Aaron was still waiting in the fitting room when Mei Ling emerged from the tailoring room in the back of the shop.
She was dressed in a black leather mid-thigh-length sleeveless dress with a mandarin collar.
Black leather over-the-knee boots with pointed toes and sharp, metal stiletto heels covered her legs and feet and black leather elbow length gloves covered her arms.
Her silky black hair was done in a Chinese bun with two metal pins holding it up.
Long silver earrings adorned her ears and she had changed her simple nude makeup to a more bold and sensual look, with black eyeliner and deep red lipstick.
Aaron felt a strange feeling when he saw her.
He forced that feeling down. "You look beautiful Ms. Ling" he told her.
Mei Ling had noticed his attraction and felt a new admiration for his self-discipline and self-control as he fought it down.
"Shall we go?" she asked him.
He offered her his hand, and she gently guided him to link his arm in hers.
Together the set-off for the waiting room.
Ivan noticed Aaron and Mei Ling first. "Wow," he gasped, bringing Annette's and Mr. Thompson's attention to them.
Mr. Thompson pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Aaron and Mei Ling. "They make quite the couple," he remarked.
"Indeed," agreed Ivan, snapping a picture of them as well.
Annette smiled and made an effort to keep her wits about her. "You look beautiful Mei Ling. And Aaron, you look handsome as well," she said.
"Alright, let's be off," said Ivan, and linking his arm with Annette's he led them out of the shop.
"I call shotgun Father, Mother can ride in the back with Ms. Ling" said Aaron, he opened the rear door for Mei Ling and helped her inside the car.
However, when he offered his arm to Annette, she scurried to the other side, opened the other door and got in herself.
Ivan watched Annette avoid Aaron with growing frustration.
A wicked idea suddenly occurred to him.
"Aaron, you drive" he said tossing the keys to Aaron.
Aaron caught them and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure Father? We will be on the highway and might get pulled over," he asked.
"I trust your skills. It's about time your mother did as well," said Ivan grimly as he opened the front passenger door.
Aaron nodded and got into the driver's seat.
Aaron started the car, engaged the reverse gear and cautiously pulled out of the parking lot an onto the street, hazard indicators flashing as he did so.
Once on the street, he engaged the drive gear and slowly started driving forward, ensuring that he kept a slow and steady pace.
"Master Aaron is driving extremely well!" marveled Mei Ling as Aaron smoothly merged onto the slow lane of the highway.
"Well at least somebody noticed," snarled Ivan from the front passenger seat, glaring at Annette through the rearview mirror.
Annette looked away from Ivan's gaze, and out of the window.
"Do you like fast cars Ms. Ling?" Ivan asked.
"Well yes, I suppose," said Mei Ling, wondering what Ivan was up to.
"I see, and what do you like about them?" asked Ivan.
"Well I do like the speed and power they possess, and the sound they give when you rev their engines" said Mei Ling, answering Ivan's silent prayer.
Keeping a tight control on his excitement, Ivan glanced at his watch.
"Aaron, we'll not make it on time at this speed. Step on it," he said.
"Are you sure Father? You know Mother doesn't like it. I'm at 45 mph already," said Aaron.
"Son, right now your date is the most important person here. I'll take full responsibility for your mom.
You heard Mei Ling, she likes fast cars. Step on it" said Ivan.
"Don't you dare Aaron Zakhrov!" shouted Annette from the back seat.
She silently cursed Ivan, Mei Ling, and the BMW M5
"Sorry Mother, but Father is right. We have to make it in time." said Aaron, giving her a predatory grin as he turned on the turn signal to change lanes.
"Aaron, please!" whimpered Annette.
Aaron floored the throttle, Mei Ling squealed in excitement as the car's powerful turbocharged V8 engine roared in response and the BMW M5 shot forward at a rapid pace, accelerating from 45 mph to 95 mph within seconds.
"Bravo Master Aaron. You have excellent control!" she exclaimed excitedly as the acceleration stopped and Aaron maintained a steady 95 mph, well within the highway's 115 mph speed limit.
----
Annette breathed a big sigh of relief as Aaron pulled into the theater parking lot.
She grudgingly took Ivan's offered hand.
"I hate you right now." she growled at him in a low voice.
"Hate me all you want. You needed to learn to have some faith in Aaron," Ivan growled back at her.
He handed a pass to Aaron and the four of them ascended the sweeping steps of the theater hall.
A big, beefy security guard in a crisp black suit with an earpiece in his ear stopped them at the imposing doors.
"The dress code is black tie.
The young lady and gentleman here can go in, but you need to change Madam, and you need to wear a jacket sir" he rumbled at Ivan and Annette, indicating a smaller set of doors marked as 'cloak room'.
Annette opened her mouth to give the security guard a piece of her mind, but Ivan gripped her forearm and steered her away.
"I don't have a dress!" she snarled in a low voice, as Ivan pulled her towards the cloak room.
"I anticipated this eventuality and took the liberty of packing you a dress and shoes," said Ivan as he pushed open the cloak room doors and pushed Annette inside.
Seething, Annette grabbed the bag from him and stalked off to the women's changing room. Inside the changing room, she opened the bag to find a shimmering black cocktail dress, along with a bag of lingerie, and strappy flat sandals. She growled in frustration, pulled off her comfortable sweater and jeans, and took stock of the lingerie Ivan had packed her.
It was obvious that Ivan had done the shopping himself.
The black front-closing, underwired strapless bra, lacy black panties and sheer black pantyhose were items she didn't have and would have never picked up herself.
With a look of disgust, she stuffed the bra and panties back into the bag.
Sitting down on a stool, she pulled on the pantyhose, but due to her unfamiliarity with it, the sheer material ripped, and her feet stuck through the upper part of the pantyhose.
Ripping the ruined pantyhose off herself, she quickly stood and changed into the dress and sandals that Ivan had packed for her.
Ivan was adjusting his cuff-links when Annette stalked out of the women's changing room.
"I packed you appropriate lingerie, and I packed you a battery powered shaver as well, it is in the front pocket of the bag" said Ivan, surveying Annette's frumpy appearance, and hairy armpits in the cloak room mirror.
"We don't have time for that!" growled Annette.
"We have 30 minutes, take it or leave it," said Ivan.
"Just how far ahead did you plan this?" asked Annette.
"Far enough to compensate for your stubbornness, now are you going to properly dress and groom yourself?
Or are you going to embarrass our son on his 13th birthday?" asked Ivan, clearly near the limit of his patience with her.
Annette ripped open the front pocket of the bag, pulled out the shaver and stalked back into the women's changing room.