Convincing her

Jen became very busy, as she expected. She focused on her schoolwork whenever she had free time besides her classes. Her mother arrived a week after the announcement, and she was getting along with Hellen too well. It was like they have known each other since forever.

They were always with each other like they became besties, and it was because of their excitement for her engagement with Lucas that she was not as busy as she was supposed to be.

Her mom came over to City X and refused to stay with any of her daughters, saying she would pay for her own room.

Diane was unwilling to stay with a messy person (Alex) and a borderline clean freak (Jen) she wanted to live in peace, so she just had dinner with her daughters and would consult Jen about the plans for the engagement and the three would separate afterwards.

Jen was relieved when she heard her mom refuse to stay with her. After living away from family for over a year, she was a bit unwilling to return to that atmosphere. But because the engagement was already so rushed, even with everyone's help, she was still busier than she was before.

Fortunately, she did not lose weight since Lucas posted on the friend group he created that whoever was going to meet her for whatever reason should bring her something to eat. 

Jen thought that the group would be closed after the announcement, but there was a consensus that it should continue to exist because it was convenient. It was more active than she expected it to be but they all became even closer than they were before. Even the ghost member Michael was forced to participate more.

Now she was being driven to a famous designer that Hellen knew, and she was busy working on her assignment in the back seat. She had been hesitant before, but she was forced to accept a driver after Hellen insisted that she get one. It was like she knew that she would have to drive all over the place and tried to spare her the hustle. She was now very grateful to her.

The place was quite far, and they only arrived after driving for almost two hours. Jen had finished editing half of her report by the time the car stopped in front of the inconspicuous shop. She put her laptop aside and put on her sunglasses and picked up her small purse and got out of the car.

With her ivory coloured sundress and wedges, she was wearing she drew a lot of attention the moment she got out of the car, but she did not care and just made a beeline for the shop. 

When she walked in, the shop assistant immediately went to her and asked for her name before leading her to a private room. 

"I told you that you would know it's her the moment she walks in, right?" Hellen said to the shop assistant and the serious girl blushed before saying goodbye and leaving them alone with the designer. Jen removed her glasses and greeted the three women in front of her before being pulled over by Hellen to sit down.

"Are you tired?" Hellen asked her, and Jen shook her head with a smile.

"I know you haven't eaten anything," Diane said and handed her a small plate of bites she made herself. Jen kept feeling overwhelmed by the care she received from the two women every time they behaved like this.

"It's nice to meet you, Jen, I've heard a lot about you," the third woman who was sitting opposite them said with a smile. 

"I didn't introduce you two. Jen, this is one of my closest friends from childhood Hannah, Hannah, this is my daughter-in-law Jen," Hellen said. Jen smiled at the new acquaintance politely and said hello to her.

"She is very beautiful," Hannah said with bright eyes as she looked at Jen. It had been a while since she felt inspired. 

"Here is the catalogue," Diane said as she handed Jen the catalogue. When she opened her mouth to say thank you, a snack was shoved into her mouth.

"Eat, I know you've just been studying recently," Hellen said, and Jen shut her mouth to chew, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. What were they doing in front of a stranger? She asked herself and opened the catalogue. 

"She is very beautiful, it also looks like she was blessed to attract beauties. All the people around her are very beautiful," Hellen said with a proud smile. Wasn't she indirectly complimenting her own children? Jen thought to herself but did not say anything.

Jen soon focused on the various dresses and felt conflicted. All the dresses were ridiculously good looking. She felt like if she opened a random page and picked out something, she would still look good in it.

"Jen, If I may," Hannah started to say and Jen raised her eyes to look at the designer in front of her.

"Yes?" she responded.

"Can I make a custom dress for you instead?" Hanna asked her, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Can you do it on time? The wedd… engagement is in three weeks," Hellen said as she looked at her friend.

"It'll be ready for fitting in two weeks, if you don't like it you can just pick something else in the catalogue then," Hannah said. Jen was very flattered and agreed to her request. It wasn't like she was going to lose out on anything.

"Thank you," Hannah said and pulled out a measuring tape from god knows where and took a notebook that was on the side of the coffee table and stood up.

"I'll take your measurements," Hannah said as she stood up. Jen hadn't been able to tell, but the woman was quite tall. If she had the talent to attract beauty, then Hellen's talent was attracting tall people. James was even slightly taller than his father.

Hannah diligently took her measurements and even double-checked them before tightly holding on to the notebook.

"I have one request," Hannah said to Jen, who was sitting back down. 

"What is it?" Jen asked and picked up another snack that was on the small plate.

"Don't gain any weight," Hannah said seriously, and Jen put down the snack she had just picked up.

"You shouldn't lose any weight either, try to maintain your figure for these next few weeks," Hannah said, and Jen nodded. She knew that any changes would make the process harder for Hannah so she would comply.

After the appointment, Jen thought she would go back home with her mother, but Diane told her that she had to do something with Hellen and left with her future mother-in-law.

Was she really her daughter? How did those two even get along? Hellen was super friendly, but her mother was like an ice fairy. It was interesting that the two got so close so fast.

Jen got in the car by herself and asked the driver to take her home. She had to share this with Lucas once she got back home.