On a sunny Sunday morning, Lana was chilling in the common area of the orphanage. Suddenly, she heard the older children gushing about the new magazine that Miss Sally had gotten recently. The magazines were new and focused on fashion and make-up for young adults in the country.
Cindy, a 10-year-old kid, read the mags with her friends: Lidya, Charlotte, and Emma.
"Oh my, look at the dress! So pretty!" Cindy gushed excitedly.
"The colors are so beautiful. I like the lilac one, very soft color," Emma said longingly to a sleeveless flowy summer dress.
"I like the green one. It is very soothing to the eyes," Lidya said casually. She always liked the color green everything.
"Everything is so pretty for me! But the lilac one looks like Lana's eyes, don't you think?" Charlotte noted.
"Yeah, now that you mention it! Wait, Lana, come here!" Cindy called for Lana.
"Yes?" Lana answered and came closer to the group.
"Look at this dress Lan, so pretty color, like your eyes! Wish I have your eye colors, though," Charlotte said with a yearning look.
The kids in the orphanage knew that Lana's eye colors were unusual. Though, they did not bully her for it as Lana was a sweet but quiet child. So they never bothered her.
The matrons always explicitly prevented any bullying in the orphanage, so any spark of trouble would be resolved before it even began.
"Do you think so, though? I never see it that way. I always thought your eye colors were prettier, Char. Such a pretty shade of blue. Like the oceans," Lana said truthfully. She always liked the blue eye colors.
"Thanks, Lana," Charlotte said, smiling at Lana.
"Lan, if you wear the dress, you would look so beautiful. It matched your eye color. Do you think Miss Sally will buy us one if we ask nicely? We could share." Cindy said while rubbing her chin with her left hand in contemplation.
"I don't know, Cindy. I don't want to bother Miss Sally," Emma said.
They then talked about the situation in the orphanage, dresses, gossip, etc. But, Lana did not really hear about their discussions as she focused on the magazine. Most importantly, the model picture for the dress.
The model was above average beauty, good looking for her age. But Lana was looking intently into the model's eyes. They were deep shades of blue and very beautiful. Lana remembered the color was similar to that from yester's memories.
Lana knew that yester ever watched a documentary about a couple who wanted to engineer their baby's DNA through in vitro (outside the body) conception to get the deep blue shade color.
Apparently, it was hard to get the eye colors through the natural way as the gene was recessive. So the couple went to Israel to get it done. However, the probability of succeeding was never 100%, and it was so expensive. The majority of scientists still perceived the method to be morally debatable. Liking it to some acts of playing God. Thus, limiting the development of that field of medicine.
Lana was intrigued.