"Next…" Hayden said emotionlessly.


    I sighed, trying to hide my frustration from him.


    "Next…" Hayden said after a single nce 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 toin.


    "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 g. More urately, he was trying to find me a dress that I could wear to the g 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 g. It’s not like I’m going to be the superstar of the event or anything like that.


    I’m just apanying 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.


    It had a strapless corset-like top with a long skirt with a slit running up to my upper thigh and a flowy mermaid skirt that trailed a little after me on the floor.


    One nce at the dress and Hayden nodded silently. He really wants to go with this one?


    "Are you sure? Isn’t it a bit too…eye-catching?" I asked, notpletely convinced of his choice. I had thought that the other paler cream dress looked more passable.


    "Yes. We’ll get this one. Can you hold the waist in by around two inches for me now?" Hayden said to the shop attendance.


    "Yes, Sir," the woman replied and quickly did as he had asked.


    She stepped behind me and pinched and pulled the fabric of the dress behind my waist to tighten the fabric around my waist. Too tight. Seriously, too tight.


    "Adjust the dress. Make the waist around two inches smaller. That would be all," Hayden said passionlessly.


    "Yes, Sir. We’ll get it delivered to you right away when the adjustments have been made," the woman said before bowing politely to Hayden.


    Hayden gave her his credit card and that was it. I’m going to wear this bold and shiny red dress with a two-inch-too-small waist to the g.


    "The waist is going to be too small. I can hardly breathe when she held the dress in," Iined after Hayden had dragged me out of the boutique. Once again, I had no idea where he was going to take me.


    "Then slim down," Hayden said like it was the obvious thing to do.


    "What?! The g is already next week!" I eximed.


    "You don’t want to look like you’re in your fourth of fifth month of your pregnancy, do you?" Hayden asked, pointedly.


    "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 myment. It would cause misunderstandings and trouble for me if thedy standing next to me looks pregnant, no?" Hayden stated with a shrug.


    My mouth fell open at his ridiculous and insensitivement.


    "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 g. I didn’t know where it was going to be held or who would being with us. I just didn’t know anything at all. Hayden did not offer to tell me and acted like the g wasn’t a big deal.


    However, I knew that the g was indeed a big deal. After all, it was arge 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 g gathering.


    "I’ve packed and arranged everything that I think you may need," Auntie said politely as she gestured to arge 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 toe back, right?


    --To be continued…