Chapter 74: Chapter 74

Chapter 74

"Miss University of heart!" lively host call. Contestant number 17 took to the stage along with enthusiastic shouts from the supporters. They even waved the flag with the name Athina Atienza written on it. Pershey followed and as expected loud shouts and applause could be heard from Pershey's supporters. Caleb and his friends were also screaming incessantly.

Pershey paused and made a posture while smiling incessantly at the audiences. Her gaze also wandered to the whereabouts of her family and her friends. She smiled even more before walking again. Candidates are in order.

When Pershey was in the backstage, she was immediately supported and cared for by Iries t Leighden.

"Do you want some drink?" Even before she could answer, Leighden's gave her water. "We have 20 minutes, Pershey," she said. She nodded in response. "Just relax for a while."

Meanwhile, Iries is busy looking for a gown. As she looked for something inside the paper bag she said, "Retouch her face, Leighden."

Leighden replied, "She still looks fresh, so she doesn't need to retouch again." Iries didn’t immediately approve of her because her attention was focused on the gown she was looking for Pershey to wear later.

Leighden noticed her, so she asked in surprise, “Wait, you've been there before. Is this what you are looking for?”

Iries stopped searching for a moment and lightly wiped the sweat from her forehead. She replied, "I can't find the gown that Pershey will wear today."

"What kind of gown?" Leighden asked.

When Pershey heard what they were talking about, she also asked, "Where did you put the gown?"

“It's just here inside the paper bag. I put it here before I left,” she replied full of apprehension.

“Look again, Iries. What is that? We only have few minutes.” Leighden insisted.

They also helped with the search but they could not find the gown.

"If it's here, it's here," she said and took a deep breath before looking around and standing up. Iries and Leighden hardly stumble in search.

After a while, something grabbed Pershey's attention. From the corner, in the dresser, near the fitting room, her feet pulled her there. There she stopped and saw the mannequin wearing the gown she was going to wear. She immediately called Leighden and Iries to come to her. When they were there, Iries was almost blushing while Leighden was laughing.

Iries approached the mannequin once and patted its chest and soon she laughed and almost hit the body of the mannequin.

She laughed and said, “It’s a miracle! Who wore the gown on the mannequin? ”

Even before Leighden and Pershey could answer, she noticed something in the gown as she stared at it. She saw the long tear from the gown from the side hem of the long gown to the upper part of the thigh. Her eyes widened in shock.

“Oh my god! Why happened?!”

They were surprised, so they approached her and the mannequin to find out how she was screaming.

Their jaws were almost destroyed at what they saw. The gown had a long tear as if someone had cut it on purpose.

"W-why is this happening?" Pershey asked in shock and barely knowing what to do.

"Who did this?" Iries asked. They were both looking at the gown.

“Maybe it's just a tear. Maybe it's just design, Iries. You bought and chose that, didn't you? ” Leighden's promise.

Iries agreed with her and shook her head afterwards.

“It’s not design. There was nothing like that when I bought it. Someone cut and ruined the gown, but who? ”

"Who else?"

Pershey was constrained, so she left. She returned her belongings to be able to think of what to separate when she met Sansa who was still smiling at her. She didn't know what was behind that grin of her. She suspected that Sansa might have been to blame for what had happened to her gown. She only thinks of Sansa who is angry with her. Sansa smiled at her even more before she left. Although she wanted to approach and talk to Sansa, she chose to just let it happen because dhe also had no proof that Sansa was responsible for what happened.

She knows that only Sansa and Aliha are deeply angry with her, so she has prime suspects in what happened.

She took a deep breath then went back to where Leighden and Iries were. They were confused when she got there. The smile and excitement on Pershey's face no longer showed and she was slightly depressed as she approached them.

She asked weakly. "What should I wear?"

Leighden was forced to smile and greeted her. She said, "We'll make a way, Pershey."

Just trust yourself. You can do it, Pershey. We believe in you. You can do it."

Pershey looked at her sadly as she in turn smiled at her. Pershey forced a smile at her.

“Don’t be sad. It doesn't matter to you when you frown. ”

Pershey chuckled weakly because of what she said.

"Oh my god!"

Pershey and Leighden immediately turned their attention to her when she shouted again. She was standing on the side of the mannequin.

"What's wrong?" They approached her. Iries turned her back on the mannequin and their eyes widened again when they saw that the back of the gown had cuts.

Pershey's mouth was almost covered in shock. Unconditionally she sat down suddenly in the chair on the side and fainted.

Her eyes were dumbfounded. “What happened? What are we gonna do now? ” She looked at the candidates who were busy with what they were doing while she was just stunned.

