WHAT
DREAMS ARE
MADE OF💞
#Episode_16
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Next Monday at the shop Chrissy met Linda who was concerned with her tired look. When Chrissy told her she couldn’t sleep well last night, she wanted to know what was troubling her but Chrissy wasn’t sure if she could share her dilemma with Linda yet. Linda had become a very dear friend of hers but she felt it wasn’t right to discuss such personal details, especially since it involved someone other than herself. So she kept it to generally not feeling too well.
Linda told her she had been taking work too seriously and she should take a break to which she just nodded. She didn’t know if a break would solve her problems.
Mrs. Clark called her in the afternoon to express her delight. Henry had informed that her that the formalities would be completed in couple of days and that she would have her dream come true. She wanted to meet Chrissy and personally thank her in ma-king it happen. Chrissy was worried to meet her but she was relieved to know that Henry had not told her anything about his proposal. Knowing she would have to meet Henry along with Mrs. Clark, she politely evaded the meeting saying that there was some urgent work at shop.
Following few days went like that. Chrissy didn’t meet Mrs. Clark, always mentioning some work or the other. She still didn’t tell anyone about Henry’s proposal. She wasn’t sure what he would do next but she was hoping that he would get the message in her silence. He had not approached her for a meeting but there have been messages from him which she has mostly ignored. She liked Henry, but ap@rt from being flattered by his proposal, she knew there was no future for them together. She didn’t love him and she hoped he would un-derstand her feelings.
But Mrs. Clark was not so easy to avoid.
She was much more direct than her son and one fine afternoon, she c@m£ to meet Chrissy unannounced. She hvgged her ti-ghtly and thanked her. “I know you said you were busy but I couldn’t control myself.
I am so happy that the dancing queen is mine now”, she said beaming brightly. She was quite energetic as usual and success of her long found dream had fuelled far more energies into her. She has fully recovered from her illness and she was planning to throw a p@rty to celebr@te her happiness.
“I have personally come to invite you to the p@rty and you have to come for it. You are practically the star of the p@rty!”, she exclaimed happily.
Chrissy was immediately worried. She couldn’t go to the p@rty. She did not want to meet Henry. And she certainly didn’t want Nikloi to think she was after Mrs. Clark or her son. Now that her job of finding the statue was over, she wanted to stay away from all of them. She knew Nikloi is going imagine disgusting things about her once he comes to know of Henry’s proposal. Worse, he may think she is a gold digger trying to influence both Henry and Mrs. Clark. She had to be away from this p@rty.
“I am genuinely very happy for you, Mrs. Clark and feel honoured that you are inviting to your p@rty. However, I won’t be able to join the p@rty”, she politely tried to decline the invitation.
“Is this because of Henry?” asked Mrs. Clark.
Chrissy didn’t know how to respond to that direct question. She was silent.
“Oh dear, Henry has told me about his proposal to you. And I must confess, I am absolutely thri-lled with his decision. I like you a lot and you are perfect for Henry. But, let none of that affect you. Whatever you decide is your decision, between the two of you and I will not try to influence you in anyway. Similarly, I wouldn’t let that affect our sweet relationsh!pas well. You are a wonderful person who has made my dream come true and I would want to share my happiness with you.
plea-se don’t say so. I am not leaving until you agree to honour the celebr@tions with your pres£nce”, she added pleadingly.
Chrissy was t©uçhed by her revelation and her love. She didn’t know that the old lady had grown so affectionate to her. She still didn’t want to join the p@rty but she didn’t want to break her heart as well. Her first p@rty experience had turned her completely off towards p@rties. They were definitely not her cu-p of tea. But nothing she could say to convince Mrs. Clark to let her off the hook. Finally considering her numerous requests, Chrissy agreed to come to the p@rty.
Just then Linda joined the two of them at the shop. When she c@m£ to know about the successful mission of finding bras-sy and its celebr@tion p@rty, she got really excited. “You really are a rock star, Chrissy! I never thought you would actually find it”, she said elatedly. She had seen Chrissy get all worked up while working on the search.
Chrissy smiled at her friend’s appreciation. Mrs. Clark joined in, “Yes, she really is a star. And she should come dressed like one for the p@rty”.
“Oh that means we nee-d a dress for the p@rty! Yes, I am so excited!”, Linda exclaimed.
“No, I alre-ady have a dress. I don’t nee-d another one”, Chrissy said quic-kly.
“Of course, you nee-d a new dress, dear. You must let me buy you one for the occasion”, Mrs Clark was all set alre-ady.
“What are you saying, Mrs. Clark? I can’t let you buy me a dress. Besides, I don’t nee-d one!” Chrissy said much more emphatically but none of the ladies were listening to her. They both were alre-ady discussing where they should shop the dress from without paying any attention to her rejection of the whole new dress idea.
Before Chrissy knew, Linda had shared quic-k download of Chrissy’s wardrobe with Mrs. Clark adding what style she feels Chrissy should be trying as a new dress. “Would you plea-se st©p, Linda!”, Chrissy said exasperatedly.
“You have got a very good friend, dear and she is only trying to help me. So plea-se don’t be mad at her”, said Mrs. Clark laughingly. She added, “I have got a wonderful idea. We are alre-ady at your closing time, so why don’t we go for shopping right now”.
