06 ‖ The Dress

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"You're definitely not going to the party dressed like that. You look like a soldier prepared for war." Casimir exclaims in disbelief as he rubs his temples, clearly frustrated.

"I don't see what's wrong with it." I shrug in confusion as I take a glance at myself once again in the mirror.

I look fine. I have everything that I need on me — my handgun is secured in its holster, my dagger is sheathed and strapped around my thigh and most importantly, I have my gas mask with me. I look perfectly normal.

Before any of you think that I am crazy. I am just cautious and ready. Yes, the gas mask is a necessity. You never know when Casimir might turn an entire party into a lab experiment of his.

"You don't see anything wrong with it? Just how? Where on earth did you even get a gas mask from?" Casimir questions in incredulity and he sighs in exasperation before dashing out of the room while yelling for Reece. "Reece! I beg you, please fix her."

Casimir drags Reece into the room and the second she lays her eyes on me, her jaw drops. She scans me from head to toe, clearly shocked.

"Please Casimir, there are millions of dogs in the world. What makes you think I would need you to tell me how to dress? Like I said, I look perfectly fine." I snarl at him.

"Girl, you look like you're going to meet your worst enemy today. Now, leave behind that crazy contraption of yours that looks like it can drain whatever life you have left in you." Reece demands and I toss the gas mask onto the side of the bed reluctantly.

"It's a gas mask." I try to correct her.

"Gas mask, life suctioning device, a face coffin, whatever it is I don't care. You're in my apartment and my room right now. Therefore, my rules. You leave it behind." She states strictly. My lips purse into a thin line but I nod compliantly. "Oh and get rid of the gun too. It's bulky and ugly. The knife-looking thing can stay." Though I am hesitant, I do as she says.

Reece starts to rummage through her closet and Casimir lets out a breath of relief before leaving the room triumphantly. She then proceeds to pull out a simple black satin backless dress. She then reveals a pair of black pin heels that perfectly matched the dress.

"Now, time for the make up." She informs and gets me to sit by the edge of her bed.

She then starts to 'paint' my face and soon enough, she finishes. She smiles proudly at what she calls a true work of art and tells me to get dressed before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

I quickly change into the outfit that Reece had given to me and surprisingly, her heels fit me perfectly. I stare at the stranger who stared back at me in the mirror. It is insane how different one can look because of make up and clothing.

I then leave the room while struggling to walk in the heels that are inhumanely high.

The first person I make eye contact with is unfortunately Casimir. He looks me up and down once and I see him gulp.

"Now you look like an angel!" Reece exclaims and claps in excitement. This catches everyone else's attention. Silas lets out a nearly unnoticeable smile at Reece's reaction and Dominic looks up from his phone and starts to gawk at me.

"You look amazing duckling. As expected from Silas' girl." Dominic praises Reece.

"If only I can look like a masterpiece too." Reece jokes and chuckles at herself only to be instantly pulled into a side hug by Silas.

"You're perfect the way you are Ree." Silas reassures shyly and Reece beams at Silas' comment before pulling him into a tight embrace. Silas turns red and is clearly flustered by her unanticipated reaction but simply brushes Reece's hair gently while looking away.

"The Halloween costume suits you better." Casimir remarks solemnly and I raise an eyebrow at him.

Before anyone could even ask for an explanation, he stands up and leaves the apartment. I look at everyone else and realisation seems to have dawned on them but no one says a word.

I suppose tomorrow has to be better. Right?

Suddenly recalling his words from last night, I decide to keep silent. Something definitely bothered him but perhaps it was something confidential. I should not pry. Frankly, I almost forgot about it. Everything seemed normal throughout the day and nothing about Casimir seemed off. Well, except until now.

"She's wearing the dress right?" Dominic asks quietly and nudges Reece with his elbow.

"It didn't occur to me when I chose it." She replies remorsefully and upon noticing how upset she had gotten, Silas tries to comfort her.

I stare at all of them in confusion. "Is there something wrong with the dress?" 

Dominic and Reece exchange glances and conflict is smothered on their faces.

"No there's absolutely nothing wrong. You look fabulous that's all. Caz is just jealous of your beauty. He has always wanted to be a girl because he loves dresses. Anyways, it's time for us to go. Sore loser is probably waiting in the car for us." Dominic tries to clear up the tension. Reece and Silas agrees and we start to leave the apartment.

Dominic is clearly lying. I know that but I choose to not question it. He probably has a good reason for doing so.

Nonetheless, a part of me really wants to know.

♚♚♚

The second Dominic hits the brakes, I let out my breath that I had been holding in for what seemed like forever.

Unfortunately, because I am Casimir's bodyguard, it meant that I had to be in the same car ride as him. Dominic insisted on driving and because of that, I had to sit with Casimir at the back of the car and trust me when I say that not a single word was uttered throughout the entire ride. On the other hand, Reece and Silas had their own ride to the party so they escaped the awkward silence.

I leave the car with Casimir and I am left alone with him while Dominic tries to look for a parking spot.

"Why don't you just enjoy yourself at the party for tonight instead of following me around?" Casimir suggests and I frown.

Sometimes I truly wonder if he is all brawn and no brain. What makes him think that I am allowed to just leave him simply because I want to. If I could, he would not be anywhere in sight.

"You know perfectly well why I cannot do that your highness." I respond nonchalantly, not thinking too much into it and he snaps.

"God, can you just pretend that you're not my bodyguard for one night? I absolutely can't stand your presence!"

I stand rooted to the ground.

His eyebrows are furrowed. He is glaring daggers at me. He is irritated. Rather, he is fuming with rage.

But why?

Without letting me respond, he simply storms off into Ezra's apartment and gets engulfed by the crowd. The building is packed with people and the only thing I can hear besides the deafening music being blasted in every corner of the house is the pounding of my heart.

Though I knew fully well that Casimir did not want me to be his bodyguard, never once throughout the week did he lose his temper at me because of it. I cannot deny that I am taken aback by his sudden outburst.

I snap out of my thoughts when Dominic drapes his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm back duckling. Where's Caz?" He asks while looking around us.

"He already went in." I try my best to sound unfazed.

Thankfully, Dominic does not seem to notice and merely nods before grabbing ahold of my hand as he pulls me into the house.

Once we are among the crowd, a bunch of girls start to swam around Dominic and it does not take long for me to lose sight of him. Realising that it would be a futile attempt to look for Dominic, I grab a glass of water and sit by the kitchen counter where it is slightly less flooded with people.

Time passes by at a painfully slow rate and every minute felt like an hour.

I swirl my glass of water in boredom and stare at the vortex that the water makes, in hopes to distract myself from my thoughts.

"It's you again. You're really everywhere, aren't you?" I hear a familiar voice from behind and I turn to look.

Of course it's him. The one and only — Casimir Hughes.

He proceeds to take a seat beside me and takes a sip from his drink.

"I did what you asked me to. You're the one stumbling into me here." I look forward and set the glass of water down onto the tabletop.

He abruptly leans towards me and whispers. "I was lying earlier on."

I look at him quizzically.

He gives a lopsided grin and continues. "You look beautiful in the dress."

I am beyond confused. Is this one of his other tricks to get me to leave? To make me feel uncomfortable by acting all weird?

"I'll go to another room." I get up from my seat, ready to leave.

However, before I could even take a step, I am stopped by his sudden grasp on my hand. I try to pull my hand away, only for him to tighten his grip.

I look at him and he is clearly drowned in sorrow. He starts to rub the back of my palm in circles with his thumb and looks me in the eyes.

"Please stay."


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