Chapter 25: Chapter 25

We reached the house in no time, as soon as I got in, Juliet ran to me, "mommy, mommy, mommy," I went on my knees and hugged her. "You're back, I missed you so much mommy," she said.

"But you saw me few hours ago, didn't you pumpkin?" I asked

"I know, but I still missed you." She looked behind me, "mommy, where's daddy? And who is this woman here?"

"Oh yeah, Juliet this is my friend Xiao Ling, I met her at my exams centre. Xiao Ling, this is Juliet, Jade's daughter." I introduced them

"Oh, right. You know I actually thought she's your daughter," Xiao Ling said

"Is it a bad thing if mommy UK becomes my mommy?" Juliet asked hands at akimbo.

"no, no, no. UK is a very wonderful person, if she's your mommy, it will be the best thing in the world," Xiao Ling replied smiling.

"you really think so?"Juliet asked, her eyes gleaming. Xiao Ling nodded.

"Alright pumpkin, Xiao Ling and I need to do something, see ya later." I said

"sure, mommy. I'm going for my violin lesson. Bye bye mommy, bye bye Salin," and she ran out with her violin case.

"what did she call me?" Xiao Ling asked staring at the door Juliet just ran out of.

"Salin," I answered chuckling. "Don't get upset if she can't pronounce your name, she has difficulty pronouncing mine, that's why we're stuck with UK. Anyways, come let's go to my room," I said and led her to my room.

"Hope you don't have a problem with me stripping in front of you?" I asked

"Oh no. What do you have that I don't and besides, this is your place, not mine," she said as she ransacked my closet. "Are you a witch or something? Or maybe into some kind of religious group?" she asked

"What? No." I answered

"Then explain why your closet is filled with black and purple clothes."

"I do have other colors of clothes in my closet," I argued

"hmmmm, not bad," she said bringing out a red shirt dress from the bottom part of the drawer. "Pair it up with a nice pair of flats and we should be good to go."

"I can't wear this, it's too short," I told her

"how short?"

I wore it and showed her, it was on my thigh, a bit below my butt. "see?"

"it's okay."

"Xiao Ling, my legs are exposed, I don't like it," I argued.

"nope, we're going right now. put on this sandals and let's go," she said handing me a nude colour, knee high gladiator sandals.

It did look great, I retouched my powder and lip gloss, "I'm ready, but I'm warning you, if I receive dirty and slutty remarks because of this attire, I'll kill you"

Scott was waiting for us outside, his eyes widened when he saw me. It was the first time I've ever worn such a short outfit outside the house, I understood the look on his face and just smiled at him. He nodded and opened the door for us.

The shopping mall was chose by Xiao Ling of course, seemed she was a regular customer, the workers were smiling and waving at her. "Don't act so tensed and shy, just follow my lead," she whispered in to my ear.

"Miss Ling, come we have new stock I'm sure you'll find them to your taste," a tall pretty looking woman said, smiling at Xiao Ling.

"Claire, don't act so formal with me and I'm not here for myself, my friend here needs a brand new wardrobe," she said pushing me forward

"I don't need a new wardrobe, just few clothes," I corrected

"Here at Angelic Touch, we don't give our customers 'just few clothes', we take care of you in a way that a car won't be enough to take all your items home. Now without much ado, let's get started, shall we?" The woman said to me.

First we went to the clothes section, Xiao Ling and the woman gave me one order, "just pick" I closed my eyes for a minute, Ukpono, enough with the pretence, show them what you've always wanted, I said to myself. Let's do this.

There were so much to choose, I tried getting colorful clothes. At some point I lost count, was it 35 clothes I just picked? Nah, can't be and so I added more. Xiao Ling did her own shopping, minutes later, we had so much clothes that the clothes rails were looking empty.

"It's too much don't you think?" Xiao Ling asked me

"yep, just these could dry up Jade's account," I replied

"ok, let's go shoe shopping," Xiao Ling said, dragging me with her.

my eyes bulged out, "whoa! This is so awesome and all I need to do is pick them?" I asked

"UK, let's dig in".

Shoes, shoes, shoes.

Stilettos, knee length, ankle length, straps, lace, platforms, gladiator, Chanel, tiger skin, different colors and designs. Again, they were very much,

From there we went to the bags section, we didn't spend much time there, then jewelries.

