The Cutting Edge

010

"You do realise that the manual contains at least five hundred different dye shades," Remington remarked, shaking his head in disapproval as he raised his glass of wine to his lips. "Just exactly how much do you dislike this girl?"

"She doesn't even know a single thing about hair dyes and I would consider that one of the basics in hairstyling. If she can't so a simple thing like identify shades and mix dyes, then there isn't any purpose in keeping her here is there? This salon has standards. Ihave standards."

It was almost midnight and the two men were sitting in Hyunwon's apartment in Gangnam trying out one of his latest purchases, a bottle of vintage 1920s pinot noir. Besides hairstyling, this was Hyunwon's other passion—wine. It had been part and parcel of his growing up years, given that he had been brought up on his grandparents' vineyard out in the Gwacheon countryside. His best childhood memories consisted of him running down the rows and rows of grapevines, playing hide-and-seek with... Seorin.

The sweetness of the wine gave way to a slight tinge of bitterness as an image of her floated into his mind.

"I wonder what she's doing now..." he murmured to himself, staring out of the window at the night sky. Just as he expected, he hadn't heard from her ever since she left. She was probably too busy with filming to remember him.

He had spoken softly, but his friend's sharp hearing managed to catch his words anyhow. Remington sighed. "Hyunwon, forget the girl. We've always known what she's like. Kara has ambitions and those ambitions will always be the number one priority in her life. You should have realised that the moment she insisted that your relationship be kept under wraps from the rest of the world."

Hyunwon walked over to his bar counter and poured himself another glass of wine. As he took another sip, he figured that the man at the shop had cheated him of his money because this vintage wine was far more bitter than it should have been. He didn't want to admit that Remy was right, even though deep down he knew that he was. Still, was it wrong for him to have harboured hope that things would be different one day? After all, before she was Kara Jung, she had just been his Seorin.

Remington studied his friend's expression carefully, watching how the frown between his brows deepened with every passing second. For all of Hyunwon's apparent coldness and harshness, he was probably one of the most devoted individuals that Remington had ever met. Any other man would have given up on Kara a long time ago, but even after what she had done to him, Hyunwon was still unable to let her go. He didn't even know whether he should praise or criticise Hyunwon for his devotion (or foolishness).

"So before I left the salon to come over here, I saw that Hyejin was still in the training room mixing dyes," Remington said, trying to change the subject before the atmosphere got even more sour. "Although she doesn't have much of the basics, you have to admit that she's hardworking and willing to learn. Also, she does have some talent, else that head of hair on Ares's head wouldn't have turned out half as well. Don't pick on her too much, she's quite pitiful really."

Hyunwon snorted derisively. "I'm not picking on her, I'm just trying to maintain some standards. The magazines were comparing her with me—how can I be compared with some novice who doesn't even know how to mix dyes! The sooner she realises she's not cut out to be here the better."

"Everyone with two eyes can see that you're picking on her," Remington replied, rolling his eyes, "otherwise you wouldn't have sent her to assist when Ji Eun came for her hair appointment. It's not exactly a big secret that the woman's a complete bitch when the cameras aren't rolling."

"We have plenty of difficult clients. Ji Eun's is just one of them. Besides, she has a knight in shining armour to come her rescue, what's there to worry about?" Hyunwon shrugged his shoulders.