Chapter 9
By the time Judy and Alice came out of the dressing room dressed in casual outfits, the pageant had come to an end. The manager of the firm had once again gathered the contestants for a final address so they could leave for the day.
"And all 17 of you have done wonderfully well," Mrs. Benita commended them in the middle of her speech. "But as you have all been informed, we will be picking just three candidates, and not being picked does not make you any less of a designer," she said, moving her face from left to right and offering them a tender smile.
"So keep your eyes on your emails; our winners will receive a text in less than 24 hours, and the rest can check the results on our social media platforms. The institution is always open to you any time, any day. Good luck," she dismissed them, allowing the contestants to scatter away to different parts of the building.
Judy and Alice were headed for the exit when a guy whom she recognized as one of the contestants approached her.
"Miss Wilson," he called the name he had earlier heard her being referred to as, earning him glances from a few other contestants around, although he did not notice this. "That was a nice performance back there," he praised her with a smile. Judy returned the smile with a tight one; she wasn't used to being approached by people, especially her colleagues.
There had been a time when a boy in the same acquisition grade as Judy in the firm had publicly talked down to her for refusing his proposal. It had been too embarrassing for her, and with no one fighting for her, she had taken his words and the shame as something that would soon pass. However, that did not happen as soon as she expected. The boy kept trying to make her learning at the firm difficult, always attempting to frame her for one thing or another. This continued until the day the young man tried to physically bully her. Judy had finished her day's work and was heading to her car when the boy intentionally approached and harshly pushed her down, causing her shoulder to scrape against the tire and earning her a fresh and deep cut. "The more you keep saying no to me, the worse your condition here gets," he had confidently bent down to whisper to Judy, an evil smile on his lips. That night at home, the butler, who had come to deliver a letter to the young lady, had seen her trying to bandage a wound on her shoulder and offered to help.
"Please don't inform Mother," she had pleaded with the man, who had a firm resolve on his face after hearing her story about the institution she was apprenticing at. The next day, she was at work like any other day when the boy who liked to bully her showed up with his face covered in blood and bruises, taking everyone by surprise. He had run straight to the confused Judy, falling on his knees and pleading for his life. "I will never bother you again, I promise! Please tell him I have apologized!" He kept on uttering words she couldn't understand, but that was good news to her. That was the last time the four corners of the institution ever accommodated the boy. The incident had left an impression of her on the minds of the people at the institution; many preferred to keep their distance from her as they didn't know who this strong backup of hers was.
Sometimes she had wondered if it was the butler, but it couldn't be, right? After all, he was just a butler.
Back to the present.
"Kenneth," the boy said, stretching his hands toward Judy for a friendly handshake, which she accepted hesitantly.
"Are you from the firm or outside?" he inquired.
"From the firm," Judy replied shortly, as she didn't know where the conversation was leading.
"Oh, nice. The competition brought me here; you have a beautiful model, by the way," he added playfully, sending a wink to Alice, who smiled in response.
"See you around, then." With that, he left the two.
"Weirdo."
"Extrovert?" the girls commented weakly, going back to their previous conversation. Judy had informed Alice of her encounter with the man who happened to be the owner of the firm where he had been apprenticing her for a while now.
"There's no big deal; just apologize to him. Tell him it was an accident," she squinted her eyes playfully. "Or a mental case that you go around proposing to strangers."
While Alice found this command funny, Judy was drowning in embarrassment. But Alice was right; she was going to apologize. She wouldn't like the idea of not being qualified because of an unnecessary misunderstanding or misconception of herself by the boss.
The girls made it to the open space in time to see the boss's car driving out of the gate.
"Seems like I will have to postpone the apology."
"Yeah, so where do we head from here?"
Alice knew that this was a hard but important question for the girl right now. From what Judy had said to her, home might no longer be home soon, and she couldn't help but pity her friend. One would think that everything was rosy behind the walls of the Wilson household until they were within those walls.
"It's almost dusk; I will have to head home," her response came not so willingly. "Let me drop you off at home," she offered Alice, as the girl resided in a rented apartment not far away in midtown. "I will just order a ride."
Judy stood beside Alice outside the gate as they waited for the booked ride which arrived some "let's have a victory meal at the coffee shop after you must have been announced the winner of the competition" Alice stated as a matter of factly before getting into the taxi that was quick to drive out of the vicinity.
The moment she was left alone, the memories from last night came flooding her mind. The thought of the reality that awaited her was confidence consuming.