Eli looked away from the stock numbers displayed on her mobile phone to her reflection in the mirror. Staring back at her was a beautiful face with neatly trimmed short shiny black hair. It was the kind of hairstyle that a lot of male celebrities favoured in her previous life.
Claire took off just the split ends of her hair and shortened her overgrown bangs but left most of the length at the back intact. It was an edgy hairdo.
She shifted her sight from her reflection to that of the excited Claire who had a contagious smile on her face.
"How do you like it?"
Eli was not stingy with her compliments. "It's great, I can see you were going for the Idol look."
"Yes! Exactly! but with a twist" Claire exclaimed. It had been a while since she enjoyed styling a client's hair. The task had become so repetitive that it had lost its initial appeal, but here, was this teenager-bringing it back.
"You already had a face that was made for television. So, I thought to help you look the part." Claire explained as she ran her hand across Eli's bangs with a little too much excitement.
" Additionally, has anyone ever told you you have an androgynous face? As a girl, you also give a bad boy, starving artist, I could steal your girlfriend kind of vibe"
Eli raised a brow and the corner of her lips arched a bit.
"Starving artist? Miss, I'm fifteen"
Claire gave a loud laugh. She didn't know a better way to explain Eli's aura " No no no! Hear me out. What I meant was, you have the perfect mix between innocent and I, slightly dangerous so I thought a healthy mix of the two would be great.
With your facial bone structure, it would be hard to tell if you were a boy or a girl with a short hairdo. You would have both boys and girls fighting for you, I can almost see it." Added Claire with an excited faraway look in her eyes.
Eli shook her head at her antics and ran a hand through her hair. It was indeed a pretty cut.
"And being a girl..." Claire continued. "I thought you would appreciate being able to put your hair up sometimes, that's why I left the back slightly longer. Here I'll show you." She then proceeded to put Eli's hair up into a small bun. Pulling most of her hair away from her face leaving just a small part of her bangs in front falling at each side of Eli's face.
"Look at that hotness," Added Claire with a perverted smile. "This is the bad boy starving artist look I was going for."
Eli raised a brow at her remark. Claire rolled her eyes. "Okay, not a starving artist. Let's go with skater boy? or surf boy?"
Eli let out a laugh at her antics. It has been a while since she laughed like this. Claire was such a bubbly character, and her excitement was contagious. She was a genuinely pleasant person and Eli could tell her complements and expressions were not faked.
Claire on the other hand was once again taken aback by Eli's beauty. She unconsciously placed a hand on her chest as if to protect her straying heart. She had always been comfortable and proud of her age but for the first time in her life, she wished she was ten years younger.
"I'm not kidding, look out the window and see what your face has done," She said pointing to the clear glass panel to the side.
Following Claire's remark, Eli looked to the side glass to see a small crowd.
"Oh my gosh! He looked at me!" Exclaimed a young girl.
"He's so pretty"
"Oh my oh my! Where did this beauty come from"
"What school does he go to?"
"Is he a new Idol?"
"Would it be awkward if we go in and ask?"
Unknown to Eli, while she and Claire had been talking in the store, a small crowd of middle and high school girls had gathered at the side of the store and watched to their fill as they interacted.
Specifically, they are watching Eli.
What was a group of three middle school girls walking home from school and incidentally caught sight of Eli through the clear glass panels, soon turned into a small hoard of teenagers fangirling, some even secretly took photos of Eli to save as their wallpaper and share in their social media. It was not every day they saw such a hottie.
The salon was situated by a major intersection after all, so students who went to school around there would pass by often.
While the younger girls fangirled among themselves, two braver high school girls decided to shoot their shot and walked into the salon. However, it was not as easy as they had assumed.
Seeing Eli from a distance was one thing but being in close proximity was a different matter. Eli's intense presence broke away any illusions they had about getting lucky enough to exchange contacts. They silently came to an agreement that sometimes, beautiful things were better appreciated from afar.
Eli ignored the two teenage girls that just walked in and were giving him googly eyes and focused on Claire who insisted on taking photos of her. She had explained that it was for catalogue, but the look in her eyes made Eli think otherwise.
She choose not to comment on it and allow her to take all the photos she wanted. She felt it was a fair trade, especially since she didn't have to pay for the cut. Claire had refused to take any money from her and had insisted that she had already received payment in the form of inspiration.
Her any request were the pictures. While Eli posed for Claire she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out from her pocket, it was a call from Secretary Kim.
'Finally'
"Are we almost done?"
"Yes, I think I have enough copies," Claire said, with a bit of regret.
Eli nodded, before walking a few paces away to accept Secretary Kim's call.
"Miss Eli?"
"Speaking"
"Good day, Miss Eli, I trust you're well?"
"En" she replied shortly, she could hear the hesitance in his voice. she could tell her contract terms were not taken very favourably.
"Regarding the proposed terms of the contract, I'm afraid some terms need to be discussed."
Eli clicked her tongue. "Let me guess, Chairman Carter did not agree with clauses five and nine."
Secretary Kim paused. He was surprised by her accuracy. "Yes, Miss."
"Send the contract with his proposed conditions to my email. I will take a look at them and get back to you."
"Noted Miss...You will receive it shortly"
Eli waited for Secretary Kim to disconnect the call before walking back to Claire. Her mood was slightly disturbed. Claire seemed to notice this and offered her a piece of candy.
She had noticed Eli munching on lollipops throughout her session. While she felt it was unhealthy, she still wanted to cheer her up. Eli hesitated, before stretching out and receiving the candy. It was vanilla flavoured, not her favourite but she appreciated the thought and ate it anyway. This action brought back memories of her encounter with the pretty man at the graveyard.
"Can we exchange contact?" Claire asked, interrupting her thoughts. Eli shrugged and passed her phone to Claire to add her contact. Claire's eyes lit up as she called herself with Eli's device and saved her name before passing it back.
Claire looked around and smiled at the bustling salon. More students had walked into the store requesting one item or the other in order to get a closer view of Eli.
She looked back to Eli and smiled like she was seeing an angel. "Please feel free to stop by anytime you like. You will get a fifty per cent discount every time you stop by," she added in earnest. If they could gain this much business every time she stopped by, she could continue cutting her hair for free! she thought internally.
Eli smiled but made no comment on that. She said goodbye and walked out of the store. Claire waved enthusiastically as Eli walked away.
Eli could hear the murmured protest amongst the young girls in the store as she walked to the exit. She could hear the shutter sound of cameras going off and the suppressed shrills of young girls as she walked away.
While she didn't approve of her photos being taken without her consent. She did not protest against it and even gave a wink to a group of middle schoolers as she walked by leaving in her wake a group of blushing teenagers.
'It's good to be young' she thought.
Eli walked to the bus stop and sat on the shelter stool. She had resumed her previous task of reviewing the stock market index for various companies. Looking out for potential investment options while she waited for her bus when her phone rang.
She had missed a lot of calls from this very number and had chosen not to return any. Seeing the caller ID once more, a frown marred her face.