Apart from the black lace dress she had on right now, Yiren didn't have many dresses sporting enough for the VIP club. She rummaged through her wardrobe, but nothing was there that would guarantee her access.
An online search on the web didn't help either. A poor university student couldn't afford expensive clubwear. What could she even do, anyway? It was the middle of the month, and she was just left with some measly hundred dollars. Ample for her two meals of the day as she skipped breakfast and to take the subway to and from university.
It left her with one option. She didn't get along with Brianna, who lived in the opposite room, but she would have to beg her nemesis to lend her one of her club outfits.
Brianna was, in simple words, a prostitute. Not one who engaged in sleazy behaviour or roamed the streets, but one with class. She even had a special name for it: a social escort. Brianna occasionally accompanied clients day and night, doing whatever her clients needed her to, and it wasn't always activities in bed. Many of these activities just involved talking and showing fake interest in her clients' dreary daily lives. And then there was this other side of her. She liked to find companionship in clubs, and this didn't involve money.
She worked in a small office, about three times a week. The days she didn't work or escort, she clubbed. She mostly did this during the wee hours of the day.
Brianna detested her because of how traditional and innocent Yiren made herself out to be. Brianna called her fake and pretending to be pure. Yiren was often at loggerheads with Brianna because of their opposing mindsets. But tonight, Yiren had to cast aside their differences, because she needed Brianna's help.
How could she put it she wanted to borrow one of her clubwear? Yiren searched her brains for how she should speak.
But before she could knock on the door, the door flew open.
Standing behind the door was Brianna. She tousled her hair like a queen and pulled up the straps of her almost-translucent gown. To use the word 'sexy' on Brianna Wan was an understatement. She was beyond seductive, way more than that. One look at her when she was in her natural state, null makeup, and one wouldn't have guessed that she was an escort.
"Er.. I…"
Yiren wasn't ready. She searched her mind in a panic.
To her astonishment, the goddess smiled. It wasn't like any of her usual toxic smiles or those laced with sarcasm.
"There was a man earlier. Came to deliver a package."
She paced gracefully around the hall. Then she turned around and her attitude changed. She pointed at Yiren, exasperated.
"You! Tell me you have nothing to do with the man!"
The man who delivered her package? All she knew was that Guan Ziming had arranged it. She didn't even know who was the person who had sent it over. And Brianna had received it and even placed it on the desk in her room. How kind of her!
That didn't seem at all what Brianna would do. Yiren used it to her advantage. She put on her most innocent face.
"Brianna, you can't malign me like this. I don't even know who sent the package..unless.. It is Guan Ziming?"
"Guan Ziming? The right-hand man of Dong Xu?"
Aha, so Brianna had heard of Dong Xu as well. But for her to react in this manner suggested that she hadn't read about Yiren's scandal with Dong Xu. She considered it a blessing that Brianna didn't know' this.
"Yes, you are right."
"No wonder he was so familiar!" Brianna mouthed, a look of disbelief in her eyes.
Yiren reassured her flatmate that she had no connection with Guan Ziming.
"Brianna, I have to be honest that Guan Ziming only delivered the package because DongTe selected me as their beta tester."
She glanced assuringly at her nemesis. "I have no reason to lie to you, Brianna."
Brianna seemed to be convinced. Yiren then added, "I promise, there's nothing between us. You can have him if you like!"
She was so assertive with her last sentence that made Brianna lose her tension earlier.
"Really? You'll do that?"
As charming as Ziming was, he wasn't her type. They mutually based their relationship on 'work'. She schemed to get her fortune back from Feng Yintian. Ziming was just working for Dong Xu.
"Brianna, I need a favour from you."
The hall fell quiet. She pondered, looking around her, until Brianna answered, her lips forming a smile again.
"Say it. We are flatmates, after all. If it's within my means, I won't say no to you."
"I need to borrow a clubbing dress."
"Ah, so I knew you weren't that innocent!" Brianna exclaimed, delighted as if she had made a noble discovery. "Come on, your secret is safe with me!"
All this change of attitude once she mentioned clubbing? Yiren thought silently. So this entire time, Brianna disliked her because she perceived her to be fake? Did she think all girls loved clubbing and exposing themselves?
But she kept her questions to herself and responded to Brianna with a reply that she would have wanted to hear.
"Well, there's always a first time for everything. Brianna, YOLO. We all only live once! So I would like to try."
Brianna seemed glad with her words. Taking Yiren's hand, she led her into her bedroom. It was the first time Yiren had ever entered the beauty's room. Before this, she imagined Brianna's room to be filled with dark and gothic looking dresses, sex toys and plenty of items that screamed 'uninnocent'. But it was the complete opposite. Brianna's room was revealed to be pink and girly, like that of a princess!
Brianna scanned her up and down, before looking away abruptly, as if she had concluded on what Yiren was to wear. Then she headed towards the magnificent wardrobe in the corner of her room and pulled the doors of her wardrobe open vigorously.
The sound of her shuffling clothes ensued, though Yiren could barely see clearly with Brianna in the way, even if she possessed a tiny figure. Finally, Brianna stopped her hunting and drew out one of her garments.
"Welcome to the club," she whispered before strutting past her in a catwalk-like style. "I'm off to get us some drinks. Don't forget your promise to me."
As Brianna disappeared gradually, Yiren fingered the shiny sequins of the hollowed-out party dress, mulling over how she could carry such a skimpy outfit without blushing to death.
"For Feng Yintian," she mumbled as she returned to her bedroom. "It'd better be worth it."
Or was it not?