THE CODE THAT LINKS US ©

Chapter Thirty Six

MADISON

Without exaggerating I think I try on twenty different dresses in the same store. The woman in charge comes and goes carrying the dresses that my mother gives to her for me. One after the other. I found it hard to follow her rhythm. Each time I get out of a dress to get into the next one I feel like I would fall unconscious and no one would ever notice because I would end up buried under all the dresses I discard or better said, that she discards.

All of them are beautiful with different colors and styles. If it were for me, I would have stayed with the first I tried. According to the woman in charge, it looked fantastic on me. But I am just trying to please my mother who looks so excited with all this while she critiques each of the dresses I try on as if it's a fashion show.

"I don't like the neckline being so wide," she said about that black dress. "I would prefer more sparkles on that corset," she said about the red dress right after she preferred less in the blue dress. "I don't get the idea of making a dress upon two parts. In that case it's a blouse and a skirt long and heavy, not a dress," she commented on the pink and white dress, "that dress doesn't leave much to the imagination," she finally said of the yellow one.

If her passion had not been medicine, I am pretty sure she would have loved to be a fashion designer. She is an incredible artist and has a pretty strict sense when it comes to fashion and the way a woman should look. "A lot is too much but little is not enough," is what she always says. For me it is an exaggeration, but for her, it has always been something vital.

I wonder if it was just like this how it was when they were designing me on that lab. Let's give her eyes the green color of Sean's eyes. Blond hair and colorful eyes are too common, let's give her hair a darker tone. I don't like an appearance weak and thin, let's make her have a strong, healthy and svelte body.

"Oh I love it! It's perfect," she finally says when I get out of the fitting room for the thousand time. She almost has tears on her eyes."Do you like it?!"

To be honest I haven't even look at myself in the mirror, all I know is that the dress is an emerald green and I don't need more. Her look says it all. "Yeah, it's pretty," I say and force myself to smile.

"We are buying this one," she tells the woman immediately and looks desperately for her phone that begins ringing loudly in the boutique.

I get back into the fitting room to put my clothes on and I take my time to do so. When I finally get out, my mother is on the same couch that I left her just minutes ago but now she has an absent look and she's paled like she just saw a ghost.

"Mom, are you okay?" I ask and then she looks at me. "What's going on?"

"They cited us tomorrow to know the judge's verdict." Oh. I begin to feel anxious right away. Would it be a positive outcome? Did we convince him? Did we made it?

"I am sorry," she says and I look at her confused. "I really wanted to be there with you."

Now I get it. My parents have never been to a single school event of mine. Those spring presentations, Christmas festivities, tennis tournaments, graduations, nothing. They were always too busy to come. It was always just Sarah and me. She used to record everything, but even at a young age I knew that if they didn't have time to see my performance, they would never have time to sit down and watch it projected on a wall.

Her excitement wasn't for buying a dress or taking me to prom to celebrate my first real relationship. It wasn't for celebrating my transition to college. It was because after fourteen years, she was finally going to be there with me.

I was just so used to her not being there that I didn't even notice that before.

EDITED BY: JadeFoliage

I MADE IT ON TIME!!! I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER AS MUCH AS WE DO! IT WAS A BIT SHORT BUT HAS A LOT OF MEANING BETWEEN THE RELATIONSHIP OF THIS TWO. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT? WHAT DO YOU THINK THE VEREDICT IS GOING TO BE LIKE?

MAKE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR GUESSES BELOW ALONG WITH ANY OTHER ADDITIONAL COMMENTS AND VOTE IF YOU LIKED IT!

Read you later.

-MF. Hernandez

Next Chapter: February 1st, 2019.