Chapter 17
Half an hour ago, Shawn Yeats just arrived at the private room named the Western Chamber in the restaurant.
There were only five people sitting in the big room of 40 square meters.
Rachel Taylor, Edward Yost, Sophia Yost, as well as Rachel's agent and assistant were all there.
Rachel saw Shawn coming, but she did not stop eating. She asked him while having the chaffy dish, "Why are you coming so late?"
Performing at a concert was always exhausting. Besides, Rachel was getting old, and she had to expend a lot of energy during each concert, so she would eat a big meal after each concert.
No matter how late it was, Rachel had to have this meal to put an end to the concert.
Occasionally, when Shawn and Edward were free, they would eat with Rachel as a glee feast.
Rachel Taylor, whose real name was Juana Yeats, broke up with her family when she started her career, so she got a stage name to show her determination that she would never be involved with her family of origin.
Then, Rachel kept mum about marriage. The relations between her and her family of origin thawed a little after that, but she had no intention of exposing her husband and daughter to the public, and this kind of secret life passed just like that.
However, the privacy of Rachel was easily brought to light by other people with advanced technologies today, so she had to tread carefully. She was so busy that it was rare for her to have dinner together with her family like this.
Shawn sat down, but he made no intention of eating.
"Something came up."
Unlike Sophia who was carefree, it was normal for Shawn to deal with something that had come up, so Rachel did not ask much.
On the contrary, Sophia was so excited today that she never stopped talking.
Seeing her grandfather William Yeats not here, Sophia's excitement at the concert continued to the glee feast, which annoyed Shawn.
Shawn put down his phone and looked at Sophia.
Shawn gave Sophia a reproving look with the light glinting on his glasses. Although he did not frown, Sophia dared not to speak for the next half hour.
Rachel finished eating, and she was ready to leave.
Edward dropped back a step and walked beside Shawn.
-"I want you to have dinner with me tomorrow (a shy emoji)"
When Shawn saw the message, he heard Edward speak at the same time, "Quinton Hawk's having a home party tomorrow night, right? You can take Sophia with you."
Shawn glanced after Sophia who was capering around and said coldly, "No."
Shawn paused, then said, "I'll bring someone else."
--
-
"I'll pick you up at five o'clock tomorrow afternoon."
Ten minutes later, Vanessa received the reply message from Shawn. Already lying down, she pulled the quilt over her face and chuckled in the darkness.
The moonlight was bright tonight with a mild breeze blowing gently, which made Vanessa sleep soundly.
The next day, Vanessa got up early.
After dealing with some work e-mails, Vanessa switched off her computer and then marched proudly to the wardrobe.
It was December, and there was a chill in the air. Vanessa seldom wore a down coat, but she always wore an overcoat and dress in winter.
As a result, there were many winter dresses neatly placed in the wardrobe.
Vanessa picked out several dresses from the wardrobe and tried them on one by one, but she was not sure which one to wear. 
After thinking about it for a while, Vanessa had an idea. She took pictures of these dresses and sent them to Shawn.
"Which dress should I wear?"
After Vanessa edited the text, she was not satisfied with it, so she deleted it and resent it.
Vanessa: Which one looks nice on me?
Shawn: The red one.
"Sorry?"
Vanessa glanced at the dresses she took out, and found they were all plain color without any red.
Vanessa opened the wardrobe by some chance and found that there was no red dress.
In the past three years after graduation, Vanessa's dressing style had gradually changed to be suitable for work, and she no longer bought whatever she wanted as she did when she was in college.
As a journalist, Vanessa needed to be smartly dressed, so she always wore clothes with quiet colors, and she would never buy clothes with strong colors like red.  
So why did Shawn choose the "red" one?
Was Shawn offhand with Vanessa, or was he just color-blind?
Vanessa sat by the bed for a while and turned on the TV. It turned out to be a European heroine riding across the grassland.
It suddenly occurred to Vanessa that the last time she wore red was when she was riding at Theo Sanchez's stable. On that day, she wore a red riding suit.
--
-
On weekends, the shopping mall was more crowded than usual. Besides, as Christmas got nearer, red and green decorations were hung all over the mall. A huge Christmas tree was also placed at the entrance, and its colors in sight could easily stimulate people's desire to shop.
Vanessa had only been in the mall for an hour, and she had already shopped at three stores.
But so far, Vanessa had not bought her favorite red dress, so she went up to the other floor and entered a new clothing store.
The clothes in this shop were of various styles and colors, and there were several red dresses.
Because of the dressing style Vanessa had developed over the past two years, she still chose a simple red off-the-shoulder dress to try on.
Just as Vanessa put on the dress and was about to go out, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"What do you think of this dress?"
"Not bad."
