Not the Perfect Scenario? by SGwriter

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*Ding Ding* the bell goes as Arjun decided to alight the bus stop as he sees the barbershop from afar. As he alight the bus, he was met with the scorching heat illuminated on him and his thick, slightly curly luscious hair. Months went into planning this haircut trip.

He had been taking this bus back home for years now, screening the various shops along the blocks always waiting for the scene at the barbershop. An middle-age man who certainly comes off as a barber was always seen caping customers with a myriad colored ones, buzzing his clients with clippers and snipping their hair with scissors. Arjun's eyes was always peeled open whenever passing by the shop even though the adjacent panel to the door was tinted. Due to the location of the shop being at the end of a row of shops, there were very few customers from observing the clear door which shows the empty bench. Arjun was intrigued and had been creating fake scenarios in his head of how to approach the barber for a haircut. After months of planning, it was time. The scenario he wanted to play out was, being the only one at the shop, have a trim first and then to have the barber cut it even shorter or follow his a
suggestion. In his mind, he wanted a slight trim and the next haircut to be just a taper, he did not really wanted any drastic changes to his semi long hair which sits just above the collar, overgrown sideburns and his thick curly top which he always kept it swept to the left.

The perfect scenario was laid out. Arjun started rehearsing what he wanted to say to the barber as his heart started racing with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. As he was walking towards the shop, he noticed the barber sitting alone outside the bench scrolling through his phone. As he reached the shop, the anxiety got the worst of him and he forgot what he wanted to say. The barber looked up and asked "Cut hair?", Arjun in that stunned state could only nod and entered the shop, with the barber following behind.

As he entered the shop, he was greeted with two black leather chars facing its own individual mirror. A neat arrangement of colorful clippers with various sizes and attachement, followed by different scissors and lastly a set of foil shavers.

The barber tapped Arjun's shoulder motioning him to take a seat. Arjun sat and was face to face himself. Sweat dripped from the left side of his face with his curly hair being all over the place. The barber started tucking in a cloth into Arjun's tshirt collar while playfully caressing his back hair. He then took a large black and blue patterned cape and drape it over him and tightening on his neck. Arjun was brought back from his stunned state and missed the moment to embrace the wholr experience. The barber then started brushing his hair with his bare hands and asked, "How short u wan cut boy? Botak? Or Crewcut?". Arjun was taken aback by the extreme short haircut suggestions.
It had his mind going on whether he should go ahead with the scenario he played out in his head or opt for the barber's suggestion. After murming, Arjun decided to just get a slight trim. The barber started parting his hair with shorts sprays of water and clipping the sides with hair clips. Arjun nervously stares at the mirror awaiting for the haircut to start. The barber started leveling the chair and took a stool and sat beside Arjun.

The dead silence of the air conditioned barbershop was brought to an abrupt when the barber lifted the sides of Arjun's hair and *Snip* *Snip* *Snip*, clumps of hair started cascading down the cape. The barber focused on the sides for quite awhile, steadily trimming away his hair.

Arjun who was watching his thick hair being snipped off was in a state of confusion. "This is what I wanted, the perfect scenario, but why I am unsatisfied?". The suggestion of a "Crewcut" made him contemplate his decision. As the barber moves his stool to the back of the chair, Arjun in a meekly manner asked "Will crewcut suit my face?". The barber conversing with him through the mirror stated "You want to cut crewcut?, I will make sure it will suit your face". The slight convincing let Arjun to asking for a crewcut. The barber smiled as he placed his scissors on the table and started preparing the clippers.

He glanced at Arjun's nervous expression and told him to not to worry and just close his eyes. Arjun reluctantly agreed and closed his eyes. The barber placed his hands on Arjun's head and brought the clippers to life. The screeching sounds of the clippers made Arjun flinch but he was held in placed by the strong grip the barber had on his head.

The barber started buzzing of the sides of his hair. The cold clippers started shaving his trimmed sides to an inch. Continous buzzing of the sides made the clipper warmer and warmer while the hair started gently falling down onto the cape. After what seems like an eternity, the sides were totally buzzed off, before Arjun could take a peek, the barber leaned his head forward and started buzzing the back of his head. Arjun could feel the clipper going all the way to the top. Feeling a difference in weight of his head, he decided to take a peek but was unable to. However he was met with the pile of hair sitting like a stagnant pond on the base of the cape. He could see various types of hairs being displayed; his long curlys, tiny hair bits and hair strands clumped together.

Soon the barber placed his index fingers on the sides of Arjun's head to lift it up. Arjun came face to face with himself and lump started forming at his throat as he did not expect such an extreme change. His sides were drastically reduced to an inch and the back formed a sloped at a shorter length. The perfect image was foiled by the sight of his overgrown top. The barber took the scissors and started snipping to intiated the start of Round 2. He started combing his hair up through his fingers and *Snip*. Loud snips started filling the room and Arjun instinctively closed his eyes as he felt the long strands of hair falling onto his face and cape. After a few minutes, the snipping stops. Arjun open his eyes to see an once curly top reduced to a shorter stubble. The barber started brushing his hair of his face and the cape of the shoulder. He then took the foil shaver to cleanup his sideburns and back. Arjun was accepting his new short hair look convincing himself that it looked alright. The barber started styling his hair which made him more convinced as he looked smart.

Arjun left the barbershop after paying and exchanging pleasantries. He started rubbing his entire head thinking whether the perfect scenario came into play. He was the only one getting a haircut, got a trim and then a suggested haircut by the Barber. Even though he did not expect he to suggest an extreme haircut. Arjun laughed thinking about the scenario and this sparked his interest in coming up with another scenario.

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