CHAPTER 36

“Is this good? What do you think?” Iris asked. It was Saturday, it was only midday, and the two of us were stumped as to what to wear tonight.

Today was Iris’ nineteenth birthday; it would be hosted at Alister’s house, as Iris’ father informed her that she would have a large number of guests.

I had no idea Iris had so many friends.

“Yes. It’s a little too seductive for me, but not for you; thumbs up.” I nodded and inspected the velvet tube bodycon she was wearing. It was purple, an extremely seductive shade for her skin. It had feathers on the top portion. Her body curve was more polished, her cleavage was evident, and her knee was diminishing.

She didn’t appear to be nineteen years old; rather, she appeared to be twenty two due to her matured body.

I was curious as to who would be her guests later. Was there anyone from EastWood who would attend? I believed so, perhaps student council members. I was curious as to whether Nellie would be there as well.

“How about you? What are you going to wear later? You need to be seductive as well. I mean, you are already sexy, but you need to be sexy as me. You’re on dad’s priority list; you need to stand out too.” She removed her bodycon dress and set it on the bed. She was now simply wearing her underwear. She was always doing this while dressing, undressing in front of me. I frequently did the same thing since she had become indistinguishable from me. I was at ease being naked in her presence.

“As sexy as you?” I sat back in the swivel chair and observed her garments lying on the bed. We were currently in her room, browsing for clothing. Her birthday would be later tonight, so there was still plenty of time.

“You have the curves! My body is sexier, but you’re still sexy as fuck! If Pierre sees your body, he may never forget you. For tonight, you should be liberated. You stated that you want to live as normal person before you die, right? This is one of the most common things people do, to dress sexily! Also, this is the first party you will attend as a legal, right? Let’s push ourselves to the limit!”

I grinned inwardly at what I heard. Among the many things she said, ‘if Pierre sees your body, he may never forget you’ struck me the most. Oh no, Iris. He had already done so.

“Okay, then. Do you have any spare clothing on hand? We did not purchase sexier ones for Pierre and my first date back then.” I could see the joy on her face, like if she’d won the lottery.

She must be overjoyed because this would be the first time she would dressed me in her way.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the guests assumed we were related.

“Yey! I have a lot of dresses here that I haven’t worn yet!” She drew me onto the bed and proceeded to show me the garments. I cringed a few times when I noticed that practically all of the outfits were revealing, as though the chest would take all the attention when you wore them.

We spent hours looking for my clothing. We took even longer to decide on my dress than we did with her bodycon dress previously. The majority of stuff made me feel embarrassed to wear it because I felt like I could already see my soul through a simple bow.

When we were finished, it was already pitch black outside. I returned to my room to tidy things up. Although it was too early, I was excited. This would be the first time I would attend a birthday party for someone I considered a friend. My first birthday party was nearly eleven years ago, and it was a classmate’s birthday, which I disliked but was still asked to go.

I took a long time taking a bath because I had scrub my body for about an hour. I would wear something exposing later, I had to rub every nook and cranny of my body to keep them from talking shit about me.

When I was done, I left the bathroom wearing only my underwear. I needed to continue with my skincare routine even at night; I didn’t want my face to break out, especially now that I was going to wear makeup.

“Aurie...” I could hear Iris speaking from outside the room. She knocked three times, as if she were pressed for time.

“The door is unlocked; you can come in.”

As a last step in my skincare routine, I applied a cream on my face. I examined Iris’ reflection in the mirror; she appeared to be carrying a lot but with no apparent trouble. A paper bag for our clothing, a hairdryer, and a flat iron, among other things. She dumped everything on my bed.

“We’ll do our make up here; I’ll take care of your makeup, won’t I?” I gave her a nod and faced her. She was still not wearing makeup, but she was already dressed in the gorgeous purple velvet bodycon dress we chose earlier. Her hair was already groomed, falling down her back in big curls. I hadn’t noticed her hairstyle till now.

