Dedicated to all those who asked me for a happier story! You know who you are~ Thank you for bearing with my angst fics all this time! XD

A clinking sound of bells and the sound of an opened door woke him up from his daydream. It had been a slow day at his barber shop, the sun was burning even though it was early autumn already and his old air conditioning system hadn’t been working so well for a few months now. The heat and the quiet atmosphere made him so sleepy, but he was glad a customer was coming—perhaps he could spare some money for beer tonight.

“Good afternoon, how can I help you?” he greeted the man who entered his door, his lips forming a professional smile. He started appraising the other man’s appearance—even though he was tall and quite well built, his baggy hoodie and sweatpants and his unshaven face and messy hair under an old beanie gave an impression of a hobo. He sighed, praying that this man was actually a paying customer instead of a drunk homeless man stumbling in.

The said guy stood nervously in front of the door, scratching his neck, not answering. His eyes darted everywhere, looking around the small shop, before finally settled on the owner. He averted his gaze when their eyes met, looking at the white tiled floor instead.

“Hi,” the taller guy finally said timidly.

“Hi. You need a haircut, right?” the barber asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the weird guy’s behavior. He should need a haircut—why else would he enter a barber shop if he did not. He moved away from behind the counter to stand not too far from the guy, crossing his arms. Now that he could see the man more closely, he realized that even though the man’s fashion sense was a mess, his clothes were of good quality and he was clean. Unlike the hobos he usually saw on the streets, the man smelled good too—not that he was sniffing him or anything.

“Haircut? Oh... Yeah,” the man answered with a small voice and nodded. He kept fidgeting as if he was a kid during his first visit to a barber shop—the barber felt pity and wondered if he should give the guy a lollipop like he usually did to the kids who came to his shop. Then he snapped out of it because this guy was taller and probably older than him, and the man could be easily offended if he treated him like a kid.

“Well, sit there then,” the barber pointed to an old and tired, fake leather covered chair in front of a mirror with a long slender finger.

The man obeyed him, walking slowly with his long legs towards the chair—looking uncomfortable all the way.

“I’m Hyesung, by the way,” the barber said as he took the cape from the rack. Manners, manners—if this man was ever going to be his regular then he should know his name at the very least. The man didn’t say anything and Hyesung began to feel a bit irritated by his behavior.

“Take off your beanie please,” he requested to the man who sat stiffly on the chair. He raised his eyebrows, wondering if this man had ever gone to get a haircut before—he looked like a lost puppy, to be very honest. After hearing Hyesung’s words, the man, in reminiscence of an obedient puppy, did what he was asked for. The hair under his hat was thick, a bit long and extremely messy, but it looked soft.

“So, what’s your name and how would you like me to cut your hair?” Hyesung asked. Building a good rapport and understanding customers’ wants is important—that was what his father taught him when he inherited this small shop.

“Eric. And I don’t know,” the weird man answered as Hyesung put the cape on him to cover his clothes.

So his name was Eric. Hyesung wondered why the guy had a western name, perhaps he was not Korean? He wouldn’t be surprised—with those big eyes and tall nose, he looked like he was part foreigner.

“Eric-ssi, eh? Why the western name?” he decided to ask out of curiosity, staring at the man’s reflection on the mirror and mentally deciding the best hairstyle for the man. Because Eric didn’t have any specific hairstyle in his mind, then it would be all up to him to choose one for the customer—and he sincerely wished he’d choose the right one.

“Um. I used to live in America,” Eric answered shortly, looking away when his eyes met with Hyesung’s in the mirror.

So that was the reason. This was also probably why he entered his barber shop instead of the surrounding hair salons in that area. Real men would never go to hair salons anyway—at least that was what his father told him. Although, Hyesung had to admit that hair salon had its merits, it was nice to have somebody washing his hair and massaging his head—not that his father needed to know that.

“I see,” he replied. He was pretty awkward around new people, but this Eric was even worse—it was no wonder at all that the two of them couldn’t carry a proper conversation.

Hyesung cut Eric’s hair without saying anything—neither did the taller man say a word, no objection whatsoever to whatever Hyesung was doing to his hair. Hyesung’s fingers moved nimbly around Eric’s head as Eric solemnly watched at his reflection on the mirror. The sound of scissors snipping the clumps of hair that fell lightly down to the floor and the melody of soft jazz music that was playing on Hyesung’s CD player accompanied them—it was not a completely awkward silence at least, it was a quite comfortable one instead.

“There. Done,” Hyesung said as he admired his own work. Eric only nodded with a blank expression—making Hyesung worried that he was not satisfied with how his hair looked like.

“Um… You don’t like it?” Hyesung asked, looking nervous for the first time that day, biting his thin lips.

“Oh no. No no. It’s not that… It’s just… I look different from the usual,” Eric answered hurriedly, a little panicked seeing Hyesung’s worried expression.

“No wonder. How long had it been since the last time you cut your hair?” Hyesung asked, cringing as he remembered the split ends he found on Eric’s soft strands. Eric’s hair was clean, but it was pretty obvious that he never particularly took care of them.

