Chapter 23: CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Sarah sat down at the study desk with her book in front of her and a pen in her hands. After Adam had told her to return home two days before and had refused to follow after her as she had thought that he would, she had been confused in her heart that he doesn't want to have anything to do with her. While she had been hurt by that little fact, she had thought about the reasons that could have prompted the action from Adam.

At first, he thought that might hate her because she had gone over to his pack house without his permission. She was even a little hurt when she remembered that he had seen the round that she spotted but he hadn't cared about it a single bit. But then, she had thought that if he had truly been angry with her over her disobedience, he wouldn't have asked her to return to his house.

When she thought about what else could have made him stay away from her, she couldn't think about anything else. Then, she had switched her thoughts to his family's rejection of her as she had sat in front of a mirror to clean her wounds. The only thing that came to her mind was the fact that she came from the old era and hadn't been able to blend in with the modern world.

There and then, she had decided in her heart that she was going to learn the ways of the modern world she had found herself in. She would learn to blend in with the world and its people. But more than getting the approval of Adam's family though, she wanted Adam to be able to proudly introduce her to the world without feeling ashamed of her.

Thus, she had begun her journey of self-improvement a day earlier. She had spent hours and hours on the internet surfing about how to be a modern woman. She had watched with apt attention tons of videos about women who transformed themselves from persons nobody wanted to the person everybody wanted to be with. When she had watched all the videos, she had selected the few that seemed genuine and seemed to be able to help her through her journey.

Next, she had been honest with herself about how ancient and weird her vocabulary was. Hence, the reason for her being at the desk with a book and a pen. She was searching about words she used frequently and saw if there were modern changes in pronunciation to them. To say she was shocked to find out that half the words she communicated had gone with the ages would be an understatement.

She sighed and looked into the notebook she had just written a new word in. While browsing, she had found that vanity was no longer called that but a mirror. Also, ale no longer gets called by such a name but addressed as alcohol. She also found out that under the alcohol rested many more different types and while they were all still known as alcohol, they were from different sources. Like saying alcoholic wine and strong wine. There were also the ones Adam had in the house that were labeled vodka, beer, trophy, and all that.

There was also what she called hairdo that she learned is now addressed as hairstyles. Also, attires were no longer called that but clothes, under which there were also divisions. Like the female attires have different types like gowns, skirts, tops, and also trousers. While she knew about the rest, she had been shocked to find trousers on the list. When she had seen women wearing them before, she had thought that they were out of their minds but when she had sent it among ladies' clothing, she knew that was what the modern women wore. She also found out that there were different types of materials used in the making of the clothes.

For today, Sarah had decided that she was learning how to shop and how to tell the hairdresser that she needed to change her hair. She also needed to express correctly to the makeup artist what types of makeup she wanted the person to do for her. She went to the mirror and stood in front of it. She practiced the new words until they stuck while she held her note. When she was sure she could write them perfectly without her note, she dropped the book and tried. When she got the words correctly, she smiled to herself.

She took her bath and prepared herself for her outing. She also got a scarf and covered her hair and face so that she could keep people away from her, just in case they still remembered her face from the hospital video. When she stepped out of the house, she went to the first boutique on her list for shopping. As she stepped inside, she was amazed at the number of different clothing and shoes, and bags that she was surrounded with.

"Good afternoon and welcome to the boutique, ma'am. How may we be of service to you?"

Sarah raked her brain in confusion for a few seconds about what the lady in front of her meant by service. She smiled when she remembered that the lady was simply asking her what she needed. She looked at the lady who wore a dress of some weird colors and smiled.

"Hello. I would like a dress or two," Sarah said in a tone she had practiced the speech with.

"Please come with me, ma'am," the attendant said to her with a smile as she led the way to the clothing rack.

"What are we doing here?" Sarah asked the lady who brought her over.

"For you to pick out the dresses you like unless you already have a design in mind."

"Aren't you supposed to pick the clothes for me?" Sarah asked, confused.

"No, ma'am."

Sarah turned and looked in confusion at the racks and racks of clothing available for her picking. How was she supposed to pick one from all these tempting dresses? How would she know the type that would look good on her? Her hands trembled as she fingered a gown on the rack before she dropped her hands from the dress. She turned over to the attendant who encouragingly smiled at her.

"Which one do you think would be good for me?" Sarah asked her when she couldn't decide which one to get.

The attendant smiled and looked around at the dresses on the rack to find the perfect one for her. While the attendant was at it, Sarah looked around and saw ladies in clothing similar to the one the lady helping her wore and she thought that it could be some kind of uniform they wore for work like the maids and slaves of the old days wore to set them apart. The ladies in the uniform were also helping some other ladies like Sarah to figure out which dress would look good on them "What about this?" the attendant asked.

Sarah broke her focus on the other people in the boutique and returned her attention to the attendant. She saw the lady holding up a glittery dress that made Sarah feel like she could go blind just by looking at it. She shook her head in the negative at the dress. The attendant dropped the dress and searched through the rack again. This time she brought out bum shorts and a hoodie top set.