She unlocked the pink box that contained the majority of her makeup. She gathered the items she was going to use one by one before beginning to apply my makeup.

I was not sure what she was doing because I couldn’t see my face. I moved away from the mirror and concentrated solely on what she was saying. I had no power to complain if something was unattractive or unappealing.

I would trust Iris on this one. Knowing her, she was capable of defeating a professional makeup artist due to her abilities.

The procedure did not last an hour, she didn’t even sweat.

“Finally, done!” she said as she moved the chair to face me at the vanity table. When I saw what she did, I almost clapped my hands. I appeared to be a pretty woman, the type of woman that men frequently admire.

She applied my makeup naked; the color of my eyeshadow was practically identical to my lips, but fiercer. My lips appeared plumper due to the nude rosewood tint, and my cheekbones appeared more pronounced; it appeared as though I might outshine Kendall Jenner with this makeup look.

“This is incredible, Iris,” I exclaimed in amazement. For the first time in my life, I appeared mature, a self-sufficient lady.

“Of sure. I did it, so... it’s supposed to look fantastic,” she smirked, as if bragging about her accomplishment. I clapped my hands slowly and gave a thumbs up.

I rose and walked away from the vanity table. It was time for her to do her makeup as I styled my hair. I no longer require her assistance because I was confident in my ability to style it.

I styled my hair entirely with Iris’ supplies. I concealed my bangs and styled it sleekly. I used multiple bobby pins to keep my bangs hidden. I also sprayed it with hairspray to prevent it from becoming unsightly later.

I no longer awaited for Iris to be done before dressing. I wore the dress we selected earlier; it was a rosegold sequin dress with a surplice neck tie and shoulder wrap. At the very least knee length, so that my legs were visible. I teamed it with a pair of pale pink lace-up heels that I borrowed from Iris as well.

Iris spent an hour freshening up, but it was worth the wait because she resembled Helen of Troy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot men would approach her later.

“Woah, you look stunning!” she said as she examined me from head to toe.

“You too. Happy birthday, bestie!” I flung my arms wide open, pleading for a hug. She smiled softly and wrapped her arms around me.

“Girl, this is my birthday; please don’t make me weep.” She released the hug and fixed her gaze on me. I noticed her eyes were watering as she looked at me, as if this was the worst birthday she had ever had.

“Gosh, let’s put an end to this drama! You know what? You should dress like this more often! Let’s take a picture.” When she dragged me to the bathroom, all I could do was giggle. We did a mirror shot in front of a giant mirror; we did numerous and varied poses.

When we were finished, we returned to my room to store our belongings. It was only a few minutes before 8:00pm, and we needed to do it quickly.

Seven wasn’t here, as he was only here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He also would not attend the party, even if Iris had invited him, because he had something to do. Iris, on the other hand, was unconcerned about his absence. She stated that because they were not that close, it was acceptable if Seven wouldn’t come.

We agreed to go once we finished everything. I locked the door of the house and proceeded to her car. When I got there, the roar of the engine indicated that we were leaving.

Just like before, Iris’ car was running at a high rate of speed; in fact, the car nearly soared. However, I was unconcerned. I had grown accustomed to this life-or-death situation.

We arrived at Alister’s residence just after eight o’clock. My eyes nearly glazed over in awe of their mansion’s size. Our house was likewise quite large, but this was my first time seeing a colossal contemporary structure. Ours was designed in the form of a French provincial mansion, while the majority of the houses in our neighborhood were mcmansions.

Pierre grew up here, huh?

We were instantly hailed by a security while exiting Iris’ pink Lamborghini. Iris gave him the car key to park the vehicle in the garage.

I could hear the loud music playing inside, but it was muffled. Perhaps there were already a large number of people inside, as Iris informed me that her father invited a lot of guests.

We entered the house together, holding Iris’ arm, and proceeded directly to the garden. It appeared as though the party would take place there.

