"No! No way!"
Landon and the hairdresser exclaimed in unison, echoing throughout the salon.
*
*
After dropping Jun off at the gym, Landon took Yohan straight to the salon. His regular hairdresser, Lee, looked at Yohan with sparkle eyes as she circled around him admiringly.
"With a face like this, any hairstyle would suit him." She praised enthusiastically as she touched Yohan's fine locks of hair.
Landon nodded enthusiastically as if he was being praised instead of Yohan.
Finally seated in the chair, Lee touched Yohan's hair while looking at him through the mirror. "So what kind of hairstyle do you want?" she asked.
Without an idea in mind initially,Yohan picked up a catalog book featuring men's hairstyles in front of him before opening each page thoughtfully. Suddenly excitedly pointing at one picture he said,
"How about this one?"
Lee and Landon both widened their eyes incredulously when they saw which picture it was, a male model with a nearly bald look, featuring a buzz cut.
"No! No way!"
Although it was Yohan's decision, both quickly rejected the option as it wouldn't suit Yohan at all. They couldn't imagine Yohan with such short hair, he was like a cute puppy who needed to keep his fluffiness intact.
"Do you really want to cut your hair like this, Yohan?" Landon asked incredulously, imagining what his friend would look like after such an extreme change.
Yohan lowered his voice and whispered to Landon, "I just thought I should look different so my uncle wouldn't recognize me. Isn't that a good idea?"
Landon placed his hand on Yohan's shoulder, trying to steer his friend away from his ignorant idea.
"Yohan, changing your hair color or getting a perm can also drastically alter your appearance" Landon spoke seriously as he looked into Yohan's eyes.
"Oh... well then, how about I do both? Dye and perm my hair?" Yohan considered for a moment before deciding that was the way to go. Landon breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that his friend wouldn't be going bald after all.
"Your long black hair is such a striking feature, especially since it's so beautiful. If you change its color and shorten it, even Jun won't recognize you!" Landon added quickly with enthusiasm, agreeing to anything just as long as they avoided drastic changes like buzzing it all off.
After discussing what color and hairstyle they wanted with Lee, she informed them that it would take two weeks to do both processes, it couldn't be done all at once. Yohan ultimately decided to go with a gray dye but forgo the perm, instead opting for a fresh new haircut, cutting his almost chest-length hair.
Lee began working her magic on Yohan's hair while Landon waited patiently at the salon. But after an hour of waiting, he grew bored and decided to grab some snacks and drinks from nearby stores. Landon returned with several plastic bags filled with goodies while sipping a cold lemonade. When he saw Yohan's transformation, his eyes widened in amazement.
Yohan's once ink-black hair had turned silver-gray, it was quite a stark contrast between his old look and his new one. Additionally, his once chest-length hair now fell just below his ears, making him look more youthful and vibrant.
"Wow! You look great!" exclaimed Landon as he gave Yohan an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"Really? That's good. But do I look very different from before?" Yohan asked, peering at his reflection in the mirror. At first glance, he almost didn't recognize himself.
Landon nodded in agreement and flashed a grin that exposed his sharp fangs. "You look different, but in a good way." Landon remarked. "Unless someone knows you well, they won't even realize it's you."
As they quickly paid for their services and bid farewell to Lee, Landon became increasingly excited about their next destination, the mall.
Once inside the shopping center, Yohan found himself being dragged from one shop to another by an exuberant Landon who seemed intent on purchasing every fashionable item within sight. As shopping bags began to pile up with clothes and shoes galore, Yohan started feeling overwhelmed.
Tugging gently on the hem of Landon's shirt, Yohan tried to convey his exhaustion.
"Landon, I think this is enough..."
However, Landon was not quite ready to give up yet and he led Yohan into an optical.
"Alright, this is our last stop." Landon announced with a smirk. "Don't you want to be even more unrecognizable?"
Yohan couldn't help but feel even more overwhelmed as he sifted through the various pairs of glasses in search of something that suited him, they all looked so similar!
"Aren't you going to buy contact lenses, Yohan? Changing your eye color and wearing glasses is a great disguise, right?" Landon asked as he tried on different pairs of glasses in front of the mirror.
Yohan hesitated for a moment when he thought about putting something foreign onto his eyeballs but ultimately decided to go ahead with it. He wanted to live his second chance at life like any other person would, trying things he had never done before. With that in mind, he nodded in agreement.
He chose dark gray-colored contact lenses as an attempt to hide his striking black eyes. When trying to put them on, Yohan reflexively shied away as Landon helped him, causing Landon to giggle. Once they were in place, Yohan looked noticeably different, combined with his new glasses frames, their efforts had paid off handsomely. The two were pleased with everything they had accomplished so far, buying several pairs of glasses and extra contacts as backups.
Finally leaving the mall behind, they drove towards a photo studio for Yohan's ID card. As they finishing the photo shoot, Landon drove them back to their apartment.
"Your ID card should be ready soon" Landon said with a smile as he navigated the car through the rainy streets. Yohan smiled in return, looking out of the window at the gray sky that was starting to rain heavily.
He felt a sense of sadness as he watched the raindrops pelt against the glass. On his previous life's last day, it had rained just like this, almost like nature itself was acknowledging his departure from this world.
As Yohan still watched the raindrops patter against the window, old memories resurfaced, memories of his uncle and aunt making him kneel in the backyard for their own entertainment on rainy days.
Are they thinking about me now too?
He wondered aloud, feeling a sense of distance from that life as if it was all just a distant memory. It had only been five days since he ran away from that house, surely his uncle must have mobilized many people to search for him by now.
But this time instead of fear, there was an odd sense of amusement and satisfaction bubbling within him. He imagined their faces as they followed the false trail laid out by Landon, leading them far away from where Yohan actually was.
A small smile crept onto his face, brightening up even amidst the grayness brought upon by the falling rain outside. This time, as he looked out at the falling rain, it didn't fill him with dread or despair but rather sparked joy within his heart. The grey skies above seemed somehow brighter now thanks to his newfound contentment.