She doesn’t even seem to notice the host calling the candidates. The so -called candidates are leaving. Candidate number seven was the last to be called.

Leighden and Iries are still confused. They don’t know what to do.

Stunned, she did not notice Sansa approaching her. Sansa was wearing a shiny purple gown. Concentrated glitter and glittering beads.

She smiled as she stood in front of Pershey. Leighden and Iries looked at her. Their foreheads furrowed as they watched Sansa.

Leighden asked Iries softly. "Do you think what I'm thinking?" Iries nodded in response. "Shall I hit her?" she asked in a whisper. Iries frowned even more as she turned her gaze to Leighden. “I will take hit her. Stop me,”he said. She held out her hand as a signal to do what she wanted to do to Sansa. She quietly laughed at what she did instead of stopping her.

Meanwhile, Pershey ignores Sansa who is still in front of her.

"Why you're not changing?" Pershey stared at her for a moment. She looked straight into Sansa's eyes while Sansa did the same. She did not say a word but just looked at her. "I am talking to you," she said and pointed at her. “Why aren't you talking? Are you dumb? ” she asked with mixed annoyance.

"I'm going to hit her," Leighden whispered again while holding Iries' arm tightly. When she noticed that Iries had no reaction at all she asked. “Won't you stop me, Iries? Don't you have any plans to stop me? ”

Iries looked at her and smiled. Said, "Why should I stop you?" then she removed Leighden's hand that was holding her arm. “I am supporting you, Leighden. Go ahead,” she added. Leighden could almost laugh at what she said. She thought that Iries would stop her but she was wrong.

Meanwhile, the situation is still the same. Sansa was still standing in front of Pershey while waiting for her to answer.

Pershey asked calmly. "Are you done?"

Sansa replied. “Actually, not yet. Why aren't you getting dressed yet? Are you going back? ” She smiled angrily before looking at her gown. "Didn't you like your gown?" she asked softly and then looked back at her. At that moment, she realized that Sansa was the one who did everything but she did not panic.

Pershey held back her anger so as not to hit Sansa. Sansa soon laughed at her reaction.

She stopped laughing and then said, "I told you to quit but you don't want to." She snorted angrily to annoy Pershey. "Well, goodluck to you," she said last as she pulled Pershey's hair behind her ear, then left. Pershey took a deep breath.

"I'm really going to hit that witch," Leighden said and was about to leave to approach Sansa but she restrained herself and stopped when she noticed something. She looked at Iries who was just smiling at her. "Don't you really intend to stop me?" she asked. They just look at them.

Iries was still smiling at her and she almost laughed saying, “I really support you. Chase and catch up. ”

They both laughed at what she said. As they laughed an idea entered Pershey's mind. She stood up and examined the gown. She examines that from her standpoint. She came closer and examined the gown even more.

In total the gown has four cuts from the back part of it that are approximately 1.5 inches long.

Disappointment flashed across her as she examined the gown.

"Sorry, Pershey," Iries said. “Don’t be sad. We can work it out. We can find ways. ”

“Just trust me, Pershey. We can handle it. ”

She just smiled even though it was bitter. She was about to speak when she heard the host call candidate number 13.

"We need to hurry," she said. She took off the gown the mannequin was wearing. "Did you think what I thought?" The smile and excitement drew to her thought. Even though they didn't know what was going through Pershey's mind, they just let her go. They smiled.

They accompanied Pershey to the fitting room. She also wore the gown even though there was a lot of cuts on the back and a long cut on the side of the thigh down to her feet.

They returned to their seats. Leighden just pinned Pershey's hair behind her ear and then attached gold leaf clips. The lower part of Pershey's hair was slightly curled loose. She was wearing the necklace from Samuel's jewelry shop.

Iries stepped back slightly to examine Pershey. The slit on the side of her gown was from the knuckle of her foot to half of her thigh.

Pershey turned away. The slits opened on the back of Pershey's gown. Many ideas entered her mind causing her to nod.

She picked up the scissors and approached Pershey again. She stood behind Pershey and cut the cuts completely and it formed an oval shape. She went in front of Pershey to get another idea.

She doesn't seem to be satisfied yet. The gown she was wearing had a V shape on the chest and from the end of the V, at the bottom, she cut it horizontally and down towards the thigh to the end of the slit on the side of her thigh. That caused the gown to open and she immediately covered her body when the dress was completely torn.

"What's your plan?" Leighden asked.

"Oh no!" said Pershey.

Iries just smiled as if an idea had entered his mind again.

"Just watch and learn," she said.