Chapter 201: Haircut
Later that evening, Su Peng stood downstairs in front of the apartment building with his hands in his pockets.
He was wearing a white hoodie and jeans. Before leaving, he had even washed his hair and cleaned his face carefully with facial cleanser.
Whenever he went out with An Han, he always tried to look a bit nicer. But since An Han didn’t seem to like guys who were too neat or stylish, he didn’t use any hair gel or spray on cologne.
While waiting, he suddenly thought of the wool gloves he had given to An Han.
Even though they looked ugly, she still wore them happily, which touched him. Still, he couldn’t help but suspect she was just showing off how bad his knitting skills were.
Or maybe, if he thought more positively, she was showing other girls in their class that he was already taken?
Just then, the big iron gate of the apartment opened.
An Han stepped out from the dark, wearing a dress. Her little head poked out cautiously as she looked left and right, and when she saw Su Peng, her face instantly lit up with a bright smile. She hurried toward him.
“This area is too quiet. I don’t even dare to go out alone at night,” she said quickly. “And there are a lot of late-night food stalls nearby. Some people get drunk and start fights. A few days ago, someone was arguing downstairs and woke me up.”
She stopped in front of him, looking up with her bare face, no makeup at all. “How do I look?”
“Pretty good. When did you buy that outfit?” he asked.
She was wearing a plaid short skirt, a loose white padded jacket, and black leggings because of the autumn weather.
Her sense of fashion combined a woman’s aesthetic with her old habits as a guy, which meant she still liked showing off her legs.
“Last week. I can’t always ask Lin Yi to go shopping with me,” she said, sounding a bit uneasy. She touched her face and asked, “Do I look weird without makeup? Like some guy pretending to be a girl?”
Every time she dressed up like this, she worried that her face still showed traces of her former male features, that someone might see her as just a man in women’s clothes.
“You look even better without makeup,” Su Peng said with a small smile.
“Really?”
“Actually, that outfit’s good enough to meet your family,” he teased. “Your little sister would definitely say you’re beautiful.”
“......”
The mention of that memory instantly darkened An Han’s face. She decided to ignore what he said.
The sky was fully dark, but it was only around seven. By the time they took the bus and arrived at the nearby shopping street, the place was at its liveliest.
Most of the students went out around this time, and the whole street was full of people and bright lights.
An Han stayed close to Su Peng, holding onto the corner of his jacket as her bright eyes wandered across the shops and food stalls.
Even though she had gone out dressed as a girl many times before, being in the middle of a crowd still made her feel nervous, like someone might suddenly see through her disguise and realize she used to be a boy.
“What kind of clothes are you planning to buy?” Su Peng asked.
“Long pants, hoodies… something that looks more boyish. I can’t wear this outfit to meet my family,” she said.
“Then why not just wear men’s clothes?” Su Peng frowned a little. “Your family doesn’t allow you to wear skirts or something?”
No, she just didn’t want to scare them by looking too feminine.
So she came up with an excuse. “It’s getting colder soon. Leggings won’t be enough, so I should get a few pairs of long pants.”
Her leggings were the thick, fleece-lined kind, warm enough for ten-degree weather.
Walking close beside Su Peng, she could still catch his faint scent among all the mixed smells of the crowd. That familiar scent slowly eased her nervousness, and she felt lighter and happier with every step.
Her earlobes felt warm, her heartbeat quickened, and a feeling called security quietly filled her heart whenever she got close to Su Peng.
To be honest, An Han doubted if other girls also felt this way just by being near a man. At least she didn’t, not when it came to anyone else.
“There’s a hair salon over there!” An Han stood on tiptoe and pointed to a shop not far away. “I just need a little trim.”
“Yeah, your hair’s kind of messy. Even if you want to grow it long, you still need to trim it sometimes,” Su Peng said.
She ignored his comment and hurried to the salon entrance. Peeking inside, she didn’t see many people waiting, so she relaxed. She really didn’t want to wait an hour just to get a haircut.
Pushing open the glass door, she walked in with Su Peng and said right away before the owner at the counter could ask, “Haircut, just a trim please.”
The owner froze for a moment, then quickly called an apprentice over to wash her hair.
“Just trim a bit. Cut the bangs to eyebrow length, not too short.”
These three lines were what An Han always said at the salon, never missing a single one. She was terrified that the stylist might cut too much.
“How would you like it cut?” the stylist asked.
But this time, as she sat in the chair staring at herself in the mirror, she didn’t know how to answer.
The stylist was still studying her messy hairstyle, seemingly thinking where to start, while An Han herself wasn’t sure if it was still okay to go back to her old style, that slanted layered fringe she used to have.
“Uh… maybe just… trim it a little?” she said uncertainly.
“Okay.”
Hair stylists, much like taxi drivers, were usually very talkative. After snipping a few strands, the stylist started chatting non-stop.
“What school are you from? What’s your major?”
“Hey, do you want to dye your hair too? We have a special, only 190 yuan for dye and perm!”
“……”
An Han kept her mouth shut. If she didn’t reply, the stylist couldn’t talk her into spending more.
Though she did have the urge to dye her hair, she knew her mother would probably force her to dye it back to black in a few days, so she pushed down the thought.
Su Peng sat lazily on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, quietly humming along with the music playing in the salon.
He played with his phone, but his eyes stayed on An Han the whole time.
He wondered how long it would take for her hair to grow down to her waist. Long, straight black hair would definitely look great on her.
Those long legs in leggings weren’t bad either. Too bad her chest was still small…
Although he noticed that her chest seemed to have grown a bit, maybe one size bigger. It was probably around a B-, roughly average for adult Asian women.
After about forty minutes, An Han finally stood up from the chair.
She leaned closer to the mirror, examining her reflection carefully from both sides, her brows furrowed.
Before the cut, her hairstyle was too long and a bit unkempt, more like a lazy guy’s haircut. But now, after the trim, it had become a neat, chin-length bob with softly curled ends, a very feminine style.
It looked pretty good, honestly.
But showing up like this in front of her family… or at school…
Wouldn’t it cause a bit of a stir?
An Han sighed softly and sat back down again. “Cut it shorter… give me something more neutral-looking.”