Chapter 358: What Are You?
Sherry said, "Oriental cooking is really something else. See? You’re almost fully recovered now."
In about a month, Damien Vaughn could already walk freely with a slight limp.
Unless you were looking closely at his leg, you couldn’t even tell he had been injured recently.
Sherry was so worn out she barely looked human.
Before, her complexion was sallow. Now, it was ashen, and the dark circles under her eyes were so heavy it looked like she’d been punched twice.
She could only rest during the two-hour gap between her shifts each day. Whenever she came back to bring Damien Vaughn his meals, she would fall asleep mid-sentence.
The reason Damien Vaughn recovered so quickly was that his heart ached for Sherry.
He exercised diligently in their small room every day, eager to get out and start working.
"Yeah, I’m all better now. I can go out and work. It’s your turn to come home and rest. Sherry, ask Risa to come give me a haircut. I’ll get cleaned up, and I can go out tomorrow."
Sherry didn’t object. She knew her own body had reached its limit.
Since Sherry started working at the oriental restaurant and didn’t have much time to look after him, Damien Vaughn hadn’t really bathed, washed his hair, or even washed his face.
After Sherry left, he had to summon all his courage just to look in the mirror.
The man in the mirror had hair that reached below his chin, much greasier than Sherry’s. It was as if he’d just washed it and not dried it, stuck flat and oily to his head and face.
A beard had laid siege to half his face. Aside from his eyes and nose, the lower half was so overgrown he could no longer recognize himself.
His fingernails were long and caked with black grime underneath.
He remembered when he first met Sherry, silently complaining to himself about her appearance. ’So dirty, so sloppy.’
And now, he was even filthier than she was, and his body odor was much stronger.
Damien Vaughn looked at his hobo-like reflection and thought, ’Even my father’s killer wouldn’t recognize me like this, would they?’
Risa’s late husband’s hair had always been cut by her, so she had the basic skills. With a SNIP SNIP SNIP of her scissors, she flew through his hair. Then she used her husband’s old razor to shave Damien Vaughn’s beard. After a thorough wash, Sherry and Risa stared at him like they were looking at a pot of gold.
Risa gave him a light push. "So handsome! And your skin is so fair. Really good-looking. Go on, look in the mirror."
Damien Vaughn stood in front of the mirror. The hobo from before was gone. In his place was a clean, fair-skinned man with sharp, well-defined features and a handsome face.
But the reflection felt like a stranger.
"Sherry, do you like me like this?"
Sherry nodded. "I’m sure you’ll be successful. You could make money with that face alone."
Risa, in a rare moment, joked along with them.
"That’s right. Setting everything else aside, you could make a living off either your face or your physique. Go for it! Sherry’s going to have a good life with you."
Brimming with confidence, Damien Vaughn glanced at his face in the mirror again and said to Sherry.
"Since you have faith in me, don’t go to work anymore. Get a good night’s sleep tonight, and go collect your wages tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, I’ll take over for you."
"Okay."
Sherry went back to her room, took a long, refreshing shower, washed her hair, and fell into a deep sleep.
She didn’t wake up until the sun was high in the sky the next day. After greeting Damien Vaughn, she prepared to go quit her job and demand her pay. Damien Vaughn said he would go with her.
"Didn’t you say those bastard colleagues of yours are always bullying you? And your boss—if he dares to refuse your resignation or dock your pay, I’ll teach him a lesson."
She didn’t know why, but even though he wasn’t particularly muscular or the tallest man in a crowd, looking at him made Sherry feel safe.
She tacitly allowed Damien Vaughn to follow behind her, and the two of them headed out onto the street, one in front of the other.
First, they went to the oriental restaurant.
Although the owner was annoyed that Sherry hadn’t shown up for work last night and was now quitting so suddenly, he knew she had come from her home country, was young, and was having a tough time. After a bit of grumbling and cursing, he gave her the money.
But things were different at the other place.
As soon as Sherry arrived, she was surrounded by a group of her colleagues from the back kitchen, who were gathered by the door smoking. They started to taunt her.
"Well, well, what made you decide to wash your hair today? You even took a shower and changed your clothes! Did you suddenly strike it rich? Or did you finally figure it out? Realize that being a slob forever wasn’t getting you anywhere, so you cleaned yourself up to go work at a club? I’m telling you, you should’ve done it ages ago. Working yourself to death washing a mountain of dishes every day won’t get you anywhere. It’d be so much easier to just lie back and spread your legs. HAHAHAHA."
"Look at that body of hers, flat as a plate. You sure a club would even want her?"
"Then why’d she suddenly decide to bathe? Something’s wrong with her nose, she can’t even smell how bad she stinks..."
SMACK!
Before the taunt was even finished, the man was suddenly struck by a heavy punch to the face.
Not only was the cigarette knocked from his mouth, but the man himself was sent flying several meters.
His colleagues were startled and whipped their heads around to look.
They saw a tall, slender man with Asian features staring at them, his expression unreadable.
"What the hell? Who did that? You? You’re looking to die!"
As he spoke, one of them raised his hand to slap Damien Vaughn, but his wrist was caught in an iron grip.
"AHH!" The man howled in pain, feeling as if his bones were about to be crushed.
THUD! Damien Vaughn kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying as well.
"Anyone else got a problem? Step up."
"Ah! A Chinese guy? Chinese kung fu?"
Terrified, everyone scrambled backward, staring at him in horror.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Damien Vaughn slung an arm around Sherry’s shoulder. "Who do you think I am?"
"Her, her, her... a woman who looks like that, and some guy still wants her? Let’s go!"
They all stumbled back into the restaurant.
The noon rush was about to start, and Mr. James had given them a ten-minute smoke break to loosen up.
Why had they all come running back looking like they’d seen a ghost?
"What’s going on? What are you all doing?"
"Mr. James! Sherry Cohen, Sherry Cohen..."
"What about Sherry Cohen?"
As they were speaking, Damien Vaughn walked into the restaurant with his arm around Sherry’s shoulders.
James was also stunned to see Sherry looking clean and tidy, being held by a tall man.
"Sherry Cohen, what is this?"
"She quits," Damien Vaughn said on Sherry’s behalf.
"She’s too tired. I won’t let her work anymore. Please settle her wages. She’s done as of today."
The owner, "..."
He’d seen arrogant people before, but never someone this arrogant.
Starting and quitting whenever you feel like it... who do you think you are?
Business had been slow lately because of that oriental restaurant across the street, and he was already on edge. Now this guy shows up to push his buttons!
He immediately started shouting.
"Who are you to Sherry Cohen? What do you do? Don’t you understand the rules? Quitting just like that? How am I supposed to run my restaurant? I really hate you Chinese people! You cost me business, and you still have the nerve to come asking for money? Get out!"