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The Manicurist Belladonna [Author's Note: Partially based on a idea from Lois D'Nominator] Sidney Willard eyed up the bus as it started pulling over to the side of the road. He clutched the brown paper bag in his hands while he shook his head and muttered, "This is so unfair." Sidney was happy that he was standing alone by the roadside since he did not want anyone to get a good look at him. He had never ridden the bus before in his life, feeling that it was fit only for derelicts and illegal immigrants. Still, Sidney considered the bus the best of his limited options at that moment. The idea of having a driver or cabbie drop him off to work at a salon was too much for him to handle. He was sure that even if they kept their mouths shut, they would still be snickering about the grown man carrying his brown-bagged lunch to work at a salon. The bus came to a screeching halt before the doors opened up. After Sidney stepped into the bus and ascended the steps, he paid his fare and took a seat. As he glanced around at the scattered people dispersed throughout the bus, Sidney thought, 'I have to be the only one on this bus that speaks English.' Sidney felt like an alien in the vehicle, knowing how out of place he looked in his designer pants and shirt. The only thing he had that resembled anything else that any person on the bus was toting was his disposable brown lunch bag. As the bus began to pull away from the curb, Sidney's thoughts drifted back to the last time he entered the salon. The events of the day had consumed him for months as the ramifications became clear. Sidney had entered the salon that day the master of his dominion. Sidney was living the high life off a trust fund, just like his various cousins who had also inherited access to a fortune from their grandfather. He never thought much about the source of his wealth or the details surrounding it. He only cared about the large checks that were deposited in his account each month. Sidney felt that with his great wealth came great privilege. He enjoyed using his wealth to get away with petty crimes when he was caught, but it was the rush of the occasional unscathed escape that kept driving him to keep taking the risk. When Sidney walked into the salon for the first time, he smirked at the women getting their hair done. Most were wives of men like him. He was sure that each had married their respective husbands for their bank accounts so that they would be pampered in high-end salons by those that would cater to their every need. Sidney made no attempt to please them though as he entered for his appointment. He sat down with a stylist he had never met before. He scrutinized her every snip and cut until she finished and the time to pay came. Sidney vehemently refused to pay for his haircut, loudly decrying it and cursing the stunned stylist before he loudly rushed out the door and fled the scene in his car as the owner berated him and followed him out the door. Sidney assumed that he had gotten away with it as he fled the scene at a high rate of speed, excited by the rush he got from his misdeed. Nothing happened for a few days, so Sidney let the events of the day drift of his mind. Sidney's belief that he had escaped unscathed yet again crumbled when he opened the door to his home and stared eye to eye with a police officer. Sidney responded to the man's presence by talking down to the officer and noting that he should have better things to do than pursue the claims of the salon. The officer did not care for Sidney's attitude, so he made a show of handcuffing him after showing Sidney the arrest warrant. Still, even as the squad car drove him towards the police station, Sidney was sure that he was going to get away with it. That certainty evaporated as he was shown the video surveillance from the shop as well as multiple videos taken by staff and patrons of his staged melt down and high-speed escape at the end of the haircut. Despite the evidence, Sidney kept his mouth shut until his attorney arrived, as he long had been trained to do. Sidney's attorney reviewed the evidence and counseled Sidney to pay the money he owed. Sidney was more than willing to make good on the payment, but the police advised that it was not good enough to get the charges dropped. Sidney's face fell as he asked, "What does the salon want?" "The salon wants to press the charges." "Can I speak with them?" The officer did not respond to Sidney's question, but continued questioning Sidney instead. Once he finished, Sidney was arraigned and released on his own recognizance. As he made his way to his attorney's car, Sidney looked at the older man and said, "Can you believe this shit?" Once the attorney stepped into the car, he turned to Sidney and said, "Yes, I can!" "What's your problem?" "My problem? It isn't my problem. It's your problem, Sid." "What do you think I'm paying you for?" Sidney retorted. "To get you off of this and that. I will reach out to the salon to try to work out some sort of agreement." "You can do it. It's just like that Brooks Brothers thing." "Yes, if they're willing to take a huge payoff!" "What's the big deal if they do anyway?" "You can be convicted!" "So what?" "You can do time!" "It wouldn't be that long." "Maybe not that long, but what about the consequences?" "What are you getting at?" "Your trust fund has a moral turpitude clause. Your grandfather was a very strict, religious man. He did not approve of lawlessness." "My grandfather? Come on! You can read the history books. He destroyed his rivals' property to gain an advantage. The whole family fortune comes from him being a thug, just like the Rockefellers or the Kennedys." "Be that as it may, your grandmother looked past it. She made him go to church everyday, and he tried to present himself as an upstanding citizen in everyway, at least publicly. Your trust fund comes with all the strings he added to further that perception." "So what are you saying?" "If you're convicted, you're going to lose your trust fund," the attorney counseled. "You can't be serious," Sidney shrieked. "I kept telling you this shit your pulling isn't a game." Sidney could not shake the sinking feeling in his stomach when he realized that his thrill seeking might leave him destitute. It was thereafter that his attorney began to work behind the scenes to get the salon to drop the charges. All attempts to get the salon to take a payoff were met with rejection. Sidney began to grow worried before he inquired if there was anything that he could do to get them to drop the charges. The salon's owner gave Sidney's attorney her answer. Sidney could see that his attorney could barely keep from laughing as he told him her terms. "She wants you to work off your debt." "Work it off?" "She thinks you don't know the meaning of a dollar and that you might have affluenza." "She bought that line of shit? Shit, did you grease the wheels already?" "No. I think she really just wants to see you taken down a peg." "So, I'd have to work off my debt at the salon?" "That's the gist of it." "How long would it take?" "Well, they charge a fortune, and they want to be repaid for the time they had to spend with the police and negotiating with me..." "How long are we talking about?" Sidney repeated himself, cutting his attorney off. "They're talking about you working each Saturday and Sunday for a couple of months." 