Chapter Seven

( Gotham: 00.05 Am)( Uptown, 777 Grant Wood Road)

Driving up to Jayden's shop, Lola couldn't help but have second thoughts about the whole thing.

" Don't worry, it's just under construction right now, trust me this place will be the talk of the town in no time." Jayden said with absolute confidence as he stepped out of the car.

Lola did the same after parking and followed behind.

Jayden grabbed his keys and unlocked the front door of the shop, giving Lola a first sneak peek of the soon-to-be barbershop.

' Looks like he wasn't lying to me, it really is a barber shop, though it's clearly not finished with renovations.'

" Alright Lola, sit in any one of these chairs, I'll be back in a minute, I just need to get my equipment sorted."

Lola nodded before taking a seat in one of the middle chairs. However, the moment she sat down, Lola suddenly got this weird warm sensation in her chest.

Before she was a bit nervous and even reluctant to have this haircut and just thought of cutting it herself at home. But now for some odd reason, she felt a bit more relaxed.

She also noticed how soft the chairs were and could honestly have fallen asleep at any moment.

Though a few moments later Jayden returned with a bag of equipment you would typically see at a barber shop.

But Lola had a keen eye and noticed that all the equipment Jayden was taking out and placing on the table was all high quality.

" Alright I've got everything prepared, I'm not missing anything am I...nope I should be good to go. Alright, you ready Lola because I'm about to give you the haircut of your life."

" Doubtful, but anything is better than this mess." She said, not so enthusiastic. And even if he just shaved it all she wouldn't really care. It was already ruined and she didn't think Jayden could salvage it.

" Don't worry I know by the end of it you'll become one of my loyal customers." Jayden said while spinning a pair of Scissors on his index finger.

Jayden immediately started his process by turning Lola away from the mirror and towards himself.

Suddenly Jayden's onyx-coloured pupils glowed a faint blue and through Jayden's eyes, the image of Lola who had messed up hair changed to that of one with clean silky smooth hair, cut to her shoulders and with volume and a certain wavy bang pattern.

Lola hadn't noticed the glow coming from Jayden's eyes because it was invisible to everyone else besides himself.

This special vision was one of the seven gifts he received from Ariel. His first gift was several gifts wrapped into one. A gift he's named "Hair Armada".

With this gift, he's been given a few cool abilities.

Molecular hair manipulation: The ability to manipulate the molecules of hair, allowing Jayden to change the texture, thickness, and colour of hair with ease.

Hair transmutation: The power to turn hair into other materials, allowing Jayden to create accessories or even weapons out of his or his client's hair.

Sound manipulation: The ability to manipulate sound waves, allowing Jayden to use sound to style and shape hair.

Memory manipulation: The power to manipulate memories, allowing Jayden to create the perfect haircut based on his clients' past experiences and preferences.

Hair-based illusions: The power to create realistic illusions using hair, allowing Jayden to create false appearances and distract possible enemies.

These are all the uses he had discovered thus far for his Hairs Armada but he knows there are one or two more he may have not found as of today.

And the gift he was using now was Memory manipulation. The power may have sounded invasive but Jayden dident receive any private memories, he only received an image of what the client most wanted or preferred.

And once seeing the vision Jayden got straight to work. His first step was washing her hair with a special Shampoo his uncle Jamie had taught him how to make.

He moved the chair back and close to the miniature hair basin. He then wet her hair before applying three different shampoos, and in a matter of minutes, all the gunk stuck to Lola's hair was almost all gone.

Meanwhile, Lola was having the time of her life, the massage Jayden was applying to her scalp was absolute heaven.

I had almost forgotten to mention but in the two years that Jayden had awakened his past memories, he wasn't just lazing around but had actually joined a massage course and passed with flying colours.

After washing Lola's hair thoroughly he gave her head a little pat down before grabbing his Scissors and starting the first cut.

He had already parted her hair into sections and would be working from there and making his way across to each section.

" So, you work at a strip club, what's that like." Jayden suddenly asked catching Lola a bit off guard.

" Well, the amount of money I receive is good and most of the time the girls there are sweethearts...but like you probably already know sometimes things get out of hand, especially with unruly guests."

" I could only imagine, what got you in that type of job, if you don't mind me asking."

" I was doing a solid for a friend to cover for her, though, by the end of the shift I was offered a job by the manager, it wasn't the first strip club I had worked in so I wasn't unfamiliar with the environment.

Plus I had nothing else going on so I thought, why not." She said remembering some things she would rather forget, but she found something extremely odd.

She was the type of person to mostly keep to herself and not make friends, and if they were friends they had at least known each other for a long time.

But for some reason, she just felt comfortable being in Jayden's presence, she didn't know how to describe it but the moment she entered the shop she felt like she could finally breathe for the first time in a long time.

" What about you, you're pretty young to be an owner of a barber shop aren't you, plus I haven't seen any photos of your family anywhere"

" Yep, I'm all by my lonesome, no one to cuddle at night with and no one to read me bedtime stories." Jayden joked as he grabbed a different pair of Scissors to start cutting her ends.

" An Orphan huh, looks like we have more in common than I thought." Lola said surprising Jayden.

" You, you're an Orphan too, that's cool...wait no thats not cool... I meant...you know what just ignore what I just said before."

" Haha! Don't worry I know what you meant to mean. Yeah, I'm just like you, it was around my fith birthday actually, one day there and the next they're not."

" Though it wasn't all bad, at least I had a really good friend that stuck by me through it all, I owe a lot to her actually." Lola mused while remembering that she had forgotten to tell that certain friend that she would be late tonight.

The conversation flowed easily between them, and Lola found herself feeling more and more comfortable. Jayden was funny and charming, and he seemed genuinely interested in everything she had to say.

The two continued to converse and in a blink of an eye two hours quickly passed by and Jayden was just finishing up the last touches of Lola's new look.

" And perfect...wait no let's change this a bit...alright, now it's perfect. You ready to see your new look." Jayden asked in an excited tone of voice.

" As ready as I'll ever be." Jayden nodded before spinning her around to the mirror on the wall.

"..."

Lola was silent, her facial features didn't even have an ounce of excitement or even disappointment.

Jayden was starting to get worried, did she not like her new haircut?

Jayden was about to ask her if she wanted him to change it but as he was his words were caught at the back of his throat.

The reason was the tears rolling down Lola's cheeks.

Lola was petrified, the moment she saw her new look she saw the spitting image of her mother.

She remembered it so vividly, how could she ever forget, this hairstyle was the same one her mother used to have before she lost her and became an Orphan.

She had been to salons in the past to try and recreate the look her mother had, but no matter where she went they just couldn't do what she hoped for.

But now, she had finally gotten the thing she had wished for the most in the world. She touched her hair and gasped, it felt like she was tugging on her mother's hair.

Lola finally turned to Jayden and for the first time in a long time she smiled." It's perfect Jayden, it's absolutely perfect."

Jaydens heart skipped a beat. The smile he was trying to hold back couldn't be stopped and with a silly grin of his own, he replied.

" You know it, I told you it would be the best haircut of your life." This was it, this was the feeling he cherished the most when he first thought of this dream.

Jayden didn't want to cut hair just for the hell of it, No!

He wanted to change lives for the better, just like his Uncle Jamie.

Lola had been his first unofficial customer, but her reaction had completely resolved Jayden to complete his dream no matter what, and he wouldn't stop until he took his final breath.

...

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