☷ apgujeong rodeo

@lee sungchul ⁵¹ nari keeps the other options to her chest, and she leans against the wall as she waits for sungchul to come out. she's quite confident in her choices, as much as he seems not to like it (and why, really, when his taste is the outrageous one here!), and so when he comes out, the surprise when she blinks is genuine. now, see, she knows a pretty face when she sees one, and will admit to it — inwardly, but that's not the point here — but she doesn't expect sungchul to be... even her male co-models would kill to have his features, but he doesn't even know that! "it's not outrageous! it looks just fine on you, see?" she says, approaching him and making him face the mirror.

with the clothes on one arm, she uses her free hand to gesture to his attire. "the overall softness of the colors suits your complexion so well. don't tell me you're not used to wearing colors—actually, nevermind, don't answer that. you look like the type to to wear black and white all year long, and even though i'm a fan of black and white myself, it wouldn't hurt for you to entertain other colors," she says, almost rambling at this point, before she pushes him back inside the dressing room with a teasing smile, knowing now that she's found a model that she can use other than herself. "we're taking that, and /you're/ going to wear that one of these days."

she hands him another set of outfit: a dark coffee brown sweater vest, a grey oversized long sleeved and collared shirt, and a pair of pants the same shade as the shirt. "wear this for me," she says, before her eyes fall upon his shoes. "i'm pretty sure the answer is no, but do you have other pairs of shoes than... just those?"

@jang nari ⁸⁹ his lips quirk up into a triumphant smirk when the hoodie leaves his hands much quicker than he expected. it’s not that he took a particular liking for it, no — he’d leave the store empty handed if he had a choice, but he figures that he might as well entertain himself by annoying his companion while she scours the entire store just because his pants weren’t to her liking.

but when he sees nari flash her camera-friendly smile whilst addressing him, his face drops immediately, and it’s his turn to look at her as if she had grown another set of limbs. then his gaze shifts to the employee standing mere inches away from her (now why on earth is she staring at him as well?), and he doesn’t know whether to laugh or to pity the model. that explains the sudden change in attitude, at least. “were you really,” he deadpans, hoping that it’ll catch nari off-guard that she drops her act, even if it was just for a split second. he acknowledges the confused employee (seungyeon?) with a small nod before he’s inevitably taken away once again.

the threat does not faze sungchul at all — why would it anyway? it’s the outfit nari’s holding that terrifies him more, and now that no one seems to be watching her — /them/, he visibly cringes at it. the pastel colors would surely stick out like a sore thumb in his wardrobe, and not even his mother would make him try clothings that are this... bright. “you can’t be serious,” he grumbles, but he ends up taking them anyway before disappearing into the nearest fitting room.

the first thought that runs through his mind is this: he looks like a ing /eyesore/. he doesn’t remember the last time he’s ever worn anything with even the slightest streak of pastel, and seeing more than two colors on himself feels weird, to say the least. he grimaces at his reflection and heaves an exasperated sigh before he slides the curtains open, revealing his figure to his so-called stylist. “please tell me your other choices aren’t as outrageous as this.”

@lee sungchul ⁵¹ once an employee stops nari, a cheery greeting reaches the girl's ears, and almost instantly her expression changes. it's brighter, and she pulls her mask down to smile at the employee with a light shrug of her shoulders. she hugs the clothes she's holding to her chest, and the employee — seungyeon, nari reads off the lady's name tag, because even if nari's talked to her before, the model can't remember for the life of her — takes a step forward.

"who's your companion, miss nari? i don't think i've ever seen you bring him here before!" nari dreads that question being asked (really, why is seungyeon acting so friendly with /her/? why can't she mind her own business? it isn't as if nari's the first celebrity to have gone here!), and before she can even say anything in reply, seungyeon's already spoken ahead, "oh! is he your boyfriend, miss?"

nari almost — /almost/ — breaks character at the question, unable to stop the widening of her eyes, the twitch of her left eye, and the rush of warmth to her cheeks (which she would blame to the heat, even if it /is/ winter). "no!" her voice comes out a bit too high, a bit too quickly, that even seungyeon is surprised. she clears , "i mean, no. he's—he's just a, um, a friend, whom i'm helping pick a style."

and it's that moment that sungchul decides to enter her line of sight, and once again, she almost breaks character. it's taking a conscious effort not to let her disgust seep through her visage, because what kind of man chooses a hoodie that is exactly the same as what he's wearing at that moment? the kind of man that's sungchul, she thinks to herself.

but she can't express her disgust right now, not openly at least, so she keeps a smile on her face as she approaches him in stride, easily taking the (ugly) hoodie from his hold and holding it out for seungyeon to take. "ah, there you are!" she says almost too cheerfully. "i was just looking for you," she continues on, grabbing his arm as she turns toward seungyeon. "i'll call for your assistance if we need it; thank you, seungyeon."

quickly pulling sungchul away from the employee, firmly holding him next to her, she whispers a light hiss, a glare shot toward his way. "if you don't sit still and behave, i will burn that ugly hoodie /and/ pants of yours." she doesn't mean that literally, of course — for most part, at least. she then lets go of his arm, only to give him a pastel pink turtleneck, a beige long coat and a pair of pants of the same color. "now i want you to try this for me first. i feel like the soft colors would suit you quite well, actually."