'Months!' Sidney thought as he seethed. Sidney was irate over the proposed deal, but he felt that the risk he was taking by not agreeing to it was too great to turn it down. Sidney accepted the deal and the salon made good on its promise to cease pressing charges. Given the salon's decision, the local prosecutors agreed to let Sidney plead guilty to a minor violation that did not put his trust fund at risk. While he took the deal, Sidney was humiliated by its terms. He was forced to do whatever menial job they deemed fit while he worked for the salon. He was not allowed to take up a parking spot by driving a car to work, and he was even prohibited from leaving the salon for lunch. The bus came to a stop near the shop and Sidney got off. He walked down the sidewalk that led to the shop, feeling foolish, as he was the only one carrying his lunch that morning while the bustling streets were filled with weekend shoppers. Sidney put his head down while he pushed his way through the door of the salon. The owner who had followed Sidney out the door during his last visit, glared at him as he entered. "Oh, look who it is?" Miss Han said with a slight accent as she glared at Sidney. "Hi," Sidney muttered as his eyes darted away from the slight, short Korean woman. "Please allow me to introduce myself," Miss Han said before she paused and added, "I'm the bitch you stole from." "Yes, I'm sorry about that," Sidney replied, keeping his eyes firmly focused on his feet. "I'm glad you can't even look me in the eyes like the little bitch you are." Sidney's head jerked up with the comment as his masculine pride reared its head. He wanted to retort, but he knew that she could make his life much more miserable if he did so. Sidney took a deep breath and tried to let her words not bother him. Miss Han smirked at his silence and said, "That's good. You're going to need to keep your mouth shut around here. You're here to take orders, not talk back or ask questions. Got it?" "Yes," Sidney replied, cowed and stunned by the way the woman was speaking to him. No one had ever spoken down to him before and he was strangely excited by the novelty. Miss Han nodded her head before she said, "I don't suffer fools or thieves well, Sidney. You're going to learn that the hard way. What were you possibly thinking? Didn't you see the cameras? It's not like I go to any lengths to hide them." Sidney blushed and hung his head. Miss Han interpreted his silence as an admission of his failures before she said, "Cockiness is not something you can work with here, so you'd better lose any pretensions you may have about your place in this world or this salon. You have no skills that make you suitable for anything but the simplest work we have. You're going to put whatever muscles you're concealing beneath that shirt to work sweeping up the floors, making sure the girls have what they need and taking appointments. Understood?" Sidney nodded in response, failing to meet her gaze. Miss Han smiled at his meek response and said, "Now, go sit at reception and start taking names. You know the name of the shop right?" Sidney nodded in silence again. "Good, that's what you say when someone calls to setup an appointment. The girl's calendars are in the computer system, so you just add the appointment to an open time slot. It's an easy enough job for an idiot." Sidney wanted to lash out at her for the jibe, but he took it in silence, feeling very much like a fool for finding himself beneath her boot. He remained silent as he moved towards the reception desk and sat behind it. As the first clients entered the shop, Sidney greeted them. He could tell that the women were a bit put-off by seeing an unknown man at the reception desk. They were distant with him and seemed to be trying to figure him out as he confirmed their appointments. Sidney felt that they were judging him with their eyes before they were each taken over for their haircuts and manicures. The sound of a ringing phone drew Sidney's attention away from wondering what the women were thinking about him. "Village Styles," Sidney said as he answered the phone. The woman on the other side of the phone was confused by his voice, "Is this a salon?" "Yes it is," Sidney replied. "Oh," the woman replied before she tried to make an appointment with one of the salon's stylists. Sidney opened the stylists' calendar and searched for open times on the days requested. He read them to the woman before she picked one. "You got it," Sidney replied. "Thanks, umm...are you a guy," the woman replied. Sidney stared blankly at the telephone for a second before he answered slowly, "Yes." "Oh, are you Seung-yeon's husband?" "No," Sidney replied, slowly drawing out his response again as he heard Miss Han's first name for the first time. "Oh. Well, have a nice day," the woman said before she hung up. Sidney shook his head as he hung up the phone before he answered another call and discovered that another woman was unsure if he was a man. 'That's a first', Sidney thought, wondering if his position at a reception desk was making his voice come off as more unisexual. After processing another few girls that came through reception and answering more calls, a stylist, EJ, called over to Sidney to tell him to obtain some supplies from the closet for her. Sidney nodded at her and got to his feet while he made his way to the backroom where the salons' supplies were stored. As Sidney entered the backroom, he heard Miss Han and EJ making jokes about the haughty woman EJ had been working on. Sidney smiled at the fact that their perception of the woman he had overheard mirrored his own before he felt confident enough to interject, "Yah, what was her problem?" The grin left Miss Han's face as she retorted, "It's because she's a stuck up bitch who's had everything handed to her. Does that sound familiar?" Sidney scowled for a second before he realized that it was a bad decision. Miss Han trained her gaze on Sidney and added, "Some of us actually have to work for a living. When my parents came here, they worked 18 hours a day in a laundromat to provide for us. That's why they were successful. My brothers are all doctors and scientists." "How did you end up here?" Sidney asked, thinking that Miss Han was something of an underachiever. "My parents were old fashioned. They didn't think it was worth educating a girl because she'd just get married and pregnant and do whatever her husband said." "My parents are the same way," EJ added. "You see us, Sidney. We worked to get were we are. We paid our own way to get our licenses. I was a manicurist for years and worked other odd jobs before I got the money to start my own shop. I still have a bevy of Korean girls for nails, but I expanded out to bring in other girls for hair to make this best full service salon. I poured everything into making this shop a success. Do you know anything about that?" Miss Han said as EJ nodded. Sidney was silent, unsure of what to say in response. The girls did not wait for one before Miss Han added said, "Eun-jeong and I know what it takes to stand on our own feet." "Eun-jeong?" Sidney asked. "EJ," Miss Han replied, rolling her eyes before she stepped back out into the salon area with EJ to grab their next clients. Sidney grabbed what the girl asked him for before he brought it out to her and started back towards the reception desk. Miss Han stopped him before he got there as she barked, "Sidney, go sweep up the stations. This place is becoming a mess!" Sidney nodded in response before he went returned to the backroom and removed the broom and standing dustpan set. Sidney walked back out with the broom and began to sweep up around each of the stations, feeling smaller than he could ever remember feeling. The stylist noticed the unease on most of their clients faces as Sidney swept around them before pausing to dump his dustpan into a garbage can. Miss Han looked around and noticed it too before she pulled her scissors away from her client and said, "Can you excuse me for a moment?" Miss Han turned and walked towards Sidney and said, "Hold on." "What?" "I can't have you cleaning like that." "What's wrong?" "You're going to hair all over your clothes." "I think I can handle it." "Don't talk back when you don't know what you're talking about," Miss Han chided. Sidney gave her a confused look while she walked into the backroom. 