CHAPTER 88: BEST DRESSED?

The moment I arrived home, I noticed that something was off. I quickly made my way inside, only to be greeted by a very interesting sight.

"Oh, you’re finally home!"

Though I was initially surprised, our lovely guest was a welcome sight.

"Cherie! You made it!" I smiled, greeting her warmly.

Behind her, Morgan was shooting daggers with her eyes. She was clearly unhappy to see the new visitor.

It seems that they’re off to a good start.

Morgan walked over, faking a welcoming smile. "Leslie, dear sister! How was work? I hope you’re not too tired today."

I suppressed the desire to roll my eyes. If it wasn’t for Christian allowing me to sleep in his bed this morning, I would be beyond exhausted right now.

"Thank you for your concern, sister. I am doing okay," I said shyly.

My submissive attitude caused Cherie to quickly lose interest in me, and she turned her attention to Morgan.

"So, how often does Christian come to see you? When we lived here, he would visit us almost every day."

Her flaunting words caused Morgan to clench her fists in anger. "Leslie, any news from Christian today?"

I pretended to think for a moment, "Oh! I did receive a message saying that he planned on visiting today."

"Why didn’t you say so earlier?! We need to let the staff know so that everything can be perfect!" Her shrill voice caused me to wince from pain.

Cherie looked at me again, "Really? Christian is visiting today? He must know that I’m here and wanted to make sure I was okay!"

Morgan took a step forward, "What do you mean he’s coming here to visit you. You said no one knew of your arrival! He’s clearly coming to visit me, his future WIFE!"

"Don’t be silly, Christian has ways of obtaining information that regular people don’t. He knows I’m here and is visiting me!" insisted Cherie.

I watched the farce from the sidelines. Those two were made for each other, and I was looking forward to the few days of peace as Morgan’s attention would be fully diverted to Cherie.

"Excuse me, ladies, I need to go get ready for my fiancé’s arrival!" Morgan finally blurted out after being driven to the edge by Cherie’s insistence.

"Oh! Me too! I can’t let Christian see me in such a state!" said Cherie, following Morgan’s announcement.

They both looked at each other angrily before huffing and running to their respective rooms. I was ignored and left alone, which was the best possible outcome that could have happened.

I calmly walked down the hallway to my room with a smile on my face.

Forgive me, ladies, but Christian is in fact coming to see me.

Once I made it inside my room, I took a few minutes to relax. Overall, today was a busy day, and a lot was going on. Dinner was also going to be hectic with Morgan and Cherie competing for Christian’s attention.

What should I wear tonight, then?

Since Morgan and Cherie were both busy getting dressed into their finest clothes, I figured that I should also join the fun, but in my own way.

Walking over to my closet, I looked through the hundreds, if not thousands, of dresses. Most of them I’ve only ever worn once, which was a shame because they were all beautiful and high quality.

They all looked nice and were decent options, but none of them felt like ’the one’ until I reached a simple-looking black silk dress.

It was a slip-type dress, just below the knee in length. There was nothing fancy about it, no embroidery or gemstones, only the high-quality black silk material.

But the thing that drew me to this dress was that I didn’t have to wear a bra with it.

I wonder if Christian would like it?

I wasted no time and changed into the dress, twirling in front of the mirror a few times. It fit perfectly-- highlighting the curves of my body while still sitting loosely on my body.

"It’s just boring enough that Morgan and the others won’t think anything of it," I said under my breath, happy with my appearance.

For jewelry, I decided to keep it simple. Just a solid black choker made out of a ribbon of black velvet.

I decided to keep my hair down, continuing with the ’simple’ look. I knew that my mother wouldn’t be too happy, but it wasn’t so grave of an offense that she would do something more than remind me to wear it differently next time.

The remainder of the time I had left was spent on painting my nails black. I cheerfully hummed a tune as I carefully painted my nails, enjoying my peaceful time.

I didn’t even have to look at Morgan or Cherie to know that they were both in a very different state, rushing against time to make sure every part of their appearance was no less than perfect.

"I wonder if Morgan will wear that silly brooch again. I kind of hope she does," I said while finishing my last nail.

Unlike me, Cherie had no reason not to ridicule Morgan’s choice of aesthetic, and boy, was I excited for the show.

A few minutes later, the maid came by announcing that dinner would be served shortly and that I should make my way over to greet our guests.

Oh, Christian must have arrived!

I waited a few more minutes for my nail polish to fully dry before stepping out of my room in black heels.

-

By the time I arrived, Morgan and Cherie were standing close to each other, subtly ridiculing each other’s attire.

"I didn’t realize it was Christmas. I nearly mistook you for a lit-up tree!" Cherie snickered.

"At least I have more than one color that suits me. You look like you’re on your way to do a campaign ad for a period commercial!" hissed Morgan.

Cherie was dressed in crimson from head to toe. Even her eye makeup had different shades of red. While it didn’t look bad, it was a very loud and eye-catching dress, taking away from her natural beauty.

Morgan was dressed in her usual peacock, multicolored, craziness. And pinned to the center of her chest was the brooch she was so proud of.

They both quickly glanced at me, hoping to say something negative to vent their frustrations, but unfortunately for them, I was dressed too plainly.

"I didn’t realize you were attending a funeral, Leslie. Or is it that you’ve gained weight and need to hide it behind wearing all black?" asked Morgan, rolling her eyes.

Hiding my amused expression, I lowered my voice, "I..I’m sorry, sister. It’s just that I didn’t have enough time to choose something nice. I hope you don’t mind."

"Don’t mind? Of course not. Your boring outfit only helps me to stand out. In fact, you should wear something this boring more often," she said, brushing me off.

Cherie glanced at me for a while longer. I couldn’t tell if she had the same opinion as Morgan, but she decided not to comment on my outfit at all.

Morgan was about to say something, but the doors to the dining room suddenly opened.