“I trimmed them by myself when they got too long. But I haven’t cut them this short for years already,” Eric answered promptly.

“Why the sudden change then?” Hyesung couldn’t hold his curiosity—he wondered why, but he thought that this weird guy was interesting.

“Uh… My mother arranged a blind date for me so…” Eric answered, a little bit uncomfortably.

“Oh. I see…Well, do you want me to shave your face too then? Take it as a treat from me as a good luck wish for your upcoming date,” Hyesung smiled—he didn’t offer free service usually… But building good relationship with customer was important, remember?

“Eh? Mmm… Okay then,” Eric replied, smiling at Hyesung for the first time since he entered the shop.

Hyesung tilted Eric’s chair back before putting a hot towel around his face to soften his facial hair—humming some sweet tune along the way. Eric enjoyed his melodious voice, silently thinking that Hyesung’s voice was good enough for him to have a singing career if he wanted to.

“Don’t move, okay?” Hyesung warned after putting shaving cream on his face when Eric looked restless, squirming on his seat.

He took out a razor and held it near Eric’s jaw.

“Once again, don’t move. Or I might just cut your neck,” Hyesung grinned mischievously as Eric tensed, holding his breath, eyeing the sharp razor nervously.

Hyesung’s skillful hand moved carefully on Eric’s skin as the customer tilted his head to give the barber access to his neck and jaw, calculating the distance between the shop and the nearest hospital in his mind just in case the slender man cut his artery or something. But Hyesung was a professional indeed, and he finished his job without any accident at all.

“I’m finished,” Hyesung giggled, patting Eric’s shoulder who still had his eyes closed in anxiety. Now that the man had had his haircut and his face all clean-shaven, he couldn’t help but admiring Eric’s appearance. Hidden beneath all those hair, Eric’s features were attractive indeed—Hyesung especially envied the big dark eyes with deep double eyelids that were covered by his overgrown bangs.

“Thanks,” Eric said, touching his face and feeling the freshly shaven skin.

“Smooth like baby’s skin, right?” Hyesung beamed proudly. He took great pride and satisfaction at his job and Eric found that interesting—especially because Hyesung didn’t look like the normal barber he used to frequent back in the US.

It was probably why Eric was so nervous during the visit, because he entered the shop expecting a fat middle-aged man with receding hairline and protruding belly waiting for him inside. Instead, he found a slender young man—actually, too pretty to be one in his humble opinion, and he was a little bit taken aback. His first thought was that the pretty man was the cashier or receptionist or something similar, but there was nobody else but him inside the shop.

Eric paid the cost of his haircut and argued a little with Hyesung for the cost of the shave—he wanted to pay extra for it, but the barber insisted that he didn’t need to.

“Just come back again, alright?” Hyesung concluded with a smile and a little wink, Eric stared at him with widened eyes and some money sitting untouched on his hand.

“Oh. Um. Okay. Alright. Thanks,” Eric mumbled incoherently, feeling his cheeks getting warmer for no reason at all. He put the money back in his wallet, getting ready to leave.

“Good luck for your date,” Hyesung said—his tone a little bit bitter. Hyesung himself didn’t know why, he thought it was perhaps because he was jealous—he had been single for too long it seemed. He sighed as he rested his cheek on his hand, maybe he should try to find a girlfriend soon, he thought as he stared absentmindedly at Eric’s wide back.

“Um… Hyesung-ssi…” Eric suddenly looked back when he reached the door, calling the barber’s name for the first time since he introduced himself, the taller man looked nervous again.

“Yeah?” Hyesung was intrigued on what the man wanted to say because his business there was basically done.

“I wondered if… Ah no. Never mind. I don’t want to bother you…” he stammered and turned his back once again to leave.

“What is it, Eric-ssi?” Hyesung just couldn’t hold his curiosity against his better judgment.

“Ah no… I was wondering if you could help me shop for clothes. But that’s too much to ask for, isn’t it?” Eric chuckled uneasily, shoulders dropped and head bowed down low like a kid doing something wrong and getting scolded for it.

“I’m a barber not a stylist, you know?” Hyesung replied, getting amused by Eric’s antics.

“Of course! It’s just… I don’t know how to dress up well and… I don’t have many friends here so…” Eric mumbled his reply. He lifted his head up to look at Hyesung with widened pleading eyes—and Hyesung once again thought that the taller man looked like a lost puppy.

Defeated, Hyesung waved his hand, motioning to Eric to come back to the counter. Eric complied, crossing the distance quickly thanks to his long legs.

“Your hand, please,” Hyesung said as he looked below his register, reaching for something from the space below the counter.

Confused and with eyebrows knitted together, Eric extended his right hand, his palm opened.

Smiling kindly, Hyesung put a cola-flavored lollipop, a pen and a piece of paper on Eric’s hand as the man blinked his big eyes, staring at the little present with a slightly opened mouth—reminding Hyesung of the cute kids whom he had given the candies to before.

“Give me your number.”

Eric gave Hyesung a wide and handsome smile and started writing.