'What is she up to?' Sidney worried. As she reemerged with a brightly colored apron in her hands, Sidney's stomach sank. 'She can't expect me to wear that?' Sidney thought as he started to blush. "Here, put this on," Miss Han ordered while she held out the apron in front of him. Sidney paused for a second before he took hold of it after propping up the broom and dustpan set against the wall. Sidney stared at the apron's flowery design, feeling sick to his stomach. "Stop dawdling," Miss Han chided while Sidney continued to gaze vacantly at the apron. Sidney put the apron on and fidgeted with the straps as he tried to tie it behind his back. Miss Han laughed a little at his fumbling attempts before she said, "Let me get that for you, sweetie." Sidney blushed as he felt turned on by the woman tying the very feminine apron on him behind his back. Sidney saw the snickers on some of the women in the shop's faces as Miss Han finished tying the straps and wondered what was wrong with him. "There, is that better?" Miss Han asked one of her stylists' clients. "So much better. He looks so non-threatening," the woman replied, prompting Sidney's cheeks to turn redder. Another girl noticed and said, "Look, she's blushing." "I'm a guy," Sidney muttered. "Don't correct my clients," Miss Han retorted. "I thought gay guys liked to be called that sort of thing," the woman replied, confused by Sidney's protest. Sidney shook his head and went to retort. Miss Han's expression, however, told him to keep his mouth shut and focus on sweeping. 'I can't believe this girl thinks I'm gay', Sidney thought with a scowl. Sidney put his head down while he went back to sweeping up the floor. He felt foolish in the apron, but also slightly turned on by how lowly he felt. He saw a girl he was attracted to laughing at him a little and blushed as he thought, 'She thinks I'm a total queen.' Once Sidney finished sweeping up, he put away the broom and dustpan set and began to fidget with the straps of his apron. Miss Han caught sight of his efforts and said, "Don't worry about that, Sidney. Just keep it on." Sidney blushed as he nodded and returned to the reception desk. Shortly after sitting down, two girls entered the shop. The girls smiled as they walked over to him before one said, "Hi, honey, we've got appointments this morning with Sandra and EJ." Sidney was surprised by how much friendly the girls seemed to be than the ones that had entered before. As he checked their appointments, he realized that the apron likely had something to do with it as it made him appear far from a threatening male presence in the den of femininity. Sidney's cheeks burned red the second he realized that every girl that entered the shop that day was likely going to conclude that he was a homosexual. It disturbed him, but what disturbed him more was the fact that thought of such erroneous conclusions were making him aroused. The entry of a gay man into the shop made Sidney the most uneasy though. Within seconds of greeting the man, Sidney realized he was gay. Despite Sidney's manner of dress, the man gave Sidney a weary look. Sidney realized that his apron was not making the man come to the same conclusions as the girls. 'He can see through me', Sidney realized as the man sat down to wait for his appointment. The idea of being seen as a straight man in a girl's apron, seemed even more humiliating to Sidney the more he thought about it. As he was called back to do another round of sweeping, Sidney hoped that his arousal was not clear to the shop while he fetched the broom set again. He went about sweeping up the shop again and continued with the routine of alternating between sweeping, answering phones and greeting incoming clients throughout the rest of the day. The only pauses in his routines came during his bathroom and lunch breaks. When lunch came, Sidney ate beside a pair of the Korean manicurists. The girls talked amongst themselves in Korean. Their occasional laughter and quick glances at Sidney made him assume that they were talking about him. Although it peeved him, Sidney knew that any objections he made to it would be of no help to him. As the evening came, most of the girls began to file out for the night. Sidney was among the last workers in the shop when closing time approached. EJ smiled at Sidney as she locked the front door and said, "I want you to come in early tomorrow." "Why?" Sidney asked. "We need to get you ready." "I can get ready on my own." "No. We need to make you suitable for our clients, if you catch my drift." "You want me to look even gayer?" Sidney asked as he clutched at his apron. "If you want to look gayer, just grab it with your fingertips next time," EJ retorted. "How early are we talking?" Sidney inquired, getting the conversation back on track. "Two hours." "Two hours!" "It's not that bad. Remember, we close early on Sundays." "I guess," Sidney replied before Miss Han interjected to tell him to stand still. Sidney obliged her and peered over his shoulder as she removed his apron. She took it off him and said, "You're going to have to learn to tie and untie this yourself." "Is that something we'll work on tomorrow?" Sidney asked. Miss Han nodded before she answered, "Among many things." Miss Han's comment worried Sidney, but he was tired and desperate to start the bus ride home. He said goodbye to Miss Han and the remaining salon employees before he walked out the back door. Sidney hurried over to the bus stop and waited for it to arrive. After a forty minute wait that felt far longer to Sidney, the bus pulled up. Sidney got on the bus and paid his fare. As he rested his weary body on the seat, Sidney found himself unable to put the events of the day out of his mind. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning, Sidney showed up two hours early as Miss Han requested. He walked towards the front door in sluggish steps and found that it was locked. He peered inside the window and saw EJ motioning to come to the back door. Sidney gave her a nervous look before he walked around the building to the rear. He moved towards the door and saw EJ holding it open for him. Sidney thanked her before he walked through the door. As Sidney stepped into the shop, he saw that Miss Han was setting up at a station. "What's going on?" Sidney asked, slightly anxious as his tired eyes widened. "We're going to give you a makeover." "I'm sorry, did you say makeover?" Sidney asked EJ, sure that he misheard her due to his overall exhaustion. "Yes. We've got to make you more presentable," Miss Han interjected. "Presentable, how?" "By making you fit in a little better." "How are you going to do that?" "We're going to make you into a new you." "But I like the old me." "You'd be the only one from what your attorney told me," Miss Han retorted. Sidney sulked while he asked, "Well, what are we talking about it here?" "We're going to start with a new haircut and see where it goes from there." "What's wrong with my hair?" "It's a little raggy for a salon." "I'll remind you that it was your stylist who cut my hair," Sidney reminded Miss Han while he touched the ends of his long hair. "Yes, but it's been a few weeks, and you need a touch up, darling." "Just a touch up?" "Well, we'll see where it goes." Sidney was a bit worried as he sat down on the chair and watched as EJ and Miss Han moved around him. Sidney asked, "Do you guys need any help?" "No, we got it," EJ replied. "Okay," Sidney responded as Miss Han picked up a pair of scissors. As she began cutting his hair, Sidney gave the resulting cuts a strange glance. "What are you doing?" "Just adding some layers." "Layers?" "A haircut is supposed to have layers." "Remember where I got this haircut?" Sidney retorted. "Oh, we