Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, I was woken by a faint rustling sound.

I opened my eyes.

Cora, the woman from the photo, stood at the foot of my bed with a pair of scissors in her hand.

I realized something, reached up to touch my hair, and shot upright.

When Julian saw my hair, he couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“Sorry, Wren.”

“Cora lost a party game. Her punishment was to go to her ex-boyfriend’s house and cut his current girlfriend’s hair. Just be cool about it.”

In the mirror, the hair I had planned to grow out had become a hacked-up, ear-length mess.

Julian laughed and teased me.

“Wren, honestly, that style’s pretty good on you. Why didn’t I think of it sooner? I should’ve had you switch to this ages ago.”

Cora laughed too.

“Julian must really love you. He managed to date you for three years looking like this. So touching.”

Julian, who had been laughing, suddenly darkened.

His eyes locked straight on Cora.

“Are you seriously pretending you don’t know whether I love her or not?”

A current passed between their eyes.

I stood in front of the mirror like a prop in the background.

No one cared that I was a girl too.

No one cared that my hair mattered to me.

While I was still frozen, Cora started filming my hair.

“Guys, my punishment’s done. I’ll be back to keep drinking!”

Julian immediately showed concern.

“Why are you going out drinking again?”

“Your stomach’s bad. Don’t go out tonight. Stay here.”

His concern came far too naturally.

I snapped back to myself and looked at Cora.

“You cut my hair and think you can just leave? Since when does it work like that?”

I picked up the scissors beside me and walked toward her step by step.

Julian stepped in front of her and looked down at me.

“Cora’s hair is professionally cared for. She spends more on her hair than you do on your whole body.”

He paused.

“Cora loves looking good. Her hair matters more to her than her life. Wren, stop making a scene, okay?”

I looked at him and suddenly laughed.

“Her hair is hair, but mine deserved to be butchered?”

Cora rolled her eyes beside him.

“It was a dry, frizzy, ugly little bob. So what if I cut it?”

“You should be thanking me. Now you can grow it out again. Maybe if you actually take care of it, it’ll be one percent as smooth and polished as mine.”

A flicker of guilt passed through Julian’s eyes.

He had seen me with long hair.

Smooth and soft.

After I cut it short, he was the one who wouldn’t let me maintain it.

He wouldn’t even let me use conditioner.

He wanted me to be ordinary, and I thought it was because he was afraid of losing me.

Turns out he was afraid of losing his chance to get back together with his ex.

My tone was flat.

“Julian, choose one. Either you let me cut Cora’s hair, or we break up.”

Julian’s brows pulled together at once.

“You’re threatening to break up with me over this?”

His voice turned unusually gentle.

“Wren, even if you’re angry, you can’t use a breakup to threaten me. If you need to vent, cut my hair, okay?”

I froze for a second.

Maybe he refused to break up because he was afraid the bet wouldn’t be completed.

But Cora’s eyes widened beside him.

“Julian, when you were with me, you never begged me to stay like this!”

She yanked the door open and ran out crying.