Chapter 12 Mate

Anyee was so happy by seeing the dress. I could say she really liked it. She happily took it, then paused. She then turned back to me. Her smile was no longer there. Her face showed she was in a dilemma. I knew what she was thinking.

"You can take this one. It will suit you." I said to her, smiling.

She looked at me and said hesitantly, "What will you wear? I mean…. Umm you can wear it if you like this."

"It's ok you wear this I will wear something else. It is a bit bright. I want something dark that does not catch attention." What I said was not a lie. I never liked bright clothes. They just brought unnecessary attention.

She became happy again after hearing what I said. Then she went to the changing room and changed into her red dress.

The dress was T-shaped, from the lower neck to the mid-thighs. It perfectly showed her necessary curves and long, slender white legs. She was snowy white, and that bright red dress made her look so gorgeous. Her age looked even smaller. I was stunned to look at my beautiful friend.

"You look like a princess!" I complimented her as I took her hand in mine.

"Really?" she smiled with a lot of excitement.

"Yeah, you really look amazing today. I bet a few of the co-workers will stick their eyes only on my beautiful friend," I said, winking at her.

"Don't talk nonsense." she said, hitting my hand lightly.

"I'm not. I swear." I said as I put my fingers on my neck.

"Alright, let's find you something good to wear first." She said looking at the remaining dresses.

"Try this one. It looks good among them." she said, giving me a black dress. And I tried it on.

It was nice. It was a full-length dress with its ends decorated with silver sparks. It didn't have any shoulders. It started from the very top of the neck, and there was jewelry design. I had fair skin, so a black dress looked good on me.

"yo… Riley, how could you look so good in such plain and dark clothes, hmm? It looks so nice on you. All your curves are outlined. You look mature and bold, like a real lady." she said as I looked myself in the mirror. And I didn't look that bad, so I booked that one.

After booking our clothes, we went to the parlor and decided on our look for the party. I wasn't a bit interested in this thing. I swore if I could, I would attend the banquet without makeup. I just feel uncomfortable with it. But Anyee was so excited for this party, and I didn't want to turn her off just because I was an introvert.

I decided to do a natural, minimal makeup look, along with making my hair wavy. As for Anyee, she chose a natural, smoky makeup look and a straight look for her hair.

When we were done choosing makeup, we went to a roadside restaurant for some snacks.

This restaurant was the place where I and Cami had our snacks. When I reached there, the old madam quickly recognized me and came to welcome us.

"How have you been all these days? And where's your other friend? It's been quite long since you guys stopped coming." She asked about Cami.

"We are both good, aunty. She is busy with her job. Once she is free, we'll come here to have tasty snacks." I said, smiling at her.

"Then I'll wait. What will you guys want today?" she said. I knew every food items of here. I have tasted them many times before.

"Aunty, bring us potato fries with your special chilly sauce, cold drinks, and two burgers." I signaled 2 from my fingers, at which she laughed. She smiled and left.

"You really know this place well." Anyee asked me.

"Yep, I used to come here a lot in my college days." I said to her.

"Who is the friend that aunt was talking?"

"She is Cami. She is my best friend from school days." I told her about Cami.

"Cami, I mean, Camila was my only friend before I met you." I explained it to her.

"I'm happy to be friends with you."

"Me too. I'll introduce you to Cami soon." The only friend theory applied to Cami too. It would be great if they also became friends.

Soon our potato chips and burger came to our table. We ate our snack while chatting happily.

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Soon it was our company's annual day. I got up from bed and took a quick shower. Then I made breakfast for Cami and me. While I was in the middle of our breakfast, I got a call from Anyee. She came to pick me up. I bid bye to Cami and went out with Anyee.

It was not our usual day, so we didn't have to go to our office. Instead, we went to the clothes shop, where we rented our clothes. We picked up our clothes and headed to the parlor, where our makeup appointment was fixed. But there were so many people there.

Anyee and waited for hours. And still, it was a long time until our turn. So we decided to have lunch first.

When we came back from lunch, we waited for about 10–15 minutes before it was our turn. It took a lot of time to do our hair and makeup. My whole body was sore from sitting in the same position for a long time.

Finally, it was done, and we wore our clothes. After putting on dresses, we went for some round of pictures. Soon it was 6 p.m., and we went to our company.

After reaching there, we climbed on a bus arranged by our company. The banquet venue was a little far away.

After reaching there, I was beyond shocked. It was a very large place and was beautifully decorated. It was an open area with a big stage in the middle, and the stage was surrounded by a lot of tables around it. It had four big screens facing four directions at the top of the stage. There would be thousands of people at the banquet, so the ones who were at the back tables could see live programs on those screens.

There were a lot of reporters at the venue, as well as the bodyguards. We could only enter when we showed our card.

While we were inside the banquet area, we saw reporters running towards the entrance. They were saying vice president. I guess she was the sexy-looking girl who broke my phone that day. I also looked at the entrance, and Bella Scultz stepped inside. She was wearing a v-neck light blue gown. She also wore blue high heels that matched her gown. She looked calm and elegant. Nothing like that day, she looked so beautiful. All the reporters were busy flattering the vice president.

"Look, the president is here!" someone shouted.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw someone entering. I turned to look at him. There I saw a young and handsome boy enter. He was tall. His hands were in his pockets, and he was taking on a cold aura around him. He looked dangerously handsome. His black hair and fair skin looked so good with his expensive-looking black suit.

He really….was handsome. Now I understood why Bella was so crazy for our CEO. When I was thinking this, he looked in my direction. Our eyes locked, and I felt something inside me beating so fast. And a wave of current-like things running in my blood vessels. Afterward, I heard a voice, strange yet familiar. It only said a word "mate."