all remember, just as we remember that you micromanaged it," Miss Han retorted before she slapped his shoulder. Sidney sucked his lips into his mouth while she continued to cut his hair. Once she finished, Miss Han inspected her work and said, "Now, we're getting somewhere." "Isn't this a little effeminate?" Sidney asked as he blushed as Miss Han showed him his hair from each angle. "It's a great cut, now, let's get add some color," EJ interjected. "Are you talking about highlights?" "Of course, that cuts practically cries out for it." "But I'm a guy." "We know. Our customers know. That's the problem." "So what? You want me to look like a total fag. Is the apron really not enough? "It's nothing like that, Sidney. We just want our customers to be comfortable." "I get that I do, but if they're not comfortable with me, why don't you just let me pay you back and then some and we'll call it a day?" "No." "No?" "You need to learn the meaning of sacrifice." "I'm sacrificing a lot," Sidney countered. "What? You think you putting on an apron and having to listen to someone else bitch is a sacrifice? You deluded dick. You're nothing but a little rich bitch like the one you mocked yesterday." Sidney gave Miss Han a dumbfounded look before EJ smiled and said, "Let's get you ready, sweetheart." "But I..." "We don't have time for this. Trust me, no one is going to think you're gay when we're done with you," EJ said. EJ's response was not fully comforting to Sidney in the slightest, but he decided that it would not be that difficult to correct any problems they caused. "Getting braver?" EJ asked. "What's the worst that you can do to me? If it goes bad, I'll shave my head." "Let's try to avoid having to go down that route," EJ replied with a smile. "Then, you better take some care," Sidney responded. "I'm always careful when it comes to my work," EJ chided. Sidney nodded as EJ and Miss Han went about coloring his hair. Sidney tried to figure out what they were doing, but he was less concerned with his hair as he thought about his earlier threat. While they waited to remove the dye, the girls turned their attention to his eyebrows. EJ shaped them into arches. Sidney was worried as she worked on them and said, "Don't make it so that I can't step out the door." "Oh, we're not doing anything crazy," Miss Han chided as EJ continued to thin out his eyebrows. Her words did little to put his mind at ease since he knew that while he would look somewhat normal with a shaved head, he would not look normal without eyebrows. After EJ finished with his eyebrows, Sidney's hair was washed and styled. As Sidney processed his reflection, he was shocked by how his long, layered brown hair looked with blonde highlights. "Nice, right? I wish I could pull it off," EJ said. Sidney looked up at the young girl of Korean descent and said, "Are you crazy?" "What?" "I can't look like a guy with this!" "What do you think the point is?" Miss Han interjected. "What?" "Girls are more comfortable around girls." Sidney's face fell before he countered, "There are guys that come in here." "Even they're more comfortable around girls," Miss Han responded. "Are you crazy?" "No. You'll make a perfectly fine girl." "What if someone recognizes me?" "We already thought about that." "And how are you planning on handling it?" "By making sure that no one can recognize you," Miss Han answered. "That can't be done." "If you stop fighting it, you'll see how wrong you are," EJ rejoined. Sidney took a deep breath as he processed the words. He was excited by the prospect that EJ and Miss Han were holding out in front of him. He was getting the same kind of rush out of the idea that he got by trying to steal from others. Sidney smiled a little as he said, "Okay. I give up. I am your canvas." "You should have done that from the start," Miss Han retorted. Sidney cast his eyes downward, knowing how right she was. He watched as EJ and Miss Han began to undress him. Sidney assisted them as much as he could to preserve his modesty. He was relieved to be able to keep on his boxers before EJ and Miss Han began to remove his body hair. The waxing proved painful for Sidney. His yelps and tears made him blush, especially as EJ and Miss Han were unable to keep from laughing about it. Sidney struggled to stifle his arousal as their laughter filled his ears and his eyes were consumed by the smooth skin on his body. Once they finished waxing his body, they began to rub a cream against his skin. "What is that a moisturizer?" "That's a side effect." "What the main effect?" Sidney asked, his tone revealing his worry. "Skin darkening," Miss Han replied. Sidney was stunned by her cavalier response before he asked, "And the point of that is what?" "It's to throw people off the trail on your identity," EJ answered. "I don't think anybody could tell. Even if those women from yesterday came back, they wouldn't put two and two together," Miss Han added. EJ nodded in response before she said, "You would be surprised by how much more observant women can be about some things, but not others." "What kind of coloring are we talking about?" "Nothing more than a Beyonce really. That hair wouldn't work with really dark skin tones," EJ replied with a laugh. "Woo...," Sidney replied, grabbing the arms of his chair. "What?" Miss Han asked. "You're not talking about making me a white girl; you're talking about making me a black girl!" "A cosmopolitan black girl," EJ replied. "And the difference is what?" "No one's going to think anything different about you than if you were a white girl." "Really?" "Hot is hot," EJ replied with a giggle. "You might like to think that, but..." Sidney said as he watched Miss Han and EJ keep rubbing the cream into his arms and chest. "Just trust us." "The secretiveness about what you're doing to me is making that hard," Sidney retorted. "Try not to move," EJ replied as she began rubbing it against his neck. "I don't think I want to do this." "You don't want us to stop now, do you? You'd look like a panda," Miss Han retorted. "Jesus," Sidney murmured. Sidney sat still and followed the girls' directions until they finished applying the cream. The caramel skin tone that emerged on his skin stunned Sidney as he looked in the mirror and down at his body. "How does this work?" "It's just a simple increase in melanin ," EJ replied. "It doesn't seem real." "Oh, it's real, but these are not," Miss Han responded as she held up breast forms. "That's probably for the best," Sidney replied. "Indeed," EJ said with a smile as she helped Miss Han affix the breast forms to Sidney's chest. Once they finished, they covered his chest with a black bra. They then carried over a black belle tunic that matched what each of the girls employed by the salon wore. "We don't have a men's uniform, but we do have one for my girls," Miss Han said as she handed Sidney the top. Wanting to cover up his false bust, Sidney did not hesitate as he took hold of the tunic and placed it on. After putting his arms through the short sleeves, he pulled up the side zipper of the tunic after firmly clasping the heart shaped pull-tab of the zipper. Sidney stared down at its side vents of the polyester top while he took it in. Sidney's eyes drifted from the top once EJ brought over the matching skirt of the uniform that some of the girls wore. Sidney shook his head and asked, "Why can't I wear the pants?" "My stylist can wear pants if they want, but my receptionists wear skirts," Miss Han rejoined. "But that's not fair." "Is it fair from some snot nosed, snobby little rich kid to try to steal from hard working people?" Miss Han retorted. Sidney hung his head before Miss Han added, "Besides, the girls do not have the same potential issue that might show up in your pants." Sidney blushed as he replied, "If you put it that way, I guess I understand." Sidney