Sarah nearly gagged at how short the trooper was but she loved the design of it and also the top. She felt that there was no harm in trying it on although she wasn't sure she could reveal that much skin. Still, she reminded herself that there was no harm in trying them on since she wanted to transform herself. She unzipped her dress and tried to remove it from her body.

"What are you doing?"

Sarah paused in her task and looked at the attendant like she was a dwarf. "I want to try those on," Sarah explained, pointing to the clothes the attendant held in her hands.

"There is the changing room, ma'am," the attendant said, looking at Sarah like she wanted to ask what planet she was from.

Sarah smiled at the attendant in apology when all she truly wanted to do was disappear underground from the embarrassment she felt. Thankfully for her, the attendant has started moving towards the changing room she had talked about and Sarah followed suit. When they were there, the lady gave the clothes to Sarah and urged her to get inside.

Sarah didn't bother to argue or say anything to the attendant since she didn't want to embarrass herself again. When she stepped inside the room, she saw that it was only a small room with only a mirror and some things that looked like one of those racks outside, only smaller, in the room. She took off her gown and tried on the shorts and top with little difficulty. When she was done, she examined herself in the mirror and saw that the clothes were a perfect fit.

She shook her head at how much skin they did indeed show and decided that she couldn't wear them no matter how much she thought that she needed a transformation. She took them off and put her dress back on before she went back out.

"How is it, ma'am?" the attendant asked her the moment she saw her.

"Nice, but I can't wear them since they reveal too much skin," Sarah said, handing the items back.

"I honestly thought that those would look hot on you. You could wear it for your boyfriend while you two are alone in the house."

She thought about what the attendant had said and realized that she found the idea appealing. If she wanted to get Adam to notice her, she would have to make total changes he would notice no matter how much he tried not to. Wearing the shorts and the top would also help in the growth she was striving for. She took the clothes from the attendant who smiled at her.

"Would you like me to pick more dresses for you?" the lady asked and Sarah nodded.

About an hour later, Sarah was out of the boutique with a new dress on her body and a bag full of new clothes. She didn't know how much they cost and she didn't care much about it since she had used the square thing Adam had given her when she left about a month ago. He had told her that all she needed was to give it to the people she bought something from and they would get their money from it. She had been skeptical when she gave it to the attendant but she relaxed when the woman smiled and handed the clothes and the square thing back to her.

Her next stop on the list was the salon and Sarah went over to the place. When she got there, she met yep customers on the ground and the head stylist there offered her a seat and gave her a book to look for the style she wanted while waiting. By the time it was her turn, Sarah didn't know what style to settle for.

"Made a decision yet?" the stylist asked her.

"Just redo the hair into something nice for me," Sarah told her.

The stylist smiled and had Sarah settle for a style that only required cutting her long hair to shoulder length to frame her face. As she sat down, the hairdresser smiled and assured her that she would get exactly what she wanted.

Sarah closed her eyes to hide her eyes a little from the stylist as she worked on her hair. By the time she would clear her throat and told Sarah that she was done with the hair, Sarah was already half-asleep. She opened her eyes and looked into the mirror and gasped audibly, staring in disbelief at who was staring back at her in the mirror.

"Told you that you would love what I'll do with the hair," the stylist said to her.

And truly, Sarah was amazed. Those lots of hair that she thought made her beautiful were all gone and in their place were the luscious ones that made her look even more beautiful to herself. She looked at the stylist and smiled at her. After she was done, Sarah paid her using the same means of payment used during her shopping. As she stepped out of the saloon, she shook her head as she remembered that she had one more stop before her transformation was over.

When she found herself in front of the M&M house of make-up, she smiled. This was the final part of her body transformation, so she was excited with how much she pulled change when she finally had a new look on her face. She had seen how many people changed from ordinary to beautiful after they applied modern makeup. Now, it was her turn, she thought as she walked into the house. When she got in, she met a woman who looked a little older than the other people Sarah had encountered before.

"What may I do for you, miss?" the older woman asked.

"I want to change my look with make-up. I also want one of those things that changes the eye color," Sarah told the woman in reply.

The woman ordered her to sit and began to clean her face. When she was done, she brought out the makeup box and Sarah nearly stopped with it when she saw the number of things the woman brought out. She however encouraged herself and sat still. The woman began to work her magic on Sarah's face, shaving where necessary and cleaning when necessary. When the time came for the woman to insert the contact lens, she tried to remove the black lenses she thought that Sarah had on her iris already.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked when the woman kept trying to touch her eyeballs one after the other.

"We need to remove the lens you have on to put in another one."

"It's my eye color, not a lens," Sarah explained to her her.

"Wow," the woman said, astonished. After that little revelation, the rest of the makeup went smoothly. By the time she was done, Sarah couldn't agree more to be tired. She touched her face but her level of confidence wasn't up to that. She didn't know if she looked nice or if she had worsened, so she tried to stay away. The woman saw her difficulties in checking herself out and she tapped Sarah before pointing to the mirror.

Sarah took courage and looked at the mirror. She didn't recognize who kept staring back at her. To say that she was shocked was putting it mildly. She smiled into the mirror when she remembered how hard the woman had tried to make her look.