_ Welcome To Beauty System!

"Letter to the universe

Dear universe,

Too corny am I? Or maybe not! Don't judge me too!

Hey, bully — this is my last letter to you as an ugly lassie. You've been a very bad boy, dear Nature. You've created me with such blemishes that my life never carried any flourishes.

Thank you because I am going to move mountains to drill holes in your ego. I will be beautiful soon! I mean very soon!

PS: I can't wait to see how ugly your magnificence looks when you cry! Goodbye — from the ex-most ugliest girl in the world!'

"Don't be absurd, Cosima," I said to myself as I tore out the one-hundred-and-twenty-second letter I had written to the universe.

My eyes were twitching under my oversized glasses. It was not the clouds of dust flying around the park that bore my stinging eyes. It was something else.

Yeah — it was me fighting the burst of emotions in me. Burst of pained emotions that wanted to let out their weight on my eyes. I wouldn't allow the tears come out. Not even once more!

Too many tears these eyes of mine had shed and so tired they were. For how much longer until my late father's mortgage wore me out and the loan sharks decided to take from me the only property in my name?

The only property my parents left for me. Urgh — who was I kidding?

The only recurring and substantial property my parents left for me was the mortgage which would soon take my life very soon. I could not even get myself a damn job!

I had dedicated all my life to becoming a fashion designer of any of the top-tier fashion designing corporations around. I mean, I was one hell of a baddie of a fashion designer.

Yikes, I was being absurd again. I was not even sure of myself, to be frank.

I had never been given a chance to showcase my talents. But in college, I was always topping the class with my aptitude for designing, which shone better than a fluorescent light on my projects.

The bottle of whiskey that I had purchased with the last cent on me at Beanie Bell's store while making my way home danced in my hand on this dreary night.

My way home turned to the way to the park. I wanted to do some more nagging and it was no fun doing it all alone at home.

Not only that I wasn't alone here too. I was not alone in the park but I was sitting alone on this bench. Across from me were two young couples nauseating me with their overly display of sheer affection.

The first pair was sitting on the bench some meters away from me, while the other bunch sat by my left-hand side

But… still far away.

I wished to hell I could go over to them and yell out my frustration on the highest pitch of my voice.

That way, the saliva that flew out of my mouth while I barked would bathe their love away!

Sigh...!

It was a shame I could never grow the balls too. That was what living all your life in stigma and solitude did to a twenty-three years old.

Singes Park had become a safe haven for me. It was the best type for people like me; Unwanted species the world didn't need. It was my twenty-second rejected application today.

I went for the interview and displayed my best projects but, in the end, I lost to a skinny tall girl in a skimpy skirt. The voices of staff while I walked down the reception still echoed in my ears.

"How can a granny work in our firm?"

"Don't be ridiculous, even my granny looks better than that!"

"She looks so dunce and over the place!"

"She'd be dreaming if she thought she could work in this line of work!"

These were all the remarks from the staff as I walked out of their firm. Sighing to myself now, "They are right, Cosima. The fashion industry doesn't need ugly people like you"

But then again…

"I just design the clothes not wear them. I am not the model who showcases them down the runway, so what's with the discrimination of size and looks?!"

I was used to it – the habit of talking to myself. I was all I got in this unfair world. No one wanted to be friends with me.

Not that I had the time to make friends though. Too busy looking for jobs and doing part-time jobs to survive, and also pay off my parent's debt which had now become pretty much mine.

Sighing again, I gulped down whatever was left of the contents of the whiskey in my hand. "I will starve after drinking this. I might as well enjoy it while it lasts!" I laughed crazily to myself.

I think the couple by my left-hand size heard my screams by the way they glanced briefly my way.

Arghh!

That stupid brunette just whispered into her boyfriend's ear. I think she's gossiping about me.

What?

Did she think I was insane?

A crazy woman maybe?!

Well, I'd show her who was crazy if I could bang this bottle on her naughty blonde hair! I resumed to a peal of hearty laughter yet again.

I think I needed to write this last letter to the universe. I only feel better when I write the letters. So, I turned my chubby round face upward, my glasses meeting the stars before my eyes.

"Dear universe!" I began, stretching my voice to the highest pitch it could attain. "I am the most ugliest girl in the world and I am here bearing my last letter to you. Guess what? You get a bonus for listening to my rants! This unlike my other letters is a spoken word letter. You get to hear my generous voice. That's your bonus!"

The sound of receding footsteps drew my attention. The couples were leaving. The crazy woman was displaying eh? Run from the crazy woman. Run?! Run from me! Sigh..! The oppressors are running from the oppressed. How ironical.

I never asked to be like this. Being a miserable crazy woman was not my dream. Being a top-notch fashion designer was. My sorrows were too overwhelming, I couldn't hold them in anymore. My cheeks had started to get hot as tears pricked down my eyes. Wailing in the most pitiful way in the world, I began to speak to the universe yet again. This time, it wasn't a letter that bore arrogance. It was but a pleading one.

"Give me a chance at beauty," I sobbed. "Dear universe, make me beautiful for just ten years then take it all away. At least, I will be beautiful and attractive for ten years. That is more than enough!" I gave a pause then threw the bottle of whiskey away. "Please...! Please!" I kept on chorusing until right on the bench on that gloomy night, I slept.

Dingggggg!

That was the sound of my head banging. I sat up from the bench which was too small to contain my size. My head felt light, banging, and noisy. Perhaps, from hangover of the previous night.

Wait!

I did not sleep on this bench, did I?

Outside this unsheltered park?!

By jones, what if something dire had happened to me while I lazily slept outside in the open?

"Ah, Cosima! You never do anything right." I reproached myself as I wriggled my wrist. It was throbbing with the weight of my body I had relaxed on it.

However, the pain in my head wouldn't let me ponder on that further. As I pressed my temple to massage the blood rushing in my head away, I heard a dinging sound as though I had pressed a button from a lock sensor.

[Congratulations! The universe has awarded you a beauty system!]

"What?" I blinked rapidly at the prompt I was seeing in front of me. It was displayed as though data on a computer was being shown on the screen. Except, this wasn't a computer screen; it was my eyes!

[Fulfill tasks to get free facial features that last for ten years]

Free facial features?

[Ding!]

[Seduce men and become the fairest of them all!]

What in the bloody world was going on?!

Was someone pulling a prank on me, maybe? My sick eyes were malfunctioning, perhaps? I waved my hands over the display in front of me, but my hands only synced through it as though the prompts were penetrable.

Was I actually seeing this?

[Beauty assignment starts in an hour!]