went to grab the skirt, but EJ pulled it back and said, "You've got to put on your panties first." "What?" "What do you think would happen if someone looked up that skirt and saw your boxers?" Miss Han asked. "They'd know that they're a pervert," Jim answered. EJ laughed and Miss Han smiled at his response before she said, "You try not looking." "No comment," Sidney replied with a grin before Miss Han handed him a pair of panties. "What's with the padding?" Sidney inquired. "It's to give your butt a more girly shape," EJ answered before she advised him how to tuck his member. Sidney's eyes widened as he listened to her instructions and wondered if she had made a man over before. Sidney then took hold of the skirt and headed for the restroom. He removed his boxers and saw the lines from where the girls stopped with the cream. Sidney laughed at the resulting lines between his white skin and the caramel colored skin above his waist and where it restarted high up his thighs. "Super tan lines," Sidney said softly to himself before he put on the panties and tucked his member as EJ instructed. Sidney then took hold of the black, knee length, A-line skirt. Sidney stepped into it and brought it up his legs before he pulled up the rear zipper. Once he finished putting on the skirt, Sidney emerged from the bathroom. The girls smiled at him before EJ handed Sidney a pair of black, polyurethane flats that matched hers. Sidney looked over the one inch heeled wedge with a rounded toe. The shoes were decorated a diamante heart on the vamp and had a fuchsia colored, extra padded insole. "So what do you think now?" EJ asked. Sidney nodded at his reflection, almost in disbelief by how total the transformation had been. "Do you think any of the girls are going to recognize you?" Miss Han inquired. "I can barely recognize me," Sidney responded. "That's the point. If you can't recognize you, who could?" EJ replied with a smile. EJ's comment unnerved Sidney before Miss Han added, "Now, we just have to finish you up for your shift." "What's left?" Sidney asked as he pulled at the hem of his skirt. "You need to accessorize," Miss Han answered. "That's not a term I've ever used." "That's because boys don't get it," EJ responded with a smile. Sidney shrugged before he saw the girls bring out a necklace for him. Sidney realized that it was junk jewelry, but he figured that it went well with the position he was supposed to hold. EJ then handed Sidney a watch. He shrugged at it as he put it on and said, "A lot smaller than what I'm used to." "That's by design," Miss Han replied before she handed him two earrings. "These aren't clip-ons," Sidney noted. "A girl with such pretty hair doesn't have her ears pierced?" EJ asked. Sidney blushed before she added, "I can fix that." "I don't know if that's necessary," Sidney replied. "Nonsense. I've pierced lots of girls' ears." "What's your training?" Sidney asked with wide eyes. "What kind of training do you need? Sterilize a needle and eye it up." "I don't think that's quite it," Sidney responded as he nervously crossed his legs. "You think too much," EJ replied as she began to sterilize a needle. "She doesn't think enough," Miss Han whispered into Sidney's ears as she rubbed his shoulders. Sidney looked at his reflection in the mirror and peered over to EJ while she worked on the needle and found that he was unable to disagree with Miss Han. EJ moved the needle towards him along with some other materials. Sidney cringed as she applied a topical anesthetic to his right ear before she pierced it. She then pierced his left ear and said, "There that wasn't so bad was it, my big brave girl?" Sidney laughed slightly as EJ removed the needle before she began to put in the earrings. As EJ finished, Sidney admired the silver earring studs in the mirror and said, "They do look nice." "I think they complete the ensemble," Miss Han interjected as EJ nodded. Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the front door. As she walked towards the front door to unlock it, Miss Han grinned at her manicurists who had been dropped off for work by a van that had come from the city. As Miss Han opened the door, her employees began to file into the shop. Some of them gave Sidney strange looks before Miss Han smiled and said, "Girls, I want to introduce you all to our new weekend receptionist, Chloe." The girls gave Sidney curious glances until one of them recognized his face. She broke out laughing as Sidney squirmed waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sidney blushed as the woman said something in Korean which made the other girls laugh. Sidney wondered what kind of insult she had hurled at him while Miss Han and EJ laughed along with the shop's manicurists. Sidney was also surprised to hear Miss Han use a new name for him, but he soon realized that a name change was appropriate to complement his new appearance. As the manicurists looked him over, several of the stylists made their way into the shop. Each stopped to inspect the work that Miss Han and EJ had done on him before they made backhanded compliments about his appearance. 'Just call me a freak already', Sidney thought to himself while he rolled his eyes at one comment. Once the first client entered the shop, however, the mood changed. The girls stopped focusing on him and centered their attention on their respective jobs, knowing that they could not let on that Sidney was really a man. Sidney greeted the woman with a smile. She gave Sidney an indifferent response as she told him whom she was there to see. Although Sidney was not thrilled with the woman's dismissive tone in the face of his friendliness, he was happy that she did not seem put off by him. Sidney then directed her to the shampoo girl before several other women entered the shop. Sidney greeted each of the patrons, wondering each time if the women would see through the fa?ade that Miss Han and EJ had spent so much time that morning carefully constructing. None of the girls seemed to see anything off about Sidney to his general delight. He wondered what would happen every time a woman walked through the door, but with each girl he passed in front of without issue, Sidney grew more confident about his appearance. As the shop filled up, Sidney went to the backroom and retrieved the dustpan and broom set. He swept up the trimmed hairs from the shop's floors after putting on the apron. Unlike the first day where the apron drew attention to him, give his feminized state, it only seemed to make him evermore closer to invisible to the women in the shop. The sight of another girl walking through the front door sent Sidney scurrying towards it to take her name down. The woman gave Sidney a scowl as he greeted her while she listened to someone talking on her cell phone. She gave him a halfhearted wave as Sidney struggled not to glare at her for treating him as if he was a non-entity. After a few seconds, the woman put her well-manicured hand over the transmitter and said, "Carrie Carse, 10 O'clock with Michele." Sidney nodded while he wrote down the information. As he went to ask Carrie a follow up question, the girl turned and walked away and sat down while she continued to talk on the phone with a friend. Sidney shook his head as he stood back up, wanting to slap the haughty woman who viewed him as not worthy of common courtesy when being spoken to. Sidney turned and saw Miss Han staring at him before she called over and said, "Chloe, stop dawdling. I'm not paying you to not sweep the floors." Sidney nodded, feeling like discarded gum beneath Miss Han and the haughty woman's shoes. Sidney clutched the broom and standing dustpan while he started another round of cleaning before the first woman got up and he swept away the remaining discarded strands from beneath the chair of the stylist's station. The way that some of the female clients talked to the shop's employees upset Sidney while he listened to their conversations. He cringed at the way that some customers flat out ignored the women working on them as if they were not there, except to criticize them. Sidney shook his head at them and wondered if he had come across as that spoiled, even when he tried to come across a jerk. The more Sidney listened to the women, the more grating they seemed to be to him. 