"Raise your hands."

 

Obediently following the order, Tira raised her hands high, allowing the tape to measure the size of her chest lining. The hand holding the tape went down to circle her waist, then to her hips, before the tape once again rolled off her and returned to its retractable box.

 

"You have such a good figure, it's practically model material! Girl, I’m so glad you agreed!"

 

Lydia exclaimed in glee as she went off to scribble down the numbers onto a notepad hanging around her neck.

 

Across the room, the dress that Tira picked was propped and dressed on the mannequin, with a few safety pins in place, marking the places where resizing was necessary.

 

"We could throw in some more add-ons, replacing the end lace that was ripped off, or would you prefer it to be laceless?", Lydia uttered these words in rapid succession as she shook the pen while thinking.

 

"I’ll defer to your judgment."

 

She looked at the clothing; cleaned, washed and ironed by Lydia, using some mysterious means; the fabric had somehow been recolored and resewed in some parts. It had been transformed from the one-note design into something almost unrecognizable from its original appearance. "Thank you for this."

 

The woman gave her a heartwarming smile. A spark lit in her eyes as she looked up from the notes to address Tira eye to eye. "And thank you for trusting me to do it. I know we’re not exactly close, but thank you for letting me have a go at this, really."

 

"I can always just use the battle dress if you did mess up." Tira reasoned, earning a chuckle from Lydia as she stood up to the dress, although her eyes didn't leave Tira’s.

 

Studying her with great interest and close observation.

 

"Yes?" Tira tilted her head to ask if anything was wrong.

 

"I think I’m starting to understand you a little bit." Lydia shrugged as she put away the tape measure and her small notepad on the table. "Just a little bit though, and, would it bother you if I kind of want to know more?"

 

That was an interesting way of phrasing it for sure, but she couldn’t detect any sarcasm or mockery from Lydia's voice at all.

 

So, assuming the best, she gave the older woman an opening. "Well, here's your chance to ask me some questions as I’m your doll for the day."

 

"Oh really? Hm, then, let’s see…" Humming teasingly, Lydia didn't take much time to think of a question Tira had been expecting. "How would you describe your relationship with Dias?"

 

"I’d say we are acquaintances, at both the best and worst end of the spectrum."

 

Lydia was somehow taken aback at this answer, even though it should have been good news for her. "No hesitation whatsoever, huh?"

 

"Why should I hesitate? It’s nothing shameful to admit that we both don’t really know each other that well." 

 

That reaction had Lydia copy Tira's head tilt as well, but to convey confusion. What was there to be confused about?

 

"Lydia is also an acquaintance, you know?" Tira guessed and hit the mark when Lydia's smile turned upside down.

 

"Argh, the way you said my name in third person somehow makes my heart ache!" Lydia clutched her chest with both hands as if to emphasize the exaggerated pain.

 

Though immediately after, she glanced up with a wink and a teasing smile. "Yeah, I kinda know that we're not the best of buddies, a bit estranged, even. And that's why I’d like to be your friend... If that’s okay with you."

Somehow, in that split second given for her to reply, Tira felt that if she outright said yes, the amount of headaches she was going to have to deal with would increase exponentially.

 

But if she refused, that would be rude. Especially considering how much Lydia had helped her out with this particular endeavor.

 

So instead, Tira reached for a compromise, "We’ll see how it goes."

Lydia took the 'maybe' answer pretty well in stride and went off to unwrap a candy wrapper; normal candy, non-poisonous, and fed it directly into Tira's mouth, "You’re not cute when you’re answering like that!"

 

"I wasn't aiming to act cute to begin with." She munched on the candy and found that the nougat was a little harder to chew through today. It had clearly sat and chilled in the air-conditioned room for a while.

 

"A~Ah, Tira, I wish you never meet a good person and got married, I’d be soooo sad if I had to design your wedding dress, baby bird…"

 

And now she was acting like an old mother, brooding over a child. What in tarnation was happening with this woman? "Are you cursing me?"