The man answered perfunctorily, but Vanessa was very familiar with this voice.
Vanessa peered through the slit in the fitting room curtain and found that the newcomers were indeed Jackson Scott and Bianca Yost.
Vanessa felt awkward in a flash.
Vanessa did not want to meet these two people at this time, nor did she want to leave directly. After all, she had not tried on other clothes in the store yet, so she simply sat in the fitting room and wanted to wait until they left.
At this time, Sophia suddenly sent a message to Vanessa.
Sophia: Vanessa, what are you doing this weekend? I'm so bored.
Vanessa took a deep breath and edited the reply message secretly to Sophia.
Vanessa: I was shopping, but I came across Jackson Scott and Bianca Yost at the same store. Damn it.
Sophia: Is that true??? Where are you???
Vanessa: Coain.
Sophia: I'm around there!!! I'll come right away!!
Vanessa: ? ? ?
Sophia: I'll come to back you up!!!
--
-
After a while, the sound of Bianca's voice came from the fitting room next to Vanessa.
"This dress is too plain, and it seems to be designed for middle-aged women."
"No, no. My legs looked thick in the trousers."
"I don't want turtleneck sweaters, because it will rub against my foundation make-up."
Vanessa roughly estimated that Bianca had tried on at least three sets of clothes, but none was satisfactory.
Vanessa heard a salesclerk suggest, "Miss, would you like to try on the dress which was newly arrived? It's very unique."
Bianca nodded, "Sure, please give it to me."
Bianca looked back and saw that Jackson was already sitting on the sofa and was playing with his mobile phone.
Vanessa had begun to get irritated in the fitting room.
A few minutes later, Bianca's voice came out again.
"Don't you think this dress is too plain? There's no design in this dress."
"No. The dress cut immaculately would make you look very distinguished." The two salesclerks next to Bianca were flattering her, "You look amazing in bright red and it's perfect for a new year call."
Although the salesclerks kept speaking of Bianca in glowing terms, Bianca still felt dissatisfied with the red off-the-shoulder dress. She felt it looked strange, because it made her shoulders and neck look unattractive and did not keep her waistline well. Anyway, it could not flatter her.
"Jackson, what do you think?" Bianca turned to ask Jackson. He looked up and said, "Well, it looks good."
Bianca really got the feeling that Jackson was brushing her off, and she felt unhappy about it and said, "I'd like to have a look at other dresses."
In the fitting room, Vanessa's patience had finally reached its limit.
Although Vanessa was very selective in clothes, she had never seen such a dawdling dress purchase. She immediately regretted not going out directly at that time.
But now, Vanessa could not stand it any longer.
Vanessa stood up, adjusted her dress, lifted the curtain of the fitting room, and walked out.
At this moment, a salesclerk was bending over to tie Bianca's belt.
Bianca did not notice Vanessa because Bianca was watching the salesclerk's movements.
After a while, Bianca felt a subtle change in the surrounding atmosphere.
Vanessa stood just short of Bianca with two salesclerks gathering around her, and another two salesclerks simply stood there watching Vanessa in amazement.
"This dress is perfect for you, Miss. You're fair-skinned, and you look so great in bright red."
"I think you look better in this than the model in our magazine. You're so lucky today, because there is only one dress of this size left."
"Yeah, you really don't need to try on anything else, Miss. You look so beautiful in this dress."
Although Vanessa had her back to Bianca, Bianca could tell at a glance that the dress Vanessa was wearing was the same as hers.
Bianca did not care much about the salesclerk's flatter, but when Vanessa turned around, Bianca saw it very clearly that the dress did not fit her looked good on Vanessa.
The drapey dress with nipped waist brought out the curve of Vanessa's collarbone, which made the ordinary winter dress look like an evening dress when she wore it.
"Not bad. Let me take a selfie," said Vanessa as she did a twirl in the dress.
--
-
At this time, Shawn was having a video conference with subordinates.
The office was so quiet that only the voices of the others reporting to Shawn could be heard.
Shawn's phone suddenly vibrated a few times. He unlocked the screen to check Whatsapp casually and then found several messages with pictures popped up one by one.
Vanessa: Is it good-looking?
Vanessa: Just say yes.
In the camera, the subordinates saw Shawn take off his glasses and rubbed his forehead, they felt a little panicked and stopped reporting immediately.
"Mr. Yeats, what's the problem?"
After Shawn put on his glasses again, the helpless look on his face disappeared.
"Go on."
Two minutes later, Vanessa received a reply message.
"Not bad."
Vanessa: "..."
Shawn's answer was really concise.
Was it hard for Shawn to praise her? Vanessa thought with unhappiness.  