'How did people put up with these assholes all day?' Sidney found himself wondering. The presence of some clients who behaved like decent human beings and treated the salon's employees respectfully was a welcome respite for Sidney. The few that engaged him in a friendly manner seemed like God sends to help get him through the indignity of dealing with those who assumed they were endowed by birth with certain privileges that others did not possess. The way that EJ treated him also made Sidney's day go by quicker. EJ was friendly to him and Sidney reciprocated in kind. He enjoyed the little asides they got throughout the day. Sidney realized that she was good person and wished that he had met her under better circumstances. "I need to marry a girl like her," Sidney thought aloud about EJ as he cleaned up the backroom after being ordered to do so by Miss Han. "What was that?" EJ asked as she walked into the backroom. "Oh, nothing." "Are you looking to marry, Miss Han, because she'd crush you in about two weeks," EJ replied with a smirk. Sidney laughed and said, "No, I've got a better girl in mind." "It's one of those stuck up little princesses. They come from your world, right?" "Sadly, they do, but, fortunately, they don't see that right now." "I don't know how you guys stand those bitches." "I really can't," Sidney admitted. EJ laughed as she said, "Same here," before she returned to the salon area to work on another customer. When lunchtime came, EJ took her break concurrent with Sidney's. They ate together in the backroom as EJ gave Sidney tips for dealing with haughty customers and Miss Han. Sidney nodded at her words, happy to have her to confide to and share their gripes about their workplace. Once lunch finished, Sidney walked back up to the reception desk. Sidney greeted more women throughout the day and took their names and reservations just as he had the day before. As Sidney cleaned up around the shop that afternoon, he noticed that most of the employees still struggled not to snicker while he cleaned up around them. He wondered if they were dreaming that the self-important customers that they each served that day would end up falling down the social ladder and cleaning up after them as he found himself doing. The thought stirred a strange arousal in Sidney that he struggled to suppress. When his shift came to a close as the shop closed that Sunday evening, Miss Han called over to him, "Chloe, come into the backroom." Sidney complied with her order and scurried over to her. Miss Han glared at Sidney before she said, "Your work was acceptable." "Thanks," Sidney replied, not able to meet her stern gaze for long. "Take your uniforms," Miss Han said as she handed him a stack of identical tops and skirts. "No pants?" Sidney asked, attempting to lighten the mood. "Only for the girls that earn that right," Miss Han retorted. Sidney nodded, as he took the uniforms out of Miss Han's hands. Miss Han slowly nodded at Sidney in response before she gave him a purse and said, "You use that to carry your wallet and anything else you had in your pockets. Okay?" "I know that," Sidney replied, somewhat peeved. Miss Han glared at him as she noted, "Don't think I can't think of ways to make this so much worse for you. So be careful." Sidney nodded before she handed him back the clothes he had worn that morning and said, "You're dismissed for the night." Sidney nodded in silence while he turned away from her, feeling quite lowly and weak in her presence even though she was significantly shorter than he was and had a far narrower frame. Despite his unquestionable physical superiority, Sidney felt weaker than Miss Han for reasons he could not explain. As Sidney emerged from the backroom, he realized that he and Miss Han were the last two people left in the shop. He walked briskly towards the front door while Miss Han sauntered, confidently behind him. Sidney stepped out of the door, wanting nothing more than to go home and cast off what he was feeling at that moment. Miss Han locked the door once it closed behind Sidney. Sidney clutched his new uniforms and folded clothes as he walked away from the shop with his clothing in a plastic bag. He hurried towards the bus stop and waited for it to come. After getting onto the bus, Sidney rode it home. He felt the eyes of more people on him as a woman than he did as a man, but he was thankful that no one said a word to him. Sidney got off at his stop before he made the mile long walk back to his home. He shook his head as he looked down at the pavement beneath his wedges and wondered how he had let his life spiral so out of control that he had wound up a grown man in skirts. Sidney was thankful that the darkness seemed to be keeping anyone in his or her homes from getting a good look at him as he turned down his street. Sidney walked up to his home and rustled through the purse he had been given until he found his keys. Sidney placed his keys into the door and pushed it open before he set down his purse and new uniforms. He breathed a sigh of relief as he locked the door behind him before he made himself a quick dinner. Once he finished eating, Sidney went up to his master bathroom to take a shower. Sidney disrobed and struggled to break down the glue that was holding on his breast forms. Following some twisting and yelping, Sidney managed to remove them before he pulled off his panties. Sidney shook his head as he noticed that his manhood looked sweaty and distorted from being constrained between his legs all day. "What a day," Sidney muttered as he turned on the shower and stepped into it. After washing his hair, Sidney took hold of a bar of soap. Sidney scrubbed it against his skin before he let the water run off him. Sidney's eyes widened and his heart started to race as he noticed that the skin coloring was not fading as he hoped. Sidney scrubbed his skin furiously, but the color refused to dissipate despite his efforts. "What the fuck," Sidney exclaimed to himself. Sidney went back to scrubbing his skin but saw the coloring remaining unchanged. Defeated, Sidney's caramel colored hands pulled away from his matching colored legs. Sidney stared blankly down at his colorized body, feeling faint before he turned off the shower. