0.1 | No Exit from Deception ✓

0.02 | Underpaid And Overworked

Just for a change, as she turned her head to the left, she found a girl kissing a tall boy with a glut of passionate lip and body movements. She was withering earnestly, and the boy haunched over to give her the best of him. No matter how much she hated watching that feisty girl tugging at his shrunk shirt, her eyes found their way back to them. She too wanted to kiss someone like that, wanted to be taken in a tight embrace of a man. Will I be anyone's girlfriend? came with a bold and direct answer 'not on earth' that had not grown old over time, but was as robust as ever.

Her eyes began to hurt and she annoyingly pulled the skin-tight material of her dress from the sides, muttering incoherent words. "I hate to wear this. I'll have to wear this ick dress for God knows how many more events." Ruby threw her hand back as she felt itchiness creeping on her back, just as she exerted more pressure twisting her body, the material seemingly sewn on her body fell apart at the seams. A straight line in a deep semicircle. The sharp sound as if a pair of scissors ran onto the cloth cocked everyone's ears within the earshot.

"Don't snag it, the material is pretty old. You can't pass it as a fashion state-" Emily implicated that sound to her thought until she realized something was wrong.

The damage was done already. The gash of her dress didn't quite look the modest kind as it reached up to the point where her cheap bra's band was visible. The worn-out linen of her dress slackened. Ruby started to get panicky, while Emily's eyes widened gravelly. "Gosh, Ruby just don't panic."

"Emily, what do I do now?" Ruby's eyes were out on stalks, touching them over and over again to keep them erect. "My shawl."

The other group members passed a variant of glares, that made Ruby look more pinched and flustered. She wanted attention, but not this kind of fiery set of eyes shaming her luck.

"You can't wear it on stage. Besides, it's all wet." Emily closed her eyes and rotated her head to find any suitable person standing near her. She was lucky to spot the lady who had paid them to perform, talking to a permed head man. Without looking anywhere else she jumped off the stage clumsily and went to that lady.

Thankfully, the skinny brunette was ready to help, she went into one of the rooms behind the curtain and Emily instantly turned around to signal Ruby to come down quickly, but it was Horan blocking her vision.

"Where are you going?" His ever-so-blazing tone pierced through her visage.

"H-Her dress needs to be fixed. It's important," Emily stammered and didn't wait for his response as Ruby was merely a few meters away from her, she tugged her close like a shield protecting against volatile rays.

Horan didn't miss a chance to side glance at Ruby, tilting his head to get a better view of her holy skin not only to convince his cognition that she needed dire help but to satisfy his other perfidy.

Ruby wanted to punch the man for this, but Emily's hard grasp on her shoulder and constant implores to let go seemed to work on him. "Let me go─" Ruby sneered only to shut her mouth close, while Horan raised his finger to playfully outline her body shape.

The woman called out from a distance, "Please come inside this room."

Emily looked at him helplessly to get a nod from him. Her tears seemed to form by the time he said, "Okay."

***

"I wonder what was going inside Joseph's head that he decided to show up?" Anshuman mocked in a concerned tone over the bustle around them, clutching his jaw into the curve of his big palm, while his index finger overlapped his brown lips. "Plot twist: you just left the very important ten minutes of a very important meeting with a very important someone in the nearby cafeteria and dropped just in time to save our friendship."