Before Chrissy could reply or deny, she said to Linda, “Would you plea-se join us, Linda. I think you can certainly help Chrissy to choose her dress”. and Linda re-adily agreed. “Oh I would love to. Shopping is my favourite time pas-s activity and Chrissy is my most dear friend. But plea-se give me some time. I will just wra-p up some things in my office and also let them know I am pushing off. I will catch up with you guys at the reception lounge”.
With that she was quic-kly out of the shop. Chrissy was aghast at the quic-k turn of things. She didn’t want to go for shopping. She didn’t nee-d a dress! And she definitely cannot be splurging money on dresses when there were far more important issues that nee-ded that money. But how does she tell this to Mrs. Clark.
Struggling with words, she decided to be direct with Mrs. Clark. She told her, “Mrs. Clark, I un-derstand your feelings and really appreciate your friendsh!pbut I can’t accept this. It is a sheer waste of money as I don’t attend p@rties, etc and such dresses are absolutely no use for me. Besides I alre-ady have one wonderful dress that I can always wear since I have agreed to attend your p@rty”.
Mrs. Clark was silent for few minutes. Chrissy was worried if she had said too much. But Mrs. Clark surprised her. “You know, any other girl would have jumped with this with this offer, but not you. You indeed are special, Chrissy”, she paused, looking at her with admiration. But there was something else as well that Chrissy couldn’t un-derstand completely. She was alre-ady turning red in the face of her open appreciation.
“But Chrissy I would really love to get this dress for you. Think of it as a gift from me, as a token of my appreciation for all the ha-rd work you did for my search. You have anyways not accepted your share in the deal. At least let me do this”. Mrs. Clark’s words were quite emotional to Chrissy. She could see it in Mrs. Clark’s eyes that her feelings were genuine and that she really wanted Chrissy to accept her gift. In that emotional moment, Chrissy agreed to take the dress.
The three ladies met at the reception and left together in Mrs. Clark’s car. If Chrissy had a feeling that she was being watched, there was no way to check it. She was quic-kly ushered out by Linda but a pair of eyes of tall man kept following her.
Mrs. Clark’s took them to the shop she regularly shop from. Chrissy thought she had she had seen the designer wear stuff last time with Linda but this place was sophisticated, posh and high society. The go-wns on displ@ywere of splendidly beautiful. Chrissy couldn’t close her mouth when she saw the dresses. Mrs. Clark quic-kly had a word with the sales girl and she started showing them beautiful dresses one after another.
Linda was floored by each go-wn but the next go-wn always made her want the next one. There were dresses were in silk, chiffon, velvet, delicate net with exquisite work in crystals, sequins, pearls, beads, etc. They asked her to try some of them but she was afraid of even holding those dresses, fearing she may spoil them.
She was also not comfortable with the amount of skin that would be on displ@yin these dresses. Half the dresses had practically no back or all extremely ex-posing cuts, almost all had slits as high as the th!gh or even higher, some had very low n£¢klines or no shoulders.
She was embarras-sed by even trying these dresses, forget wearing them at a p@rty. After looking at various ex-posing dresses, finally her eyes landed on an emerald green velvet go-wn with silver sequins work around the n£¢kline. On trying, it fitted her perfectly with its colour matching her green eyes. Seeing herself in the go-wn, she fell in love with the gorgeous delicate work on the go-wn. The only p@rt it slightly expo-sed was her shoulders since it was an off-shoulder but the n£¢kline was still high enough, extended around upper arms. The full length, b©dy hvgging dress flaring slightly below her bu-mp in a fish cut style. Though it was a little too ti-ght for her preference, displa-ying her shapely figure, it covered the b©dy nicely. The sequins work around the n£¢kline, running diagonally from left shoulder upto her w@!st made it appear delicate yet uniquely styled.
Mrs. Clark also loved the dress and immediately brou-ght it for her. It was gift packed and handed to Chrissy without she could even realize the price. She knew it was definitely not something she could afford, but Mrs. Clark didn’t let her discuss it any further. Shopping done, ladies stepped out of the shop and after gr-abbing a cu-p of tea, they went on their ways. Chrissy declined Mrs. Clark’s offer to drop her home saying she had some work before she went home.
Linda had been giving her a different look all throu-gh their evening out but she didn’t get any opportunity to ask her in front of Mrs. Clark. Once Mrs. Clark left, Linda immediately took both her hands in her hands and squee-zed them ti-ghtly. “That old lady has it bad for you, Chrissy. What have you done to her! she exclaimed questioningly. Chrissy didn’t know what to tell her friend. She tried to evade, “What are you taking about?”
“It looks much more than a case of professional liking. I saw her looking at you with so much love and there was almost a plea in her eyes from time to time when she looked at you. I don’t know what it is but I can bet my money on it”, Linda added thoughtfully.
“What are you suggesting, Linda? Should I be avoiding her?”
Chrissy asked her, wondering if Linda could guess this how much time it would take for her to know about Henry’s proposal. But Linda was still in her thoughts. She said, “No, that is not what I am suggesting. But leave it, whatever it is, you deserve to be happy. Now, go home. We’ll see around”, with those words, she left for her place.
Chrissy reached her home in sometime. But she knew she was not going to find her sleep tonight as well. Mrs. Clark and her obvious affections for her had further complicated the situation. And if that was not sufficient, she had accepted to be at the p@rty. In that go-wn. Is she doing the right thing? Will she be able to even carry herself in that go-wn?
The night went by, as expected, without much sleep.
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▶To_be_Continued💝