xiaork:
@rkhaseul
What Xiao lacked in terms of earthiness, Haseul made up for it just by constantly being around her.
whenever the two were together, each girl’s opposite traits kept the other in check. not everyone could genuinely stop xiao from doing whatever she wanted on impulse; haseul, however, with her steady demeanor and her firm yet loving tone, could do it just fine.
for example, she could definitely bet on haseul to take a trip with her to the pet store “just to see what’s up.”
in reality, as much as she thought haseul was there to keep her company, that wasn’t the only reason: xiao greatly needed someone to remind her that she not only shouldn’t spend so much money, she shouldn’t spend it on pets in multitudes. the girl lived in the ewha dorms without an actual job. sure, she didn’t have a roommate, but pets were not allowed on campus.
such obstacles didn’t seem to bother xiao. “i’ll get a real small one! c’mon, who has to know i have like, 20 frogs? they’re so small and they don’t make noise, who’s gonna come for my ass, unnie?”
haseul deserved an honest to goodness minimum wage pay for dealing with the younger girl’s constant haste. the constant need to go fast, head-first, with a deep vigor.
when the girls enter the store and xiao heads straight towards the kittens, she can’t help but look up at her friend with eyes that begged. just one kitten, i promise! the tamest kitten, the tiniest kitten!–no? well— she heads towards the smaller mammals. hedgehogs, dwarf rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas; xiao felt weak in the knees. if there was one thing that could completely melt the feisty dreamer, it was animals and children.
“what do you think of one of these guys?” she points to a little hedgehog, its little black eyes full of more life than anyone at ewha during exam season combined. “cute and compact! what more could we want, eh?”
haseul had gone along with xiao not only as a friend, but almost as a parent. despite the fact that xiao was a few months older than haseul – despite the fact that the two were literally born in the same year – it sometimes felt like taking care of a young child when she was around xiao. it wasn’t like haseul minded much, she loved the other woman to death, since the moment they’d met – but that didn’t mean the other didn’t drive her up a wall at times.
especially when those times involved going to the pet store – a place where haseul was already positive xiao was going to attempt to buy something she certainly shouldn’t, and haseul was her only impulse control. how xiao didn’t spend tremendous amounts of money on useless things when she wasn’t around was astounding, haseul thought.
she still remembered the frog incident.
the moment they stepped into the shop, haseul tailed xiao, who made a beeline for the kittens – “ xiao, you can’t take care of a cat. it will literally destroy anything furniture you have in your dorm as a scratch post. ” she pointed out gently, before her friend began moving toward the smaller animals. once xiao stopped at the hedgehogs, haseul eyed her stoically. “ you’re joking, right ? ” she asked, raising a brow. she took a moment to read the care-taking sign for the hedgehogs, shaking her head – “ how are you going to deal with their ‘ need for out-of-cage foraging – one of their natural activities ’ ? plus, ” she looked over at the other, “ you’re not a quiet person. the poor thing’ll get stressed being around you. ”
after a moment, haseul stood up straight – “ you’re not allowed to have a pet in your dorm anyway, xiao. every single time we come in here, i have to explain the same thing to you. every time. ” she chuckled, shaking her head. “ what, are ari and dae not enough for you ? you’re the only person they don’t peck at when they’re out of their cages. ” she tsked. “ maybe i should train them to peck you then. i’ll have a small army of rabid conures on my side. ”
