#16 The Hair Stylist

Lily's eyes were filled with tears when I came back. She was sobbing in her pillow while Kate kept telling her I would be fine.

"I'm back."

"Amanda?" Lily ran to the door as soon as I entered. She hugged me tighter than Mia did before I even had a chance to settle down.

When I was finally able to breathe, I placed my bag at my table and went to take a shower. I changed into my pajamas since it was already near bedtime. Lily and Kate sat beside me on my bed, waiting for my explanation for coming back late.

I didn't want to tell them everything because we're not that close yet, and I don't even know if I'll stay here until graduation.

"I... went to visit my grandmother."

I was so glad that they believed me. I didn't want to make up a lie and ended up being found out in the future.

"Anyway, I'm just glad nothing serious happened. Hope your grandmother is fine."

Kate gave me a pat on the back and told me I could head to bed first.

I actually don't mind sleeping with the lights on but they insisted on turning it off. So they used their own table lights.

'My assignments… Never mind that, there's no class for that tomorrow.'

I was so worried about grandma that I couldn't sleep the whole night so I went to drink a cup of water and went back to bed. Another reason I couldn't sleep was because I couldn't get used to the blanket and the bed. I usually sleep in a larger-sized bed with a thick blanket to wrap myself in.

I turned on my table light to do some homework. I tried to flip the pages softly so that the others won't be woken up but it seems like Carmen heard me.

"Miss Asia? What are you up to so late at night?"

She was the person I least expected to wake up since she was always on her headphones, but that wasn't the case. She seemed to care about me a lot more than I expected.

"It's cold at night you should sleep."

"Ah, I'm fine. I can't sleep so I thought of doing some homework."

Carmen nodded her head and advised me to head to bed as soon as possible. As I was doing my History assignment, I dozed off unconsciously.

The next morning, I woke up to see myself lying on my table with my History assignment. 'Did I end up sleeping here last night? And with History at that…

I went to the bathroom and took a shower before my roommates woke up. They were still snoring soundly in their beds.

"Amanda? You're up early." Lily woke up after I was done showering.

"I've gotten used to it since I was at home. It's my usual time." I said while looking for my hair tie and tied a ponytail. Lily was looking at me and suddenly stood up from her bed.

"Aren't you bored with the same hairstyle everyday?" Lily went to her table to grab some hair accessories. She came to me and removed my hair tie off, which resulted in a free hair look.

She told me to sit on a chair while she combed my hair. "I've gotten bored of seeing you having the same hairstyle every time I see you at school."

Oh? I've never seen her in school before and yet she has seen me so many times already.

She took a navy blue colored hair tie which matched my school attire and kneaded a neat braided hair for me. It did not take long until she was done styling my hair.

I went to look at myself in the mirror and was amused by her skills. I feel refreshed with a new hairstyle since I usually go with a ponytail or a bun.

Lily took a hair spray to spray my hair so it won't get messy. I had to admit that it felt like a hair designer instead of a student who was doing this for me.

"Thank you, Lily."

"Don't mention it."

"What do your parents do?" I was quite curious about her family background that made her so talented.

"You must be asking that because of my talent right?" I was surprised she knew even without me asking. "People often ask me that whenever I style their hair. Oh good morning, Kate." Kate went to the bathroom as soon as she woke up. "Make sure Carmen is awake once I'm done."

Both of us looked at Carmen and thought of the same thing, "she probably won't wake up anytime now in this state." She was sleeping so soundly and her hair was all over her face.

"Anyway, back to the topic. I grew up in a designer family and my parents are both hair stylists. This hairstyle you have right now is often requested by the customers. They said it gives off a fresh vibe."

We seldom have normal people as hairstylists in this city, so I was surprised when I heard that. This kind of job is usually done by those big families. Come to think of it, I think I heard about the Burke clan somewhere before.

"Lily, are you engaged?" Only big families get to engage in a young age so this should be enough to confirm.

"Me? Haha, nope. Why ask that all of a sudden?"

"Ah, nothing. I just thought I heard about the burke clan from some family gatherings before so I was wondering if you're one of those big families." Seems like I was wrong but just when I was about to forget it, she placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me so hard that my neck could break.

"Amanda knows about the big families?!" Her eyes were opened so wide that it looked like it would pop out. Kate Just came out from the bathroom and overheard our conversation.

"Kate, did you know that?"

"Well, yeah...? I knew it ever since we heard her name."

"I knew I heard Asia somewhere before!" Lily went to Carmen's bed to wake her up. "Carmen! Wake up before your headphones get taken away!"

To my surprise, Carmen woke up instantly and yelled, "no, not my headphones!" Everyone went silent when we heard that. It was the first time we've ever heard her voice so loud and clear.

"Pfft. Not with that look." Kate chuckled at her messy bedhead that was covering her eyes. "Dress yourself up now. We're going to be late for school."

I checked my phone while waiting and realized Eric texted me an hour ago.

"Where are you?"

Below his message was Mia's. I had no idea she wasted her time spamming me while my phone was on silent.

"Amanda where are you?"

"Our class needs to reach an hour earlier today, don't you remember?"

"Amanda?"

"Are you still asleep?"

"Girls, sorry but I have to leave first. I've totally forgotten that our teacher told us to reach an hour earlier." I left as soon as I told Lily and Kate.