 

"I might be, te~hee!" 

 

Lydia winked back at her, and not to mention, added two peace signs with flourish, which earned her a light slap from Tira on the closest arm closest for her to reach. 

 

Their friendship quest was already going well if Lydia had already gotten her to react physically, not that Tira would let her know. "I’m going to practice again."

 

"Alrighty, be careful this time!"

 

Walking away from the fitting spot, Tira took a pair of nondescript heels and sat on a couch to slip them on.

 

Having only ever worn flat shoes all her life, it was quite a challenge to master walking in heels. The pair that Lydia gave her were equipped with shorter heels that matched the dress and were said to be the most manageable of her collection.

 

Which wasn't a lie. But Tira thought it definitely said something when the shortest possible pair of heels the woman owned were seven centimeters tall.

 

Tira knew for sure she'd be able to walk if she broke the heels, but the shoes weren’t hers, and the call of what was left of her moral conscience demanded she return them to their owner intact.

Thus, the walking practice.

Currently, she was on day three of practicing with another pair of heels that had a similar design and height but in a different color.

 

The first day had been hellish, as she kept breaking the shoes' heels, or popping her ankle in every fall—or the desk she had been holding onto when trying to walk for the first time...

 

The broken objects were easily fixed with a quick visit to Rizal, if you could find him, and her ankles simply needed time for her natural sped-up healing to kick in. Her broken self-esteem, however, took a bit longer to recharge to its usual level.

 

Day two was worse, and it was as if her body had been traumatized terribly by the sour experience on the first day, that she had made no progress whatsoever in her balancing.

 

Instead, any progress she made on the first day had skydived to the center of the earth and through it.

 

Lydia, thankfully, didn't stop to gawk at Tira and worked on her own dress, and kept silent each time she fell and only gave her help if she was too injured to stand.

 

This reminded her of the first day she had learned how to do a horse stand properly, and of the ensuing punishment that had followed after when she had faltered in the duration of the training. How nostalgic.

One hour after she had started her training for today, her sense of balance seemed to have perhaps decided that she had shed enough blood and sweat and finally started to kick in.

 

Lydia had said beforehand that it was a little like riding a bike; that once you got the hang of it, your body would remember it for quite some time—at least until your body weight distribution suddenly changes and you have to start all over again.

 

So that was why she was still hanging around Lydia's studio, to train, to make sure her body remembered.

As far as progress went, today had been quite an uneventful day so far, with only one slip and one instance of a popped-out ankle.

 

She’d consider that a win, if not for the fact that Tira knew she was going to be expected to walk and stand around for perhaps hours on end at the reception until it was the proper time to leave. Which was one of the main reasons she never felt regretful for missing anyone's wedding.

Fortunately, training time was a little shorter today. And as Tira had started to gain confidence in walking and standing for one hour on heels, she  only took five-minute breaks once the feeling of her energy starting to deplete too fast from building up suddenly active muscle structures for standing on her tiptoes was overwhelming.

 

Was she cheating? No, this was her simply being efficient.

When her break time rolled around, Tira observed the space around her to fill her. She watched as Lydia worked on her dress with glasses perched on her nose, accompanied by the whir of a sewing machine. It was a very calming way to pass the time. Between unpacking books and accompanying Hannah on whatever volunteer activity she decided to do every day of the week. This, hanging out in an acquaintance's house; life felt almost… 

Normal.

It felt normal. But it was also why she was so concerned. The longer things went on without a hitch, the greater the trouble brewing was going to be.

 

That sense of dread had been proven once before with Purnama, and in an era where the supernatural was real, Tira wouldn't take the chance to ignore it and would treat the threat with the amount of vigilance it deserved.

Standing back up, Tira gritted her teeth and tried to calm down as she took another five-minute walk around the room and added in another hour of standing.

 

Even if things were not fine, that was what she was used to.

 

She'd just have to face it with all her might and hope for the best.