[ do not mirror please ily <3 ]

@jang nari ⁸⁹ sungchul rolls his eyes at the judgmental gaze nari gives him, a huge portion of her scolding falling on deaf ears. "it wasn't /that/ cold when i went out this morning." lies. he had been standing in front of the police station when he realized that his legs couldn't bear the cold any longer, but he was nearly a mile away from home and showing up late to the interrogation won't do any good to him ー especially when the police, well... some of them may have thought that they have "dirt" on him now. he lets out a soft sigh, the white smoke disappearing into thin air giving a hint of his exhaustion away. "look, i just can't be bothered to change into something else when you're going to do that for me anyway."

nari drags him into a store after he says that without missing a beat. he squints his eyes at the bright lights shining down on the mannequins. half of them are dressed in outfits sungchul would've sworn that he would never be caught dead wearing, but nariー that girl certainly has different plans for him, doesn't she? he gives her a nonchalant shrug and watches her disappear into the store, as if she knows the place like the back of her hand. his gaze leaves her before he could visibly recoil at her choices (he could have sworn that he saw one of those extravagant tops in a music show the other day).

when she finally disappears out of sight, he walks over to a small section at the corner marked 'UP TO 50% OFF!' and reaches for a plain black hoodie one size bigger than him. once he's satisfied with his choice, he ventures deeper into the store and searches for her whilst holding the clothing up against his chest. nari's going to freak out ー he's certain about it, especially when it looks /exactly/ like the one he's currently wearing.

@lee sungchul ⁵¹ that answer doesn't please nari at all, and it shows in the way her face contorts into one of perhaps genuine irk. she places her hands on her waist, raising an eyebrow. "seriously? you haven't bought new clothes since what, /forever/?" her eyes move from head to toes, her judging gaze not even hidden from the man's notice and she isn't exactly trying to hide it. she wants him to feel her judgement, and it's well deserved! "and you didn't even think to dress for the season! do you want to freeze to death, you idiot?"

with a rather exaggerated sigh, she walks toward sungchul and grabs his wrist without thinking. "i can't believe i'm actually doing this with you of all people," she says (even if she's actually the one who suggested they do this in the first place), before she begins pulling him a nearby clothing store ー it's one that she frequents to, actually, and the employees there know her name and face (how could they not, when nation's little sister loves their store so much?). as soon as they pass through the entrance, warm air greets her skin and she heaves a sigh.

she then turns to face her companion with a firm gaze and a finger pointed toward his direction. "stay here. i don't trust your fashion sense," she says, and with that, she moves toward the most likely expensive clothes lined up in their racks. it's almost automatic when she grabs tops one after the other, pausing only every now and then to glance back at sungchul, before disappearing deeper into the shop.

@jang nari ⁸⁹ sungchul had been slightly underdressed earlier when he left home for the police station ー denim was useless against the cold, but when nari had shown her rather intense dislike for it, a sudden urge to irritate her even further hits him. so here he is, dragging himself out of the apartment with the exact same outfit he had donned in the morning. his legs are starting to grow numb from the cold air seeping through the material and he’s running low on energy, but he forces himself to match nari’s pace. anything to bring her attention to his worn-out jeans.

contrary to what she said about him, he does have some sense of determination in him. it just happens to be fuelled by spite, that’s all.

he looks up to meet his companion’s eyes, the lower half of his face leaving the warmth of his scarf. his eyebrows furrow as he tries to recall the last time his mother dragged him out of the house to her favourite shopping mall downtown. “dunno,” is what he settles for. “but the most recent item on my wardrobe would be this, i think.” a subtle yet proud smirk plays on his lips as he pats his jeans, knowing that it would most definitely irk her.

@lee sungchul ⁵¹ [ feb 16 ; sometime after 20:00 ]

nari knows that shopping may not be the best thing to do when she's just been interrogated by the police for what may seem to be a potential murder (though she's only heard of rumors from the other residents), but this is one of the only things that will help her calm down; a good distraction from the stress that only keeps on piling above her shoulders. so now she walks the streets of apgujeong, adorning a face mask to hide her identity, clad in a casual and comfortable attire, rather far from what she'd normally wear in front of others.

she's ahead of sungchul by a few steps, walking with her hands by her back, one hand holding onto another wrist, as her eyes wander around. it's been a while since she's last wandered around like this, she thinks, without the cameras breathing over her neck over every movement's notice. she halts in her steps and turns to face her companion, tilting her head to the side as she voices a sudden question from her mind, "when's the last time you went shopping, mister i-don't-think-my-jeans-are-bad, sir?"