I'm Your Sister, Brother Chow
Chapter 51: Choosing a Gown

Leslie's boutique had always served ladies only from the most elite of the elites. Of course, he would have had heard the rumours about the Howards too. It was just that the incident had happened nearly two years ago. If Celine hadn't reacted the way she did just now, Leslie wouldn't even have thought of it. But for now, a flash of understanding appeared in his eyes.

However, since he was in the service industry, he didn't let it show even if he thought of her in disdain. Instead, he smiled kindly at her. "My bad, Miss Vivian. Please don't mind what I just said." Celine hadn't even introduced Vivian to him yet, but Leslie already knew who she was.

Her identity had been thoroughly exposed.

Vivian bit her lip hard, blushing red from embarrassment.

Although she never hated her mother, she had never approved of her mother's role in the Howard family.

She knew that her mother didn't get together with Uncle Dylan for his family background nor his inheritance, but in the end, she had still coveted a married man.

Vivian had been feeling shameful since young because of her mother's identity, but for her, the grievances she had suffered were not unjustified.

She was indeed ashamed of her mother's embarrassing identity.

How could she be worthy of a man who was so high and mighty and as noble as an emperor? Vivian suppressed the bitterness in her heart and flashed a hurried smile at Leslie. "It's fine."

Since the goal of humiliating her had already been achieved, Celine didn't pursue it any further.

She smirked as she spoke up, interrupting the awkward situation. "Leslie, didn't you say that you had a few new dresses for me to try on? Vivian still has a lot of homework to do at night. We should hurry up." To any normal bystander, they wouldn't catch the meaning behind Celine's words.

However, with his years of experience dealing with female clients in his business, Leslie caught on to her hidden meaning at once. He immediately turned his attention to her.

"Yes, of course, I'm sorry for being so long-winded. Please follow me, Miss Celine. The first draft for your custom-made dress has already been prepared. Mr. Madison was about to ask you to come over to have a look, but since you're here today, you might as well see it now."

Hearing him say that, Celine's smile became a lot brighter.

After all, Jenne Madison was the renowned chief fashion designer of this exquisite boutique. It was an identity symbol for anyone to wear a gown designed by him, let alone specially tailor-made for them. Celine lifted her chin proudly. Even though she had always been careful with her words and actions and constantly paid attention to her public image, she still couldn't suppress the pride she felt. However, none of this made any difference to Vivian.

Vivian had always been a bookworm. Aside from studying and sketching, Vivian only had eyes for Chow. She never paid any attention to luxury brands or famous fashion designers so she wouldn't have known who Jenne Madison was anyway.

What's more, she was still brooding over the awkward situation just now and hadn't snapped back to reality yet.

She silently followed Celine and Leslie into a VIP room that was decorated even more lavishly with many expensive-looking gowns hanging on the racks.

Celine sat elegantly by the side, waiting for Leslie to bring over the mannequins one by one.

"Vivian, what do you think about this white gown? I was thinking of wearing it for the event in a few days," Celine said, asking Vivian for her opinion.

Indeed, Celine had quite good taste.

This dress stood out amongst the other dresses because it had a sweet, demure cutting as compared to the other heavily embellished ones. Except for the delicate embroidery on the bodice, the rest of the dress was free from decorations.

It was a simple dress, but its simplicity brought out the sweet elegance in it.

Before Vivian could reply, Leslie spoke up at once. "Ah, of course. Mr. Madison had guessed that you would choose this pattern. This is the style that he has prepared for you, Miss Celine. What do you think of it?"

As he spoke, Leslie leaned closer to Celine and continued with a wry smile. "Mr. Madison said that his inspiration came from wedding gowns. Speaking of which, I believe that we'll be hearing wedding bells in the future for you and Mr. Howard, is that right? A little birdy told me that you're trying to book a famous French wedding gown designer."

A wedding gown?

Vivian's heart trembled as she clenched her fists tightly.

Celine unintentionally glanced at Vivian before rolling her eyes at the attendant. "Who's the one spreading that nonsense? I've been keeping quiet about it."

"Oh, don't hide it from me," Leslie said smugly. "Look at your blushing face. Has he popped the question yet? Are you going to be Mrs. Howard real soon?"

Leslie leaned in even closer to Celine. "I know that your wedding dress will most probably be flown in from overseas, but we'd be really honoured if you'd let us design your bridesmaid dresses, Miss Celine. I mean, we've been friends for such a long time."

With just a few simple sentences, Leslie brought the topic back to his business again.