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning, Sidney was irate as he drove to the salon dressed in the same underwear he had worn the day before beneath a fresh uniform. Although he was not scheduled to work that day, he needed to confront Miss Han about what she had done to him and the shop's uniforms were the only articles of female clothing he possessed. Sidney figured that the hair could be dealt with easy enough with a baseball cap and his eyebrows and hair removal were not very noticeable, but the skin coloring that would not wash off was too much for him to handle. Sidney had felt nervous as he drove his car, hoping that his neighbors would not notice an apparent black girl pulling out of his garage in his car. It was the first time Sidney could ever remember wishing that he owned an inconspicuous car instead of his McLaren. Sidney pulled up in front of the salon before it opened and hopped out of the car. His slightly heeled wedges slapped the pavement beneath them as he stomped towards the door before he pounded on the window. Miss Han noticed his scowl as she emerged from the backroom. She grinned at it while she walked towards the front door and said, "You're not supposed to be working today, Chloe." "We need to talk!" Sidney shouted through the glass. Miss Han shrugged as she unlocked the door before Sidney pulled it open as forcefully as he could. As the door slammed behind him as he stormed in, Sidney began to let out a string of obscenities. "What's wrong?" Miss Han asked calmly with a smile. "You didn't tell me this shit was permanent," Sidney shouted while pointing to his face. "It's not." "How come it didn't wash off then, hmm...," Sidney retorted while he held his hands out to his side. "It doesn't just wash off." "Then, what do I need to do?" "Let nature take its course." "What?" "It's just like getting a tan, a really deep tan." "So what?" "It'll fade back in time." Sidney gave her a dumbfounded look before he said, "So you're saying I'm stuck like this for..." "The time being," Miss Han responded, cutting Sidney off. Sidney shook his head before he clutched the sides of his head as he asked, "How am I supposed to explain this to anyone?" "You could tell the truth." "That's not happening!" "Then, just don't tell anyone." "How is that supposed to work?" Sidney inquired in disbelief. "Be seen, not heard," Miss Han retorted. "It's not that simple! What if my neighbors see me? I can't even drive my car or walk out my door in peace. Somebody is going to ask questions sooner or later about the black girl living in my house!" "If you want, you can stay with me," EJ interjected as she stepped out of the backroom. "Stay with you?" Sidney said as Miss Han gave EJ a strange glance before shaking her head. "My roommate moved out a couple of weeks ago. It'd be nice to have someone to split the rent with again," EJ noted in reply. Sidney smiled at her offer. He found EJ attractive, but he figured that there would be no sexual component to their living arrangements given the current state of his body. Sidney was also acutely aware that he could not go out and seduce women with his wealth as he had before, however, so he realized that he was not giving much up in terms of his personal life by moving in with her. "Are you serious?" Sidney asked, giving her offer serious thought. It seemed to be the best situation for him since it would allow him to get away from his old house and life while he looked incongruous with it. "Sure," EJ said with a smile. "I might have to take you up on it then." "Okay. Well, grab your stuff and come on by." "Where do you live?" EJ gave Sidney her address and a time to meet her there after work. Sidney took it down and thanked her before he left the salon and went back to his car. Sidney felt at ease as he stepped into his car. Sidney drove back to his home and pulled into his garage. He locked the door behind him before he went up to his bedroom to fill up a suitcase with the bare necessities that he would need to survive for a few months as Chloe. Once Sidney finished, he relaxed around his home all day, realizing that he was not going to be spending much, if any, time there over for a while. After eating dinner, Sidney called a cab company to take him over to EJ's home. When the cab pulled up in front of his home, Sidney exited his front door and was sure to lock it behind him. Sidney saw a couple of his neighbors. He was sure that they probably figured that Sidney Willard had just kicked another girlfriend or hooker out of the house. The thought excited Sidney as he got into the cab before it pulled away from the curb. Sidney paid the fare once he reached EJ's apartment building. He then clasped his bag and headed towards the door before he pushed the buzzer for her apartment. As Sidney waited for her to respond, he gazed up at the cracking brick front of the building. After a few moments, EJ responded and Sidney told her that he was there. EJ buzzed Sidney up before he made the walk up the staircase, still dressed in his salon uniform. EJ opened the door and greeted with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Sidney smiled at her embrace and said, "What was that for?" "I'm just so happy to have a roommate again." "Glad to be of assistance," Sidney said, feeling slightly excited by her eager embrace of him. "Let me show you to your room, Chloe." Sidney nodded as he followed her through the apartment and saw the small kitchen, eating area and living room before he was shown the first of the two bedrooms. Sidney realized that the room was smaller than any room in his house. As it was only a temporary place of residence, however, Sidney saw no reason to make a fuss about it. Sidney put down his bag before EJ asked, "Do you need any help putting your stuff away?" "No. Did your last roommate just leave her furniture," Sidney inquired. "Pretty much. She got married to a much better off guy and just left her crap here." Sidney laughed a little in response before he unzipped his bag. EJ laughed as she saw the boxers contained within it. "What's so funny?" "Those just don't go with the new you," EJ answered. "I'm not a girl 24/7. Just when I'm at the shop," Sidney retorted. "Whatever, girlfriend," EJ rejoined with a laugh as she placed her arm briefly around Sidney's hip. The movement aroused Sidney as did EJ's beaming face before he accepted her help in putting away his clothing. Once they finished, EJ asked, "So what are you going to be doing while I'm at work during the week?" "I typically relax at home." "It would be nice if you took care of things around here." "What, my half the rent isn't good enough for you?" "I appreciate that, but if I'm taking you in on such sort notice, I think it would be nice if you did the chores around here to keep this place clean." Sidney shrugged as he replied, "What am I your house slave?" "Okay, don't give me the history lesson, babe. First off, you're not really black, and I'm not white." Sidney smiled at the statement before he replied, "I guess it would be fair." EJ smiled as she kissed him on the cheek and said, "And why don't you go get yourself some clothes for around the house and some new panties and bras too?" "Would you like me to wait for you?" "No. You're a big girl. I'm sure you can shop for yourself. Just look at your bra size and panty size and buy packs. I don't think you want to go for a real bra fitting, do you?" "No," Sidney replied, blushing feverishly at the thought. "That's what I thought. As far as clothes, I'm sure you've seen what girls wear." "Oh, yah," Sidney replied with a laugh. "Just try to get something pretty." "I don't think I want to draw to much attention to myself." "No. We wouldn't want some prince charming trying to snap you up," EJ replied with a laugh. Sidney blushed and smiled at the thought as he reflected on the men who made silent advances towards him on the bus the night before. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to go buff up my nails," EJ added. "Okay." "How are your nails doing, anyway?" EJ inquired. "Fine, I guess." "You guess. What have you done to them?" "Looked at them." "You've never treated them?" "No," Sidney asked, confused by her question. "Oh, we have to correct that." "I'm not so sure about that." "Oh, it'll be fun. Haven't you ever done a girl's nails before?" "I can safely say no to that one," Sidney replied with a laugh. "Oh, it's fun. Come I'll show you," EJ responded with a grin as she took him by the hand and began to lead him over to her table. Sidney smiled at sensation of her soft, small hand on his while he followed behind her. