A woman wearing glasses and carrying a measuring tape approached us warmly. “Hey, Jevan, Jega, and Anisa are here, and you didn’t even tell me you were coming?”
She must have been the regular tailor they’d mentioned. The finished dresses were displayed in the front, while the back held another room with glass doors, making it possible to see inside. There were empty mannequins, a table covered in papers, and rolls of fabric in the room.
She looked at me and asked, “Who’s this?”
“Hi, Aunt Nia. Sorry for showing up so suddenly.” After saying that, Jevan pushed me toward the woman.
“This is Amora. She’s our biological sister who was just found.”
I shook Aunt Nia’s hand. “Hi, Aunt Nia. It’s nice to meet you.”
Aunt Nia nodded.
“That’s why there’s going to be a celebration this afternoon to welcome Amora, so we need a dress for her.”
“Oh, so that’s why. Since we don’t have much time, you can look around and see which dress you want to choose. Once you’ve picked one, I can adjust it to fit Amora.”
“Okay, Aunt Nia,” Jevan replied. The others, including me, nodded in agreement.
We started looking around. “Just pick whichever one you want, then let us know,” Jega said.
“All right.”
I walked to the right, with Anisa following me, while Jevan and Jega went to the left. We decided to split up so we wouldn’t waste too much time.
Aunt Nia had already gone into the room in back. I was alone on the right with Anisa. While I was busy looking at the dresses one by one, she came closer and whispered in my ear.
“You must be happy to be getting all this attention, huh, you little reject. You never should have come back.”
“Ugh...” I sighed when I heard that. I moved closer to her ear and whispered back, “I’m just going home to my real house and my real family. What about you? Where’s your real family?”
Anisa looked furious. She shoved me so hard that I lost my balance. My hand searched for something to hold on to so I wouldn’t fall, but the only thing I found was Anisa’s hand—the one she’d used to push me. I grabbed it, and she lost her balance too.
Anisa was completely caught off guard when I pulled her. Her other hand went behind her, and she ended up grabbing a mannequin behind her. When I saw that Anisa was about to bring it down on me, I shifted my falling body so I wouldn’t land right beside her.
In the end, I fell to the side. When I looked over, Anisa had fallen, and the mannequin had landed on top of her beside me. The sound of us hitting the floor was incredibly loud, especially since the place was quiet and there was no one else around.
Jevan and Jega hurried over to us, and Aunt Nia came out of her room too. When she reached us, Aunt Nia immediately focused on the dress on the fallen mannequin. “OH MY GOD, MY DRESS!”
She quickly lifted the mannequin and took the dress off it. The beautiful dress was torn now, and Aunt Nia looked deeply upset as she held the damaged garment.
I heard Anisa whisper, “What the heck? That reaction is way too dramatic. I’m the one who fell, and I’m the one who’s hurt.”
Jevan and Jega came straight over to me. “Are you okay?”
“Does anything hurt?”
“Are you injured?”
“Hey, calm down, calm down. If you’re going to ask questions, do it one at a time. I don’t know which one I’m supposed to answer first. I’m still on the floor here.”