By now you should know how it went, lots and lots of earrings, necklaces, chokers, and much more.

"Now honey, let's try out our purchases," Xiao Ling said excitedly.

It took us about 2 hours to wrap up everything, how much was our bill? 22,700 USD. Don't blame me, I was only making purchases that could take me for a year or two, or so I thought.

Jade called as we were packing things into the car, I knew his bank must have notified him when we used his card. I was a bit scared, I didn't know how he'll react but I picked the call anyway. "Hey?" I said meekly

"UK, I never knew you were like this, 22,700 dollars?" he asked, he sounded really annoyed. Oh boy, what have I done?

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to, I told Xiao Ling that what we bought were too much but she would not listen. I am very sorry for spending that amount, I promise to take responsibility," I told him

"UK I am really disappointed in you, how could you be like this? There are millions of dollars in that account and all you could spend is 22,700 dollars?"

"I... I don't understand,"

"for Christ sake UK when will you understand that you are no longer a guest or an outsider I brought to my house? You are a member of my family. I'm getting you ready to be Mrs Kale and..."

"Is this what this is about? Marrying me? I thought we'd talked about this before?"

"it was a slip of the tongue, won't happen again. All I'm trying to say is that I've dedicated that credit card to you, so you don't have to save my money, spend it as much as you want. You are a very special member of my family, start getting used to it."

My mouth had gone dry, I couldn't say anything to him. How did I feel? Excited, surprised, all together. "I don't know what to say Jade, I'm... I mean, thank you so very much"

"Well go lie down and rest, this night will be epic."

Call ended

Our purchases were all stocked in the boot of the car, "what's wrong, who were you talking with?" Xiao Ling asked

"Jade" I replied

"Oh, I guess he had receive a debit alert from his bank, what did he say?"

"Ling, he is upset that we spent 22,700 dollars"

"oh God, I'm sorry I made you do it, I'm really really sorry UK," Xiao Ling apologized

"no, that is not the case, he is upset that what we spent was too small" I told her

"oh, then can we go get more?" she asked keeping a smug face.

"Nope, let's go"

We made arrangement that Scott would take my stuff back to the house while I went with the cloth and accessories I would use to the club to Xiao Ling's place. According to her, Jade was not to see me until she had completely "transformed" me. We stopped by a supermarket for Xiao Ling to make grocery shopping for dinner, then got McDonald burger and milk shake for lunch.

Immediately we arrived at Xiao Ling's apartment, I took off my shoes and fell on the couch, I never realized I was really exhausted.

Later Xiao Ling woke me up, I checked the time on my phone, 6:13pm. "Hey, dinner is ready, let's eat then get ready. I have a miracle to perform on you,"

After eating and showering, I went to Xiao Ling's room to dress up.

she brought out the cloth I was supposed to wear, it was a short black dress, no back, just spaghetti strap around my neck. It had a deep V-neck which made a little part of my cleavages exposed, it'll make you want to peep but you'll see nothing more.

"Sit!" she ordered and I sat on the chair she beside her bed. 30 minutes later she handed me a mirror, I swear I couldn't recognize my face. A dark purple matte lipstick, purple eyeshadow with silver glitters, I looked like I was a model.

"Oh my God, Xiao Ling. I look..."

"hot? I know, Jade would lose his mind. I just wish I could take off your bandage, anyways you still look gorgeous. put your shoes on and let your hair fall, I need to get myself ready" Xiao Ling said.

I did as I was told, the shoes was a black and purple pencil heels. "umm Ling? I can't walk on pencil heels," I said. "darling you have an hour or so to practice," she answered, still doing her make up.

8:15pm the doorbell rang, I heard Jade asking about me, "UK? your date is here," she shouted. I walked out slowly to meet them, not that I was trying to act like they do in movies but because I didn't want to fall off my shoes.

My click of my heels made them turn around when I came out, Darren's mouth dropped, Jade froze, Xiao Ling grinned from ear to ear. I smiled sheepishly, "hey," I said breaking the silence.

"oh God, you are so beautiful," Darren muttered. Jade didn't say anything, he was still staring at me, I went closer to his, thanks to my shoes, I a bit taller. "like what you see?" I whispered in to his ears, he held the back of my head, "careful UK, I could cancel tonight's arrangement and deal with you. And I promise you, when I'm done, you wouldn't be able to walk for weeks."