Chapter 510 - Stalker (9)

"I'm sure there was a limit written in how much you could cut no matter how many mistakes you made," Luke's patience was on the edge of snapping.

The staff were tortured under everyone who came with me to the salon. Luke especially wanted everything to be perfect, not hesitating to show his disapproval when they were slightly less than a millimetre off. I sighed, finding the experience to be more stressful than enjoyable. I didn't have a choice in how I wanted to appear anyways. I felt suffocated when they started bringing more tools in, carefully measuring everything.

"Can we just leave?" I felt like I would end up spending the entire day here.

"Maybe we should go to another place," Lucius agreed.

"They're making mistakes with everything," Charles frowned.

"We should reserve a place mother used once," Alex suggested.

"Please. We're almost finished. Please give us another chance," the worker was about to cry.

"Let's leave Rika," Luke didn't want to give them another chance.

After Lucius made a reservation at another salon, he paid for everything, feeling extremely unsatisfied. Inside the hover car, Luke began to study me to note all the mistakes the staff made in the previous salon. None of the staff knew his extreme strong attention to detail, being picky in how everything was done. With his relative, brother and cousin who helped him in pointing out the mistakes, it made everything seem worse than it actually was.

When I held my hair, there was bȧrėly any difference before I came to the salon. At most, they cut one centimeter more of my hair to make them even with the rest. The new set of staff were frozen from Alex complaining about how they had to leave their competitor. Lucius passed them the pages of notes, close to a hundred, pointing out all the faults so they wouldn't make the same mistake.

"You can come this way," the worker's voice slightly wobbled while escorting me.

I wasn't surprised when they brought all their available staff, bringing all the tools they had with them. Carefully measuring everything, the workers made sure to triple check all the details between themselves. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, I wondered if we really needed to pressure the staff this much.

"The angle is one eighth of a millimetre off," Luke didn't hesitate to point out.

"They also cut half a millimetre more in one strand," Charles enjoyed helping Luke.

"The temperature is also too hot by half a degree," Alex noticed the water my feet were placed inside.

I knew this was starting to turn into a game between them, competing to find the most mistakes. Lucius was keeping a record of the points, writing everything down. The owner of the salon appeared increasingly more nervous, hoping we wouldn't leave this place like the previous one. I never wanted to visit another salon again, my illusions of it shattered.

"Please hand me the tools," Luke wanted to cut my hair himself.

The workers reluctantly gave him all the tools. Within a few minutes, Luke managed to finish cutting my hair the exact way he wanted. I wondered why he couldn't do this from the start, finding his tastes to be very exquisite. Every strand of hair mattered, the precise angles for each of them to turn into pretty twirls towards the end. The staff couldn't but admire the end result, acknowledging the skills he possessed. He only cut half a millimetre more, trying to minimize how much was cut.

"Can you do the rest by yourselves?" He finished the part they were struggling the most in.

"We can," a worker blurted.

I was struggling to maintain my posture as they began to move on applying the skincare brands onto me. When Alex noticed my skin slightly getting pink, he stopped them, "my cousin's skin is very sėnsɨtɨvė. The pressure you're applying them to is too strong while the temperature is off by a quarter of a degree."

"Even I can do better than that," Charles mocked them.

A worker actually got the courage to pass the skincare brands to Charles after adjusting the temperature. Surprisingly, Charles started to apply them on me, doing a better job than the staff. I melted under his smooth fingers, perfectly massaging everything. The irritation on my skin disappeared, showing how careless the staff were.

"Can you do anything by yourselves?" Alex was disappointed in them.

"The only things remaining are the packs, nails and feet," the workers found them to be easier.

Placing the packs on my legs, I slightly shivered when it was a bit too cold. Alex immediately removed them from me and chanted a spell to adjust the temperature before he reapplied them at better places. I could tell he just wanted the entire process over with, not waiting for the staff to fix their mistakes. Luke cancelled the order on doing my nails, using their products to fix everything on his own.

After he quickly dried my feet, placing some lotion as the finishing touches, Lucius knew it was the signal to pay. It looked like none of them would visit another salon again, wondering why people visited these places. Looking at my reflection, I didn't think my appearance could become more stunning than what it originally was. I was glowing everywhere, even without any excessive mana leaking out.

"Can't we just buy all those products and tools rather than going to these places again?" I didn't want to suffer again.

"That's what we did during our time there," Lucius thought one step ahead of me.