Lyra remembered the event and still could not believe that had hugged her to sleep last night. It was as though he had not just degraded the woman in his arms.
And the sad thing was that Lyra could only accept all this humiliation without complaining about it. After all this was the path she had chosen. No one had forced her to do this.
She was the one who made the decision to go to him… She was the one who devalued herself…
And this gave her even more reason to strive in this industry. Because she can't just remain as a third tier after all the sacrifice she had done.
She looked at Viviana's reflection in the mirror and couldn't help repeating what Director Yan had told her the night before. It was true that Viviana was not able to grow in the industry only because Mr. Yan was behind it. And she took the advantage of it with the help of Agent Yan.
And the ironic thing was that despite being suppressed for more than two years, being hated by the public just for her rumors, and even after the accusation of being a bully, a single episode of a variety show and a post of some critic was all that required her to turn the table. Now, even those who were once calling out for her boycott were singing her praise.
Even after being thrown into the mud, she came out shining.
That's how Viviana was. And Lyra hated every bit of it. And the more determined she was to send Viviana out of this entertainment industry.
___
After waiting for almost two hours, Viviana was finally done with her make up. And the hair stylist asked her to get into her dress before they start with the hair. So, with the help of the stylist, she got dressed.
It was a blood maroon off shoulder sheath evening gown. The dress hugged her well proportioned figure. And with a slit that reached her thigh, the contrast between her fair skin and the dark fabric made her eye-catching.
"Oh My God! Lyra…. You look like a fairy!!!"
But of course. If all was about dresses, the evening gown Viviana rented from a small brand like Vamii cannot be compared to the one Lyra was wearing. She was wearing a white high low dress with delicate Blue embroidery which came from the snow spring collection of one of the top designers of the world, Zia.
Not minding Lyra's assistant who was flaunting her boss, Viviana took her seat. The hairstylist then began to work on her hair. It took her almost half an hour to arrange her hair into a low bun.
And just when Viviana was about to stand up from her seat, an unexpected trouble landed on her lap.
"Oh No!!!"
Someone exclaimed. And the rest turned to Viviana's direction and gasped at what they saw.
Viviana just experienced what was commonly known as dumbstruck by someone's absurdity. Lyra's stylist who was cleaning her stuff had accidentally pushed her foundation bottle into her lap. And the bottle just happened to have a faulty lid.
Now her dress was painted with 5000 bucks worth of liquid foundation.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry…"
The stylist had been apologizing repeatedly as she wiped off the dress with a tissue. If not for the satisfied look on Lyra's face that she had seen for a second, Viviana would have even believed that this was indeed an error from the stylist's side and not a premeditated accident.
Viviana did not say a thing. She frowned as she pushed away the stylist hand which was only making the dress stain worse. But Elisa was not having it.
"What sorry? Does saying sorry solve everything?" She snapped at the stylist. "How can you make such a mistake? How is sister Vivi going to attend the premiere now?"
"I…"
The stylist looked at Lyra's direction. She was only following Lyra's order and was in a state of guilt after having done the deed. But thankfully, her boss came to her rescue.
"Oh No… Sister Vivi. You can't attend the ceremony like this."
"…" Viviana had not said a word but the other woman continued her own dialogue.
"Do you have an extra?" She asked.
"We were notified only this morning so we didn't have the time to prepare one." Elisa replied.
"This is not good…"
In the eyes of others, Lyra looked like she was really concerned about the matter. But all those present there knew better than to trust what they saw.
'What's she aiming for now?' Viviana thought.
"Oh!"
As if she suddenly got an idea, Lyra hit her right fist on her left palm.
"I have another dress with me that I brought just in case something happened to my original choice. If you don't mind…"
'So… That's what she's after…' Viviana finally got what Lyra was planning.
"There's no need…" She was about to reject her offer when the door to the dressing room suddenly opened.
"Vivi are you_ Oh Dear! What happened to the dress!" Manager An exclaimed as soon as she saw the condition of the dress.
Agent Yan who was standing outside, also peeked in to see what the commotion was about. And when he saw the obviously large stain on Viviana's dress, the first thing he did was to look in Lyra's direction.
When he saw that the girl could not meet his eyes, he immediately knew that this was her masterpiece, making him send a look of disapproval in her direction. He had just coaxed her this morning to not create troubles for Viviana for the next few days after the girl had related to him conversation she had with Mr. Yan the night before.
He sighed and asked the same question that Lyra asked. Whether they prepared an extra dress. The answer was same. Only that this time it was Manager An who was giving the reply.
Then Lyra once again offered to lend her extra dress. If it was Viviana alone, she would have rejected it regardless of the dreadful circumstances she was in. But Manager An had other opinion.
"It's already four thirty… the event will start at six. We don't have time to be choosy now."
And Viviana could only comply.