When we entered the garden, the loud music filled my ears; there was so much light that I couldn’t open my eyes for a long time.

“Oh, the birthday girl has arrived!” The guests looked at us almost simultaneously as the MC in the center spoke and pointed to Iris. I instantly let go of her and went away.

If I had known that the MC would welcome her like that, I would not have accompanied her here. Almost everyone stared at me after they looked at Iris.

I should’ve let her go first before me.

“Aurie, just sit there. In order to avoid looking out of place.” When I turned to look at the table she was pointing at, I almost passed out when I saw who the folks seated at that table. Student council members. Pierre, their president, was also there.

I would particularly feel out of place. I believed that only Pierre and Kai were the ones who was gonna talk to me. However, they were both folks who liked to remain silent.

“Maybe I’ll just sit at the empty table and wait for you, or maybe I’ll just wait for you here. Where have Alister and the dean gone? I’m willing to sit with them. Ris, I’m not interested sitting with the student council. We’re not that close.”

Actually, it was not a big deal if they wouldn’t talk to me. It was even better if they remained silent and just let me watched the event without talking to me. Pierre, on the other hand, had been completely ignored by me since last week. Since Seven and I discussed what would happen to him if I were to leave, I’d wanted to avoid being around him so whenever the time came for me to leave, he would be accustomed to not having me by his side.

I did what Seven said in the last few days. I restrained myself from participating in a large number of extracurricular activities. I had plenty of time to study as well as time to relax. If my time for studying wasn’t enough, he would complete the tasks I failed to finish. In addition, I only spent an hour rehearsing with the cheering squad in order to avoid fainting. We had been quite cautious over the past few days, and there hadn’t been a single complaint from me. I was only following Seven for the sake of my health. Furthermore, the fact that Seven was still around was a significant advantage, as he was the one who I most frequently invoked as an excuse whenever Pierre would approach me.

“That’s fine with me. Do you want to sit next to me on stage? Let’s go—”

“No way, not in a million years! Iris, there are a lot of people in this place. Maybe I’ll just stand here, or I might just look for a vacant table, okay? I’ll take good care of myself. Now, go.” When I pushed her away from me, she was powerless to do anything but walk away.

Me? With her on the stage? Was she crazy? If I did that, I would die much sooner because of the embarrassment.

I looked around, noticing a number of strange faces. Almost all of them came from clearly prosperous families. I was not sure if Iris recognized everyone because she didn’t even greet them.

When I saw an empty table, I immediately approached it. It was in the center, so there was no one sitting on it. Perhaps it was because people disliked much attention.

It was perfectly acceptable to me as long as I was alone.

The waiter reached me precisely as I sat. He handed me the wine, he smiled and walked away after I accepted it.

Oh, I would not going to drink tonight. Seven prevented me from drinking in the absence of him.

I’d simply behave tonight.

“You must be Aurora?” I raised my eyes as I heard a man’s baritone voice. A bearded gentleman wearing spectacles. He was dressed in a jet black tuxedo with embroidered words rather than flowers.

Admiral His authority was readily apparent in his posture; when he stared at me, it was as if he owned the world. I had no idea who he was; his face was strange to me.

“I’m Marguerite’s father,” he said with a smile. I immediately rose to my feet and extended my hand. He was Iris’ father?

They were not alike.

Perhaps Iris inherited her mother’s facial features.

I regretted the way I stared at him a moment ago. I looked at him as if I were uninterested. He might kick me out of this house because of that.

“A-Ah... yes, sir. I am.” I was not sure if I would smile or not as he took my hand. When he grinned, his facial features became soft.

“May I sit here for a while?” he inquired, indicating the empty table.

“Certainly, sir. You may.”

Then I sat down when he did. I was not trying to appear impolite. This was Iris’ father; he was also aware of my condition, and I owed him respect. If I did something unpleasant, he might call mom and send me home.

“You bear a striking resemblance to your father.”