The other girls with Candy urged the salesgirl, "Miss Simpson said she wants to try the dress on. Are you deaf or what? Haven't you heard it?"
Leila whispered to Jessica, "who's this smug bimbo?"
Jessica whispered back, "some girl from the office. I don't know what I did to make her enemy."
Leila smiled and knew why.
Jessica might not have known full well about the power of her beauty, but she knew.
Such a beautiful and yet humble girl was a natural enemy and easy target to a lot of other girls, especially the ones more beautiful and richer in their own imagination.
And Leila knew of the Simpsons. To someone from the "big four", the family was nothing, either in terms of wealth or of noble pedigree.
So she was not pissed off at all by Candy, but ready to watch a good show.
For Candy, Jessica was now her biggest enemy, not just because she was pretty but also because she had seen her with Mr. Sanders, whom she had had a huge crush on.
Whoever tried to take what she wanted would be her archenemies.
The salesgirl looked at Jessica apologetically. Jessica smiled and said, "it's fine. I decided not to take it anyway."
The salesgirl looked relieved. She didn't want to see any scenes in the shop or her manager would blame her for having no control over what she was charged with.
Winning one round so easily, Candy held her head high. She grabbed the dress from the salesgirl's hand and went to the fitting room.
Jessica and Leila went on to check on some other pieces in the store.
Candy soon came out, and everyone was wowed by the stunning dress on her. It looked even more magnificent on a real person than on the mannequin.
However, Candy seemed to be half a size bigger than the dress and looked as if she was gonna burst out of it any moment. Also, her relatively dark and gloss-less skin actually weakened the dress instead of adding to its beauty.
But still, it didn't take an expert to tell that the dress was a kill-for.
Candy looked at herself in the mirror and was fascinated by her own "beauty".
She asked, "how much is it? I'll take it."
Jessica felt bad for the piece. She had put a lot of effort into making it, and someone like Candy was definitely not who she had envisioned to be wearing it.
It was not about the look, but about the overall bearing of the wearer, and Candy seemed a thousand miles off from the noble, elegant and kind personage Jessica had pictured.
But this was business and the market, where even Jessica, the real designer of the piece, didn't want to do too much in intervening the "invisible hand".
The salesgirl was delighted, seeing the hope of cutting a deal, "it's eighty thousand, Miss, already with a 10% discount. It's the last piece of the lot. The other pieces have been sold with no discount at all."
"What?!" All the girls, including Leila and Jessica, dropped their jaw. They had expected it to be expensive, but not THIS expensive.
The salesgirl hastened to explain, telling what she had told Jessica and Leila earlier about the designer and techniques.
Candy's face was alternating between paleness, anger and awkwardness.
She only made a few thousand a month working as a low-rank office girl with the JS Group, and though her family did have some money now, it was still not easy for her to spend eighty thousand like nothing on a dress.
Plus, she had recently been cut off by her father temporarily as punishment for her last squandering shopping spree.
But she had said the words, and with everyone looking at her like this, how could she take them back?
While for Jessica and Leila, they had just not expected that Jessica's first design could be worth so much.
Jessica asked the salesgirl uncertainly, "and you said the other three have all been so at the full price, that is, more than eighty thousand?"
The salesgirl nodded and said, "some other rich ladies got wind and came asking for it. They left with disappointment of course but also the message that if we replenish, they would want to be informed first thing possible."
Leila blinked, "so this designer Salinas has become a SYMBOL of nobleness and wealth?"
She had stressed the word "symbol" intentionally and eyed Candy with a sarcastic smile.
Candy gritted her teeth with new determination.
She would have to use her father's credit to get it for now, lest this snobby bitch got more things to belittle her. From a new-money family, she, as well as the others in the family, hated it when people thought of them as "not noble".
Plus, the company would have its anniversary party next week, one of the biggest events of the year and where she might be able to attract Jordan's attention if she was in this fabulous dress.
So she held her head higher and said to the salesgirl, "I said I'd take it. Why are you standing there like a goof? Go and wrap it up for me. And oh, those samples of perfume and cosmetics you gave away last time? They seemed quite agreeable to my skin. Wrap some of them for me too."
"Yes, Ma'am." The salesgirl quickly went to the counter to do the packaging.
Candy later swiped her dad's credit card, feeling lucky that she had brought it.
Her heart was in suspension waiting for the payment to come through, as she was not sure if her father had restricted it for her punishment.
"Ping!" The payment went through, and Candy looked relieved.
Leila saw it and smiled. What a fool, digging and falling into her own trap and thinking that she was smart.
As she and Jessica turned to leave, Candy sneered from behind and said loud to her friends, "not everyone could shop here, but everyone seems to think they could just come and pretend to be rich."
Jessica and Leila just ignored her.
Outside the shop, Jessica was still dazed. She couldn't believe that one piece of her works was worth over eighty thousand and more people wanted it.
She turned to Leila and suddenly burst into tears in her arms. Only Leila knew how much she had wanted this, and how hard she had tried.
Leila's eyes were misty too. She was truly happy for her friend, who had come a lot way for this.
She asked, "so what are you gonna do next?"
Jessica shook her head, "I don't know. All I know is that I want to do more, so much more. But don't tell anyone yet, Lei. For now, I want to keep away from any unnecessary attention and just focus on the works, but I guess I would need to call Jackie right away."
Before her voice dropped, her phone rang, and it was Jackie.
Jackie sounded in a hurry and excited, "Jessica, you're a goddess like I said you are! All the dresses have sold, and guess how much a piece was sold for?"
Jessica smiled and said, "over eighty thousand."
"So you've known? Yes! And I've got more orders for it. But you know what? That's your debut piece, and we don't want it to be everywhere like those cheap stuffs, so eight pieces are all we'd sell for now."
"Okay, so what do we do next?"
"You design more, while I'm talking to clients and investors. With the name you've gained, for now, I should be able to get some important big names to invest."
"But Jackie, I thought our strategy was to sell to just a niche market with limited pieces of each design? Plus, hand-made stuff like that can't be mass-produced when I'm the only one worker."
"Niche market will give you the reputation, but you would also need to design for the mass, young and beautiful girls like you with a certain wealth and background."
Jessica wanted to correct him that she was not wealthy nor of any background, but decided it was not important.
Now that she was calmer, she knew that Jackie was right, and it was also in line with her dream: to design for girls who are beautiful inside and out, who love beautiful things and always aim for better, and not just the privileged few.
"Okay. But I'll do it at my own pace." Jessica said, afraid of being rushed by Jackie again like last time.
Jackie laughed, "now you're the boss, you decide. And by the way, please don't ditch me coz I know for sure that many big-name agents would now want to represent you."
Jessica also laughed, "Jackie, you'll always be my agent. Plus, I don't want anyone to know for now that Salinas is me."
"Great! And your secret is safe with me." Jackie felt reassured and didn't bother about why Jessica didn't want the fame.