Nya knew for sure she hadn't slept up to an hour when the curtain was pulled and she was greeted by a familiar voice.
She groaned, the morning light was harsh due to a lack of proper sleep.
"What's the occasion?" She had to ask, she knew Irene would never wake her up this early if it wasn't something important.
"I'm following the General's order." Irene responded squirting the bouquet of roses on Nya's dressing table.
Nya hadn't fully processed the response when she got hit with the imagery of the bouquet. Confused, she spoke;
"Irene? Why…
"The General's order." Irene responded placing down the squirting bottle beside the bouquet.
"He also picked out the dress you would be wearing for the occasion."
"Who and what occasion?" Nya was still very much sleepy and couldn't quite process what was going on in her surroundings at the moment. She could see Irene speaking but could no longer make of what she was saying, her eyes droopy and soon she was in a slumber. Sleeping for what felt like twenty minutes, her brain finally connected the dots and she jolted from her bed.
"The picnic!"
As she was getting ready, a familiar but yet unfamiliar being was received into the mansion of Cyrene awaiting Isabelle. Kia was teaching Isabelle how to plant lilies in the glass room garden when Cassandra came in to inform them of a guest who had come to see Isabelle. After Cassandra had been released by Jia, she became much more mindful of her actions and her words, even turning away as soon as she caught sight of Isabelle so as not to pick up on what she was doing and to avoid trouble. She kept her eyes to the floor while speaking to Isabelle.
"And what is his name?" Isabelle asked covering up the roots of the plant with some more sand.
"Stanley Gresile. Milady."
Isabelle paused staring at Kia who in turn was staring at her, they weren't expecting him anytime soon. Isabelle did not remember agreeing to see him again.
"Nya did say she would write him a letter." Kia commented taking off his gloves.
"Do you know the content of the letter?" Isabelle asked.
"No, but hearing that he is here and not asking for Nya but your presence, I can only assume what she wrote." Kia discarded his and Isabelle's gloves as they walked down the hallway.
On getting to the drawing room, Isabelle saw a familiar person whose back was to her face, he seemed to be waiting for something if not someone, and at the moment all she knew was that Stanley was not alone.
"I received a letter from Nya." Stanley rose to his feet.
"That is the first thing you say after seeing her for the first time in days?" Jia interjects.
There and then, Isabelle realized the person whose back was to her face was none other than Jia.
"Jia?" Isabelle was shocked to see him in the room with Stanley, it seemed like he wasn't too fond of him since the very beginning of their meeting, even acting as though Stanley was a stranger.
"You are not dressed for the occasion." Stanley commented after seeing how dirty her dress was from all the gardening she was doing.
"What Occasion?"
"Nya gave me the go ahead to spend some time with you today, I received a letter from her a few days ago."
Stanley offered Isabelle a small bouquet of flowers, particularly roses he had bought them on his way.
She had never received flowers before, she stared at the bouquet speechless. She saw the look on Kia's face and remembered when he had suggested that Stanley may have feelings towards her.
'Or maybe he was just being polite, after all a gentleman is never to show up empty handed.' Isabelle thought and responded in appreciation of the flowers. She then excused herself so she could get ready, leaving the trio.
As soon as Isabelle was out of sight, Kia asked;
"Where would you be taking her?"
"Well, I haven't decided that yet, you see…
Jia interjected immediately.
"Then why are you here? If you haven't decided that yet, then you shouldn't be here, or do you wish to aimlessly take Isabelle around town?"
"I have been…
"If you wish to just frolic around, Isabelle isn't the type of girl you should be frolicking around with. I think it is best you leave before she comes down all dressed up."
"I have been busy Jia!" Stanley raised his voice. "I haven't had the time to properly prepare, Nya gave me a date to show up and I didn't want to disappoint."
"Don't you think she would be disappointed if she finds out you have nowhere to take her?" Kia asked.
"From the looks of it, she didn't even know I would be here today, so basically where I take her or what I do today would come off as a surprise." Stanley said, he still had another gift for Isabelle, but it was in the carriage, he was just hoping her neck would be bare when she was all dressed.
Isabelle couldn't believe what the maids had done to her. She stood there, shocked at her own reflection;
"They painted my lips red." She stared at her bold lips speaking as though the maids weren't with her. Her eyes caught sight of her cheeks, they were red too.
The corset did its job in elevating the dress. The brown off the shoulder dress and…
"My bosom!" She gasped and tried to cover it up. The maids lightly laughed at Isabelle's reactions.
"It is nothing milady, this is how the dress is to be worn." One of the maids said trying to put Isabelle at ease.
Isabelle slowly removed her hands and stared at her bosom, the brown laced gloves complimented the dress she wore and the maids paired it with a hat that covered the styled hair do.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, I placed the roses in a vase and watered them." Isabelle said walking back into drawing room.
She didn't realize the type of attention she had on herself at the moment, she waited for Stanley to give the go ahead so they would leave but he only stared and she wondered why. A loud cough came from the other side of the room, the person's intention behind that cough was to bring Stanley back to the present.
He was glad to see her neck was bare.
"Shall we?"
Stanley said to Isabelle and as she was about to get moving, Jia arose from his seat attempting to follow but paused as soon as Isabelle looked at him.
Seeing her stare in confusion, he said with a straight face.
"I am your chaperone."
Isabelle looked confused at first, but then realizing that he would be with them throughout. Well that was the whole idea of a chaperone.
"I am not a child, I do not need a chaperone." Isabelle objected.
"Nya was the one who suggested, I'm just following instructions missy."
Isabelle looked at Stanley hoping he would say something, but from the looks of things, he being her chaperone was something Stanley was already aware of. That explained why Jia was sitting waiting.
The whole carriage ride was rather awkward for Isabelle, she wasn't too keen on having a chaperone and would send him death glares when convenient for her, meaning when he wasn't looking. Isabelle found herself subconsciously touching the brown pearl necklace from time to time. Although appreciative of the roses and jewelry, she felt that it was all too much.