H*H*H*H

The clock chimed the ninth hour of her now pointless Friday night as Hyuna sat at the shop’s front desk. The boredom exuded from her like a scent, but it quickly dissipated as the bell above the front door signaled to her that the man had finally arrived. As the tall figure walked through the door, Hyuna wondered if her breath stopped for all she could think about was how handsome the man approaching the desk was. No one has ever been more right about what career path they have chosen than this man with modeling, she thought, as her lips tugged up into a smile. She waved from behind the desk as he approached her.

“Welcome,” She started, handing him a clipboard. “You can sign yourself in with this, hi I’m Hyuna.” Her eyes crinkled as she smiled.

He was dressed in business attire, of which Hyuna was certain cost more than her monthly paycheck. He leaned down over the counter to sign the clipboard and smirked to himself as he nodded towards Hyuna. “You want my autograph already?” He questioned jokingly, his eyes looking up to meet Hyuna’s. With only a foot between them, she smiled. Cocky yet cute, she thought, what a deadly concoction.

“If you’ll be so kind, of course.” She stepped from behind the desk and placed the clipboard down on the counter. Motioning the young man to follow her, Hyuna led him into the more private room of the shop. It was for Gramps’ favorite clients, though he hated to say he had favorites. He wanted to spend his time catching up with them, and thought it more pleasant to keep the conversation private and personal, rather than out in front of the rest of the customers like some girls gossiping on the schoolyard.

“This room is quaint.” The man acknowledged as he sat in the salon chair. Hyun draped the black apron over the man and smiled politely at him. As she grabbed the shaving cream, she pressed the man.

“So you’re a model my grandfather told me, yet you came here for a shaving, why?” She asked, leaning over the man as she softly began to spread the cream alongside his cheeks and neck. She felt like she was painting a masterpiece, or, well, that she was covering one up. Hyuna turned and reached for the blade, quietly awaiting the man’s answer. She was curious, mostly because she knew that there was not enough noteworthy talent at this barbershop to even be recognized by a model like this one.

“I am.” The young man chuckled as if to assure her. As Hyuna began to shave over the cream, the model attempted to continue his story. “I was in this neighborhood several times for smaller shoots, but I never stopped in for a shave or a haircut.” Hyuna ignored his movements but noticed that the young man had freed his arm from under his apron. “To be honest, Miss Hyuna, I passed by this place several times over the past three months, and every time I would see you shaving some man, or sweeping up some forgotten hair.”

Hyuna’s attention redirected from the blade to the man’s eyes. He was watching her with an intensity she hadn’t noticed earlier, but, as she focused on his expression, felt like she had possibly noticed and had just chosen to ignore it—to enjoy it.

“I’m not sure I—” She held her breath as she felt the young model’s free hand lustfully grace the back of her upper thigh. His fingers were so close to the underside of her skirt that Hyuna feared that he might be able to feel the heat of her she now desperately tried to hide. This was not the type of excitement she had been searching for these past few weeks. This was nothing more than danger.

Hyuna jumped back from the seated man and dropped the blade. As it clanked to the floor, the man quickly sat up in his chair. “I came for you of course not this stupid mom and pop shop.” He laughed to himself and stood up from the salon chair. Ripping the apron from his neck, he tossed it aside to the corner of the small room. “I didn’t think your old man would be stupid enough to let me get in after hours, but, now that I’ve come this far, how about we put this quaint room to use, eh?”

He thought I brought him in here for privacy, Hyuna realized as she carefully took a step back from the man. He likes a woman’s touch when getting a shave, she thought, as she felt her back bump against the counter. With every step she had taken back, the man only mimicked as he grew closer and closer to Hyuna. Why can’t I help believing that he likes a woman’s touch for more than when it comes to shaving? As she thought to herself, Hyuna glanced down at the man’s crotch. She feared the worst had finally come.

As if taking her glance as an invitation, the man lunged towards the redhead, slamming her against the counter and mirror. She had nowhere to run as he attempted to hold her arms down and still undress her. Pleading with him, Hyuna screamed and thrashed under his weight, and, fearing that he was beginning to figure out how to shut her up, she pushed.

It was then she corrected herself and noted that the worst had finally come.

She watched as the man stumbled back, and tripped over himself. Hyuna watched as his head hit the edge of the counter, and as his body went limp after sprawling out on the shop’s floor. Hesitantly, Hyuna knelt down to feel the man’s pulse, as if the puddle of blood beginning to form around the model was not enough to signal to her that he wasn’t going to independently be getting off the floor.

She screamed.

She curled up into a ball.

She did her best to shake the man.

She stripped off a layer and did her best to mop up the bloody puddle that was beginning to cover the entire floor of the small room.

Nothing, though, was working for her.

H*H*H*H

Ignoring the cool spring air as it hit her skin, Hyuna slammed the shop’s door behind her. She tried not to wonder if that would be the last time she heard that stupid bell above the door chime. She ran, she stopped, she panicked, and she panted. Each step she ran felt tight to her as if her limbs couldn’t handle the sudden exercise. She knew it was all due to the drying blood that was beginning to crack as it formed its own layer over her skin. She looked diseased with the splotches of dark red mixing with her tan.

Pausing in the middle of intersecting alleyways, Hyuna ran her hands over her face frantically questioning herself about what she needed to do or who she needed to see in the next few minutes to help bring her life back to the boring and trivial peace it was at just hours before. Without any ideas, though, she thought it best to just keep running.

It was then, as she ran out into the backroads, that her night changed.

It started with Hyuna becoming a deer in headlights.