--
-
At the same time, another two women who had spent a lot of time in this store were attracted much by the dress Vanessa wore. They waved to call the salesclerk, "We also want to try on it! Please give us two dresses."
The salesclerk behind the checkout counter took a look at the dress and shook with a smile, "Sorry, there are only two left. One is on that young lady, and the other is on..."
The salesclerk turned to look at Bianca and said, "This lady is trying. Look, this dress is really beautiful. Customers who tried it on loved it."
The professional salesclerk's expression was well-managed. However, Bianca could still see the subtle changes in her gaze.
The two women who wanted to try on the dress looked at Bianca. The look in their eyes indicated that Bianca and Vanessa were not wearing the same dress.
Bianca's face changed uncontrollably, and she was too embarrassed to know where to put her hands, so she simply took off the belt that had just been tied.
"It looked so ugly..." Bianca wanted to say the dress was ugly subconsciously, but before she could finish speaking, she saw Jackson sitting straight on the sofa, just staring at Vanessa, and his eyes following her.
Bianca had never seen such a look in Jackson's eyes before.
Except for the amazing look on Jackson's face.
...
Although Jackson tried to remain controlled, he still looked reluctant and regretful.
Bianca frowned and felt unhappy with Jackson. Then she turned to walk to the other side of the store.
After going around a row of hangers, just as Bianca reached for a dress, another hand reached for it, too.
Bianca looked up at Vanessa, and Vanessa just cast her a sarcastic smile.
"You really have the same taste as me."
They looked at each other and went to the fitting room with the same dress.
As if they were silently competing with each other, they tried on five sets of clothes.
Every time they came out, the previous scene would recur.
Bianca was so stubborn that she did not want to be outdone, so she tried different clothes one by one.
But every time, Bianca could clearly see from the people around her that she did not look any better than Vanessa.
After trying on the sixth clothes, Bianca stood in the fitting room, paying attention to the fitting room next to her and recalling what had just happened. She became too angry to keep calm.  
Bianca grabbed the last dress she had tried on and then walked out of the fitting room with Vanessa simultaneously.
After glancing at Vanessa, Bianca smiled and took Jackson's arm directly.
"Darling, I like these clothes. Could you buy them all for me?"
Vanessa thought she was better at acting spoiled, but when Vanessa heard Bianca's tone, she had goosebumps.
Seeing Vanessa frown, Bianca felt less sullen and angry at last.
However, Bianca did not notice that Jackson's face had suddenly changed.
The clothes in this shop were very expensive, and each winter clothes would cost no less than 500 dollars. In addition, there was no discount in this store. It would cost at least a few thousand dollars to buy those dresses.
Jackson remained silent and did not move immediately to pay.
Bianca shook Jackson's arm and urged, "Hurry up. We're going to eat later."
Jackson was afraid of being found stingy if he did not pay for Bianca. As a man, Jackson could not refuse his girlfriend's request in public, so he had to walk slowly to the counter.
The salesclerks were overjoyed, and at the same time, they looked at Vanessa.
"Miss, do you want to buy these clothes? They all fit you very well."
Hearing this, Bianca also looked at Vanessa complacently.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of high heels from far and near.
Sophia rushed straight toward Vanessa with a conspicuous rare leather bag over her arm and a pair of sunglasses on her head.
"Vanessa, have you finished shopping?"
Vanessa had not expected that Sophia would really come to enjoy the tidbit, so she stood in shocked silence at Sophia's behavior.
Sophia glanced around the store, only to see Bianca and Jackson in pairs. When Sophia exchanged glances with Vanessa, Sophia understood everything.
Sophia said to Vanessa, "There's nothing to hesitate about. I'll buy you them."
Sophia walked towards Bianca, glanced at the clothes she had selected, and said to the salesclerk, "This one, this one, this one... well, just the ones she selected..."
Hearing this, the salesclerks were overjoyed and they immediately came up to serve.
Here came another big spender, those salesclerks thought.
"Do you want to buy all these?"
"Yes."
Sophia took out a card and slapped it on the counter, "I'll buy all the other dresses in my sister's size except for the ones I mentioned just now."
Vanessa had a puzzled look on her face.
Sophia adjusted her sunglasses and went to the checkout counter to pay. When she passed by Bianca, she said with a smile, "You really have a good taste. I'm glad you picked out the ugliest ones, it saved my time to do this."
Bianca stood, frozen in her stance, and she looked sulky immediately.
It was dead silent in the shop, and the tension between Sophia and Bianca made other customers all look at them.
The salesclerks did not know what to do at this moment, but they were overwhelmed with joy after a while.
Only Vanessa was still a little confused. She looked at Sophia and blinked in bewilderment.
Sophia walked to Vanessa's side and whispered, "It's all right. I'll swipe my uncle's card. He's rich."