Somewhere in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
"Thank you Jin, I really think the jacket you picked out for me made the difference."
"I told you momma, the colour suits you. And Kat did a great job with the natural make-up."
Iselen kicks her white flats off her feet and flops down on the couch heaving a sigh of exhaustion. The small silver sequins peppering the white and blue Chanel jacket sparkle under the sun light coming through the wide French doors. The bright turquoise linen of the jacket matches the tank top she's wearing under it and the silver bracelets on her wrist jingle when she pets the cat that has jumped to her lap immediately after she seated down.
"Thank you very much, Lucifer. I think black cat hair is exactly what my white pants needed to look perfect today. You're the best stylist ever."
"Kitty fur is the new black," Cookie says coming into the room and sitting down next to Jin. She offers the Asian girl some dried cat food, takes Adele the hedgehog from her hoodie and they both start feeding her. The little animal munches happily from the palm of their hands.
"Is that the correct diet for a hedgehog?" Iselen asks perplexed. "That's Lucyfur's chicken kibble, isn't it?"
"I did some research on the internet. She likes it and it's harmless for her although not healthy but I'll buy her specific food for hedgehogs tomorrow in a pet store. Come on, tell us everything about..."
"Ahhhh! Kat, what the...? You scared the Hades out of me popping up out of nowhere. What are you doing behind the couch? I thought Jin was the ninja of this family..." The young girl gets up from the floor slowly and leans forward taking a closer look at Iselen's head.
"Riawna did an excellent job with your highlights, this haircut frames your face beautifully. And Jin has been sharing some of her ninja tricks lately, so get ready for us materializing everywhere all of a sudden."
"You'll drive me into an early grave..." The brunette woman shakes her head while Kat sits down next to her.
"Spill all about it... how was the lunch?"
"Weird..."
"What 'weird' means?" Jin stares at her confused giving the last kibble to Lucyfur that waits patiently for her treat lying on the armrest.
"Well, you saw it. Ruby came and she looked great with her navy suit... she reminded me of Ares..." The three girls heave a delighted sigh thinking of the mute assassin. "Anyway, we arrived to this vegan restaurant and she took my hand. I was so nervous and busy worrying about my sweaty palm touching her perfect skin that I didn't notice people around us taking pictures surreptitiously with their phones till we reached our table. And there they were..."
"Who?" Cookie whispers the question enjoying Iselen's story like it's some kind of terror movie.
"The judges..."
"The... what?"
"Guys, you should've seen them: two women and a man from the studio but they looked like those FBI agents dressed in black who are good at interrogating people. They wanted to know everything about me: about my childhood, my family, my life in Spain, my ex-girlfriends, my academic qualifications, where my money came from, where I was investing it... I explained them about our real-estate investments and also about the renewable energy and energy efficiency companies. I told them that they should contact my accountant and my investment adviser if they wanted further information."
"Fine... wait...what? That's us! Jin and me!"
"I know, I'm paying your salary. Anyway, they wrote down everything I said and then started questioning me about you: where do you girls come from, about your countries, your studies, our pets... It was really weird."
