Albino Child

Thirty Three

I froze momentarily, my jaw tightening and tensing until the muscles began to pulse under the uncomfortable stance, my teeth gritted as my eyes rolled under my stupidity, how did I let the enemy sneak past me without me even realising; I scowled at my foolishness then relaxed to a stern face that gravely reflected the situation, I began to shuffle towards the inside of the room to not obstruct people that needed to go out for a cigarette or a phone call.

"We should leave right now," N states flatly, there was frantic hardiness that strung through the harsh command, "Let's go."

"No, we cannot, we shall not," I answered, we could not leave because this was a vital ceremonial event which gathers the highest concentration of agencies, I could not leave merely due to such an inconvenience, grimacing, "N, we are staying. There is no way in hell am I going to leave right now, you can whine and fuss all you goddamn want but we are not going to forget this event today," I drew N close and whispered into the shell of his ear, "It is okay, she will not recognise you with your drastic change in appearance and he does not know that I have realised her true identity; plus, I doubt she can place a single finger on us considering the amount of people here to witness all that happens. She is the best of all my clients, she is actually one of the top upcoming models in the area and to waste this opportunity would be foolish. Just go with the flow N, that is what you used to say to me all the time," I added as I squeezed his hand reassuringly.

He gave me a worried but soft smile in return, I stood upright again and gestured him to go get changed in the stall labelled 'Altitude', there were twenty-six rooms cut off with curtains to retain a low level of privacy as people changed into their appropriate dress wear; he once again shot me another nostalgic grin that reminded me of his previous self- smiling for her friends and trying to make them look at her just to make them laugh – I returned the action as he disappeared into the bustling crowd of people in flamboyant fabrics that leaped, floated and spiked the air into uncomfortable shapes.

"Salve Rex," R-C greeted me with a glinting smile that caused bunched creases beside her eyes, it was a sweet, young facial expression that contorted her face a little too far making her appear a little gleeful, reaching almost the creepy side, "What do you want me to wear, do anyone else's makeup. It is only me though," she laughed.

"Erm... Well, you are a little mistaken." I replied awkwardly.

"What do you mean," Her face had instantly fallen and melted into one of concerned fury, she was emanating pure hatred towards this unknown rival that threatened her place as number one, "Who is the person that I have not been informed of?"

I giggled nervously as felt her accusing eyes glare into my soul, the atmosphere between us was tense and even though she was shorter than me, I felt overpowered in this situation, "Calm down, it is just my cousin, his mother is one of my patrons-"

"He?" she asked mildly confused, once again her face had changed from a furious snake into a ditzy deer, her head was tilted to the side as I was cut off.

"Yes, my cousin is a boy; he is going to stay with me a bit since his mother is a little unwell thus unable to care for him, "I began to lie smoothly, after I had regained my composure, I put on a solemn face to match what I was saying, "He is young, just a child but he is not permanent; I wanted him to showcase one of the outfits since he did help with the creation. He is rather feminine so it should be okay to put him is a dress, right?"

"Course, that makes so much more sense," she laughed breezily, she clearly did not feel threatened by his presence anymore and I sighed in relief inwardly.

"Oh, speak of the devil and he appears," I glanced to my left, I saw him struggling as he waddled over in discomfort, I had decided without previous discussion that he would be wearing simplistic pale high heels to booth his petite stature so he could loom over the spectators without appearing vulnerable; fashion was not a basic, straight-forward structure to infiltrate, it was a complex, brutal industry that was full of dead-ends that did not mind cutting people off if they missed the mark, even by only a hair width; gesturing to the boy, "R-C, this is Nicholas, Nico for short. Nico, this is R-C; she is my main model but today, you will be a part of today's jovial celebration," I looked at my watch then superficially smiled is a fake apology, "Oh, R-C, I think it may be a good time for you to go and get ready, no?"