Chapter 561 - The accident during the show

Ryn walked toward the runway amid the applause from the audience. She gave a slight smile, looking proud as a phoenix as she made her way along the runway. Her pace was steady and she looked confident as she walked along the glass surface. She stopped right at the end of the runway to pose before she continued her walk until she reached backstage. Once she was out of the audience's view, she lifted the hem and rushed to change into the next outfit. She skillfully ran despite wearing high heels.

She rolled her eyes when she saw how relieved Mei Li was to see her safe from any accident. She grabbed the next dress and put it on, listening carefully at the floor manager who was busy shouting instructions for the models. Ryn did not want to miss her turn and ruin the show.

"Help me with the zip," Ryn showed her back to her manager. She signalled another girl to help her with the shoes while she put on her short frilly gloves. The next outfit was a bit complicated with the hairpiece, the gloves as well as the feathered heels. And when she was rushing, the zip was not working for her.

Mei Li quickly helped with the zip while the others gathered around Ryn to help with everything else. Even the make-up artist changed a bit of her make-up to suit the dress. This time, she would be a white tiger. Well, the female version of the white tiger. A pretty one.

Ryn went to join the queue once the stylist announced she was ready. She frowned a bit when she realized the long hem might affect her walk. She lifted the hem a bit as she looked into the long mirror provided. She swished the dress as she looked into the mirror, experimenting on how to walk in the dress without any incident. Once she found a suitable way of holding the dress that could show off the dress as well as avoid any accident on the runway. 

She was in the middle of posing when the model before her had an accident on the way backstage. She did not notice it at first as she was doing poses but when she heard the loud gasp, she turned to look at the model and found her still struggling to get up. It was too slippery and the model fell again.

Without a frown, Ryn continued her walk until she reached the model. She held the hem of her dress and carefully gave another hand to the model. Without a word, Ryn successfully pulled the model up and helped with the dress. The model's hem was already wet from the fall and might cause another accident. Ryn carefully helped adjust the hem so that the model would not fall again. Then, she lifted her head and gave a pointed look at the small puddle for the next model to avoid. 

"Suck it up," Ryn whispered to the whimpering model without moving her lips and walked backstage, purposedly walking behind the sad model so as not to ruin the turn. It did not take a long time between her helping the model up as well as giving the warning for the other models hence when she reached backstage, she still had time to change into the next dress.

The third and the last dress turned her into a dragon. She even had armour to represent the hard steel body of the dragon. The stylist even ordered two women to put on shimmering golden fake nails on her for the claws. Maybe because she was the finale to end the show hence the things she was being out on were more than what the others received. The hairstylist managed to change her hairstyle, making her wonder how stiff her hair would look at the end of the day with so much hairspray to keep it in place. 

As the model that would close the show, she stopped at the end of the runway and turned to look at the back as she joined others clapping hands for the designer. She did not expect to see a shy girl and boy walking together hand in hand along with the man. But, being Ryn, she did not show how shocked she was. She smiled as she clapped her hands and waited until they reached where she was. Then, she posed with them.

Well, she was taken aback to know that the designers for the dresses were the twins, younger siblings of the man and he was determined to show off his siblings' creations without a care of the budget. He even chose the best for everything, even with a thick face begged Ryn to join the show. Ryn was unsure of the background of the siblings but as long as she did her job perfectly and according to what was expected, she did not care much about anything else.

Mei Li helped her to take off everything on her hair and body after she was done with the press conference. As the main model, she was asked by the man to accompany the siblings while the reporters were interviewing them. She also helped by showing off the dress so the photographer could take a closer look at the dress. She quickly put on her clothes back but did not make a move to take off the make-up.

"Are we joining them for the celebration?" Mei Li asked. She did not mind if Ryn said she wanted to leave. The show has ended and Ryn should be beyond exhausted by now.

"I don't mind," Ryn replied. She was starving anyway so it was better to eat first before she does something else. Besides, by joining them, she could save money for the food and even save her energy from cooking and washing the dishes. Of course, she would not waste the chance to save as much as she could.

She was happily enjoying her food until she did not notice who was sitting beside her. Her concentration was interrupted when her 'neighbour' cleared her throat.

"Thank you," the woman said slowly.

Ryn lifted her face and looked at the model but her mouth never stopped chewing the fried noodle. Ryn blinked her eyes in a puzzle. What thank you?

"Just now... you helped me," the woman explained but her voice was quite low that it was difficult for Ryn to hear.

"What?" Ryn gulped the noodle and asked. She really did not hear the words clearly.

The woman narrowed her eyes. Was this woman (Ryn) trying to show off? She has already said her thanks and the woman wanted her to repeat back? Was this revenge because Ryn heard she was not satisfied that Ryn did not even come for the audition, the fitting and could even open and close the show. This clearly showed that Ryn joined the show in an underhanded way, not in a proper way like the rest of the models. And it was clear how she was the candidate to open the show before Ryn suddenly appeared and stole her position.

With a huff, the woman stood up and went to join her model friends. She would not lower herself to beg Ryn even though she helped her during the show. She still has her pride.

Ryn looked at the angry woman in a puzzle before she shrugged it off and continued her meal. She was getting more exhausted and knew if she still deliberately slowed her pace of eating, she might fall asleep while chewing her food. She definitely did not want that to happen.

Mei Li sat beside Ryn. She watched speechlessly as the mountain of food disappeared rather quickly under Ryn's skilled hands and mouth. She told herself not to open her mouth and nag Ryn. It was useless. When Ryn was hungry, no one could stop her on her mission of filling her empty stomach. She was not there when the huffing woman glared at Ryn and left. She was busy talking with the man because he tried to book Ryn for the next show once his siblings finished their next collection. With no exact date and time and even location, Mei Li did not give her words but said she would think about it once he chose the exact date, time and location. Mei Li pointed out that Ryn could not just stay at home just because she was worried her work would clash with the next show. The man finally agreed and promised to transfer the money for Ryn and the foundation tomorrow. 

"I'm full. You?" Ryn asked her manager after she emptied her glass of juice. She did not take the alcoholic drink that was provided by the restaurant. Both she and Mei Li tried to avoid alcohol when they were eating with clients or when they joined the celebration party. Even if they had to, they tried to minimize the intake so they could still have a clear head at the end of the party.

"I'm done earlier. Let's say goodbye to our host," Mei Li said as she stood up. She tried to avoid looking at the piles of plates on Ryn's side. Those piles were not the exact rounds Ryn had because she kept refilling the same plates and bowls over and over again with the food she liked. No.. Not gonna look at those plates and bowls.