Chapter 98: To the Gala



"Next..." Hayden said emotionlessly.

I sighed, trying to hide my frustration from him.

"Next..." Hayden said after a single glance at me. His eyes immediately returning to his phone’s screen.

I heaved another sigh. When is this going to end? Personally, I don’t even know what he’s expecting or what he’s looking for...

"Next..." Hayden said without hesitation.

"Can we stop this now? I’m getting tired..." I started to complain.

"No. Next," Hayden said, sounding dead bored.

I wanted to shout at him. How long does he expect me to keep doing this? We’ve been at it for almost an hour now...

As to what we were doing, well, we were trying to find the right dress for me to wear to the gala. More accurately, he was trying to find me a dress that I could wear to the gala with him. I was merely trying on countless dresses that the boutique had prepared for me based on his orders. So far, we were roughly an hour in and none of the dresses that I tried on impressed Hayden...at all.

I felt tired just from trying on one dress after another. Each time he rejected a dress, I felt a little more depressed inside. Truthfully, for me, all the dresses looked amazing, and they also look super pricey, and they probably were. I had no idea what was so wrong about all these dresses. Do they look ugly when I wear them? Was it because of me and not the dresses?

Honestly, I think they all look good on me when I looked at my reflection in the full-length mirror. Not saying that I have a good figure or anything, but the dresses were truly beautiful; they would look good on anyone. Any of the dresses should be fine for the gala. It’s not like I’m going to be the superstar of the event or anything like that.

I’m just accompanying Hayden because his father had ordered me to do so.

I walked out of the dressing room again with a new dress on as I silently prayed that Hayden would give this one the ok. After some hesitation, I decided to try on this dress. The reason being that it was a little bit bolder and revealing than the others. It was bright red with sparkly red sequins sewn all over the dress in a swirly pattern.

"Huh?! How can you say something like that? Are you saying that I look pregnant?" I asked in pure disbelief.

"It’s up to you which way you want to take my comment. It would cause misunderstandings and trouble for me if the lady standing next to me looks pregnant, no?" Hayden stated with a shrug.

My mouth fell open at his ridiculous and insensitive comment.

"That’s..." I whispered in pure shock. How can he say something like that with a straight face?

I was so shocked and offended by what he just said that I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, if the dress made me look pregnant, then why did he have to choose it? There were so many others that showed-off less of my figure...

How the hell am I supposed to lose weight that fast? Seriously...

...

Finally, the day that everyone had been anxiously waiting for had arrived. Not surprisingly, Hayden never bothered to tell me anything about the gala. I didn’t know where it was going to be held or who would be coming with us. I just didn’t know anything at all. Hayden did not offer to tell me and acted like the gala wasn’t a big deal.

However, I knew that the gala was indeed a big deal. After all, it was a large annual event where leaders and top tier members of big mafia gangs would gather. It probably had the same significance as the UN meeting for leaders of nations to attend, I guessed. Ironically, I would be attending the event with Hayden.

Recalling the meeting at his office that I had witnessed; I also knew that the meeting was important in dictating the next steps for how the gang would deal with the Silva gang over disputes in their territories. I was sure that Hayden knew this as well; there were many important things riding on this gala gathering.

"I’ve packed and arranged everything that I think you may need," Auntie said politely as she gestured to a large pile of luggage.

My eyes widened in disbelief at the amount of baggage that was prepared. I mean, all this for one evening? I mean, we’re not even staying over. It’s just an evening event and then we were going to come back, right?

--To be continued...