Thirty minutes had almost passed since Laura stood in front of the large mirror in the walk-in closet, even though she had used the services of a professional make-up artist and wore the latest jewelery collection and a limited edition dress she bought last month in Paris. Laura was still not satisfied. She still felt something was missing.
"How long are you going to keep standing in front of the mirror like this?" asked Ariel annoyed.
Laura narrowed her eyes at Ariel who was standing behind her through the glass. "Mommy has to look perfect tonight, Mommy has to show Angel that Mommy is much better than her."
"Oh come on, you two are friends then why do you still have to compete like this?"
Laura turned her body, looked at Ariel with a sharp gaze. "We are friends but not for looks, Mommy knows that Angel has bought the same bag as Mommy several times. That's why tonight Mommy has to show her who the role model is."
Ariel shook her head, even though she knew how hard the competition was in the socialite world, but Ariel couldn't believe that her mother and best friend were still competing.
"And you also have to go all out tonight because Clarie is also coming, that girl will definitely compare her appearance to yours so don't want to lose to her, Ariel. You have to remember that that child has always been obsessed with being the best just like her mother and don't let it happen. There's the slightest gap in you tonight," Laura said seriously.
Ariel took a deep breath, her memory immediately focused on Angeline and Dario Richard's only child, Clarine Richard. A blonde haired girl with blue eyes like her mother who always follows her dress style, as a rising model Ariel certainly has a large collection of the latest clothes, bags and jewelry. That's why Clarine is always happy when she comes to the West's house, because she can linger in Ariel's room to look at Ariel's large collection.
Clap…clap…
Laura clapped her hands.
"Are you daydreaming?!"
Ariel shook her head. "No Mom, I only remember the girl a little. The last time she came to London was two years ago, by now she must be a lot more mature and..."
"Ambitious, just like her mother." Laura continued Ariel's words in a cold voice.
Ariel took a deep breath, she knew where her mother was talking about. "Ok I'll wear some of my new jewelry then."
"Goodgirl," Laura said happily.
Ariel turned her body and prepared to leave her mother but she suddenly stopped in her tracks when she remembered Reagan, Clarine had always loved Reagan as much as she had. And Ariel was so curious whether the eighteen year old girl still had the same feelings as her now, Ariel wanted to know whether the girl was really following her or not.
"Why else? Hurry up Ariel, go back to your room and put on your jewellery!"
Ariel gasped. "Y-yes Mom."
Seeing the princess finally come out of her room Laura shook her head, today was really a very unexpected day for her. After her fight with her husband this morning, Laura was surprised by her unexpected meeting with Angeline and tonight one of her socialite friends will come to her house to enjoy dinner with her family.
"It's ok, you're perfect now Laura." Laura was talking to herself in the mirror. "Now they want to be sold and we welcome them."
****
Countless Crystals rejected the meat given by Reagan, but the stubborn Reagan didn't care about Crystal's refusal. Every time Crystal finished the food on the plate, Reagan would immediately refill it with roast beef that was still warm.
"Reagan..."
"Eat a lot, your body is very thin and you need a lot of food. I don't want anyone to say if I don't feed you, so finish all your food Crys," Reagan said firmly, rejecting all protests that were raised by Crystal .
"I'm not skinny, my body has always been like this so..."
"You're so skinny Crys and to be honest you don't look attractive at all in the eyes of a normal man." Jarvis, who was chewing the meat wrapped in lettuce, the Korean way of eating, cut Crystal's words without guilt. "And one more thing you should know, all of Reagan's ex-girlfriends have tantalizingly beautiful bodies so you have to work on yourself to look like them. You are Reagan West's wife so don't make yourself the object of ridicule from Reagan's former women."
Crystal almost dropped the chopsticks in her hands because of Jarvis's blunt words, Crystal didn't think that Jarvis would ask her to take care of herself so that she was on par with Reagan's ex-girlfriends who were definitely far above Crystal.
"Don't listen to this bastard, I'm not asking you to dress up like them. Just be yourself and don't make trouble," Reagan said quietly as he poured unsweetened green tea into Crystal's glass. "And now you eat after that we go home, it's getting late and I want to go to sleep..."
"Sleeping together?"
"Jarvis!!"
Reagan and Crystal both squealed at the same time, both of which had a distinctly red hue on their faces.
Jarvis, who really intended to tease Crystal and Reagan, looked so happy to see the expressions shown by the two, there was a sense of pleasure he got after he managed to provoke the anger of the two people who were staring at him without blinking.
"Ok ok… I'll be quiet and won't talk anymore, please continue your conversation and pretend I don't exist like before."
"Again you're talking so don't blame me if you're going to get a new tattoo on your face tonight," Reagan snarled warningly for the umpteenth time.
Jarvis immediately raised his hands in the air, giving a surrender pose to Reagan who had just threatened him.
Reagan huffed in annoyance at Jarvis's annoying behavior tonight, vowing he'd do the math for his best friend at work tomorrow morning. It was only the endless pile of work that Reagan could use to get his revenge on Jarvis and Reagan already had a good plan for his execution tomorrow morning.
Not wanting to become the next target of Reagan's ire, Crystal chose to finish the food Reagan had just refilled on her plate. Crystal chose to extend her truce with Reagan.
West's residence. 8.00 PM.
The guest that Laura had been waiting for finally arrived and Laura's decision to make as much preparation as possible tonight turned out to be fixed because the appearance of Angeline and her daughter looked so striking. If only she was dressed in normal clothes, Angeline would definitely make fun of her like this afternoon how she went to the hospital alone without Austin's company.
"You're getting prettier Clary, so beautiful. Auntie barely recognizes you." Laura praised Clarine as usual.
Clarine, who was used to hearing such compliments, smiled broadly, although in her heart she was a little annoyed because Ariel's appearance was so elegant and mature tonight, but Clarine tried to calm down.
"Thank you Aunty, Aunty is also so beautiful tonight," Clarine replied with a smile. "Oh yeah where is Reagan, why didn't I see him? He couldn't be in the office, could he?"
'Damn it, how dare she ask Reagan!'
Continued