Celine smiled until her eyes almost disappeared. "Well, I really think that the decision would be up to my bridesmaid." She turned to look at Vivian. "When I get married to Chow, will you be my bridesmaid, Vivian? You can decide where you want your dress to be made," she said.

"When I get married to Chow, will you be my bridesmaid, Vivian?"

"Will you?"

"My bridesmaid?"

No, she didn't! She didn't want to be their bridesmaid!

"No!" Vivian struggled and suddenly woke up with a start, realising that Celine wasn't really forcing her into a bridesmaid dress like she thought. It had just been a nightmare.

Vivian let out a huge sigh of relief. It was just a terrible dream. She was covered all over in cold sweat under her blankets.

Who would have thought that Celine's words had such a huge impact on her?

Vivian really didn't know if she ought to be ashamed of herself for being a useless good-for-nothing.

Marriage.

Hadn't she been mentally preparing for the marriage between Chow and Celine for a long time?

Why did she still feel so hurt when she heard what Celine said to her?

She had long known that they would eventually get married one day. However, she had never thought of being their bridesmaid.

In the blink of an eye, she had already been by Chow's side for so long.

However, no matter how overbearing he was, she would definitely be staying far, far away when he got married. Her mother's incident had been a terrible tragedy. She could never allow herself to make the same mistake again.

If Celine hadn't mentioned it today, Vivian really didn't know that they had already been planning for their wedding. She was going to have to leave Chow very soon.

Click!

A soft sound suddenly appeared in the quiet of the night.

It had been so soft that it would have gone unnoticed had Vivian's room not been eerily quiet just then.

She was extremely familiar with this sound. Her heart squeezed painfully as soon as she heard it.

The wooden door connecting her bedroom to Chow's was slowly pushed open.

The tall figure soon appeared in her line of sight.

Vivian hadn't seen the time after waking up with a start. She had no idea how late it was.

But since she had already woken up from a full dream, paired with the pitch-black darkness of the night outside, she could easily guess that it was already way past midnight.

No matter the time or the occasion, Chow would always come over whenever he wanted to. That door was as good as none.

Vivian grabbed at her blankets tightly. She wasn't ready to face Chow, not when she'd just woken up from a dream like that.

Of course, Chow paid no heed to her wishes and quickly approached her bed.

He was damp from his shower and he still smelled faintly of alcohol.

He must have taken a quick shower after coming back from whichever event he'd just attended.

Even though he was slightly tipsy, his aggressive aura was still there.

Vivian couldn't help cowering under her blankets.

The slight movement immediately attracted Chow's attention nonetheless.

Click!

The bedside lamp turned on with a click. Vivian immediately saw Chow looking down at her with raised eyebrows.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Chow's voice was much lower than usual, probably because it was already so late at night, but it sounded even more attractive to her. Vivian bit her lower lip and answered softly. "I just woke up."

She was telling the truth.

She just didn't tell him the reason why she'd woken up.

Chow narrowed his eyes before lying down sideways next to her.

The soft water bed suddenly tilted on its side because of the added weight. Vivian found herself rolling backwards and leaning heavily against him.

Vivian cried out in surprise as Chow embraced her tightly. His breath still smelled like alcohol.

"Brother Chow!" she called out on instinct.

Chow's lips brushed against her sensitive neck, his voice deepening even more. "Good. We're gonna stay up all night."

Vivian had already done many unmentionable things with Chow. There was no way she wouldn't understand the meaning behind his words. However, as soon as the words left his mouth, Celine's words that had been tormenting her all night suddenly appeared in Vivian's mind again. "Will you be my bridesmaid, Vivian?"

"Will you?"

"No!" Vivian shook her head violently as she pushed Chow's arms away.

Chow didn't think that she would resist at all, and so fiercely too. Vivian managed to struggle out of Chow's arms since he was too stunned to react.

In the past, Vivian had always been like an obedient little kitten whenever she was with him. Now that she finally stuck out her claws at him, Chow's face had blackened immediately.

"What the f*ck is wrong with you?"

Vivian's lips trembled. In the dim light of the bedside lamp, she stared blankly at Chow's angry eyes.

Yes, to him, if she showed a bit of rebellion, it was always something wrong with her.

Chow demanded complete submission from her, anytime, anywhere.

But sooner or later, this man was going to be someone else's husband. He was going to have kids with someone else and raise up their kids with her.

The more Vivian thought of it, the more ashamed she felt of herself for even harbouring feelings for a man like this.

The person whom she loved was someone else's lover.

Vivian opened her mouth again. She really wanted to ask Chow if he was going to get married to Sister Celine very soon.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