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sidney spent the rest of his week largely in EJ's home. He slept in and cleaned up her apartment each morning after EJ left for work. Once he finished with his morning cleaning, Sidney usually stepped out of her apartment. He would either go food shopping for the two of them or buy clothes for his new wardrobe to fit his temporary feminine identity. As cash was not an issue, Sidney showed little restraint when he visited several different stores throughout the week to buy a change of panties and bras in addition to a cache of skirts, tops and dresses. That EJ seemed to take delight in his feminine purchases when he modeled them for her each night, only served to drive Sidney to make even more. It was in the stores that his apparent new race seemed to affect him the most though. On more than a few occasions, Sidney could not help but notice the clerks that were shadowing him, as if they expected him to steal at any moment. None of them had the courage to say it, but Sidney was sure that his skin tone was the reasons for the special scrutiny he was receiving. Despite the occasional demeaning feeling overcoming him in the shops, he enjoyed modeling each outfit or dress off to EJ after she came home to keep shopping. EJ's compliments and cheers never failed to make Sidney smile. After the first few weeks, EJ's only compliant was that Sidney constantly restricted his footwear to flats and wedges. "A girls got to wear heels at some point," EJ chided. "Small steps for small feet," Sidney retorted. EJ also seemed to enjoy Sidney's cooking. While he had some meager cooking skills, Sidney took his downtime in the apartment to learn how to cook several different recipes. EJ always made it seem as if she enjoyed the dinners he had waiting on the table for her each night, which made him happy. Sidney wondered, at times, why he enjoyed serving her. He had always been taught that women serve men from his father, but he began to wonder why there seemed to be a greater pleasure in serving others than in being served. Once he cleaned up after dinner, Sidney's attention always turned towards EJ. EJ seemed to enjoy it and liked to tell him about her day before he told her about his day shopping and tending to their home. EJ grinned one night while she turned to Sidney to say, "This is great." "It is, isn't it," Sidney replied. "Yes, it's like I've got my own little wife," EJ replied with a laugh. Sidney's blushing cheeks were greeted with kisses as EJ hugged him and tried to make him feel better about himself. Sidney began to wonder if EJ was only teasing him and leading him on, but he was happy enough at that moment to go with it. He had felt despondent at home at times and knew that what he was feeling with EJ was far better than that. EJ also enjoyed teaching Sidney some of her skills each night. As the days went on, Sidney kept finding himself buffing, painting and/or filing EJ's fingernails and toenails each night. EJ seemed to enjoy teaching him the various tricks of the trade she had learned before she had moved on to become a hair stylist. "How long were you a manicurist?" Sidney asked one night. "Six years," EJ answered. "Wow." "Yes, that was all I did for six years, seven days a week." "That must have been tough." "It was. It's not like cutting hair too. There's some diversity there, but not too much with nails, other than shaping and colors." "And you didn't think about doing something else?" "That's all I dreamed about," EJ replied, "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing mani-pedis and getting knocked up and having babies like my parents wanted." "You wanted more." "I wanted what my brothers got, what you got."' "What?" "A chance to be my own person. I wanted my own identity. I didn't want to be some guy's pathetic housewife or a borderline slave like my mother." "There's nothing pathetic about being a housewife." "I know, but some people are better with being taken care of than others." "So, what did you do?" "I ran off on my parents. That's how I ended up working alongside all those first generation Korean girls. My mom taught me the skills she picked up when she was a kid, and I put them to use. I just got lucky running into Miss Han. She was once in my shoes, and she could relate to what it was like to be raised as an American girl by parents whose beliefs followed them from Korea." Sidney nodded as he continued to buff EJ's nails at her direction and daydreamed about what it would be like to work beside the other manicurist as EJ once had. Sidney returned to work on Saturday beside EJ. They took the bus to the shop together before they made their way inside. EJ and Sidney's friendly relationship struck none of the girls as strange given that they were living together before Sidney took a seat at the reception desk. He processed calls and greeted incoming clients as he had the prior weekend. None of the clients hinted that there was anything strange about him while he greeted him. Sidney's day was broken up by the various tasks that were expected of him throughout the day as he swept up hair and fetched supplies for the stylists. While Sidney worked, however, he occasionally stole glances at EJ and caught her doing the same. The way she looked at him excited Sidney, and he hoped that their relationship could take another step beyond the banter and playful touching that EJ shared with him at her home, which he was increasingly come to view as his as well. Miss Han caught some of their exchanges and shook her head with a laugh, 'Some people', she thought while she worked on a woman's hair. Sidney found that the hardest part of his job became the part he could not control. While Sidney was not thrilled by the condescending way some women talked to him, he was growing increasingly upset about the way they spoke to the other girls, especially EJ. Sidney felt that a little common courtesy was due to the girls. 'They're people', Sidney thought, wanting to remind the spoiled patrons of that while they were being catered to by the salon. Sidney kept his mouth shut around the customers, however, knowing that exploding at one of the women would be bad for Miss Han's business and violate his contract with her. Sidney only shared his complaints about the customers in the backroom with the other girls. Sidney realized that the women were amused that a man who tried to stiff the salon on a bill for fun was genuinely complaining about ill manners and entitled attitudes. Miss Han grinned at it too, but she was also impressed by his evident change of heart. As Sidney turned out of the backroom to handle a guest at reception, Miss Han turned to EJ and said, "Where is that cocky boy now?" "What boy?" EJ answered with a smile "So, Chloe's a real lady, now?" "I wouldn't go that far," EJ replied. "But she's different." "She's coming around." "I wonder where she'll end up," Miss Han said. "I don't know," EJ responded while she walked out of the backroom to handle another client. Towards the end of their Saturday shift, EJ smiled at Sidney and said, "Why don't you show the manicurists your new skills?" Some of the remaining manicurists gave EJ and Sidney inquisitive looks before EJ explained about how she had been training him. The manicurists laughed, as did Miss Han, before EJ said that one of them should let Sidney show her his skills. One of the manicurists volunteered after some further laughter and Miss Han agreed to let Sidney use the supplies free of charge for the girl. Sidney was nervous as he got work on the girl. The girl grinned at his efforts as he removed her nail polish as other manicurist gave him tips on how to do a better job. Sidney was receptive to them before he began to shape the girls nails. The girl nodded at his efforts and said, "You trained her well, EJ." EJ beamed about the compliment, as did Sidney. Miss Han came over and watched as Sidney continued to shape the girls' fingernails. She nodded her head and looked at EJ to give her a smile. Once he finished giving the girl's fingernails a rounded shape, he placed her fingertips into bowls of warm water. Sidney kept track of how long her fingers rested in the w