habibi in his baby seat. The first stop with the realtor was a good twenty minutes away. They were late but not by much.
The first apartment was not suitable. The large recreation room Mi Hi had been hoping would work for practice was in a basement with a ceiling so low Jun could just put his hand up and touch it. No way could they practice with something like that waiting to take them out. It also smelled of mildew. Half the “generous” bedrooms were upstairs in a converted attic with sharply sloped roofs. Even Mi Hi, barely pushing five feet, could only stand in the center four feet of space. Jun didn’t even have to say anything. It was just a no. The next place they saw was only a few minutes’ walk from The Residency. Jun paced around the large empty living room, subconsciously bouncing Habibi against his chest as he checked the view.
“What would the neighbors think of dancing?” Jun asked softly. He tapped his heeled boot on the floor.
Mi Hi looked expectantly at the realtor.
They bit their cheek. “Nothing too loud.”
Jun shook his head. “We have to be able to practice, or we’ll have to rent a studio.”
