I felt like I was a child again. Like I was five, during the times when I was hooked on fairytales and princesses. Sitting on the couch while sewing away, a thousand thoughts entered my head. Dragon tugged on the dress, and I immediately snapped out of it before my thoughts took over. I flinched when the needle pricked my finger for the seventh time that day.

“There I go again.” I put aside the needle and held my finger. Dragon wanted to play with the needle and I quickly stashed it away inside the sewing kit.

I glanced at the clock.

“Kris would be here anytime soon,” I said to Dragon, who purred beside me. I took one more look at the dress, then sighed. “What am I even doing?”

Dragon tilted his head sideways as he watched me bury my face with my hands. Going to parties was the last thing I’d ever want to do. Jessica and Krystal would know very well that I dislike to social. They even told me that I didn’t have to come. Well, they pressured me to rest ever since I was discharged. But I still got on my feet.

“Well,” I said, “it’s too late to turn back now.”

Dragon blinked.

I picked up the dress and stood. “Anyway,” I said. “Your daddy would bite my head off if I cancel at the last minute.”

After slipping on the dress, I made an effort to play around with my hair. I pulled it to the side.

“How’s this?” I asked. Dragon blinked again as an answer. I tried to flip my hair. “This should be okay,” I said, but the little kitten didn’t seem pleased at all. What other way could I make myself look…appealing? Was there even a way?

I sighed.

Something shined in the mirror when I turned to look back at my reflection. Dragon was sitting on it. I spun around and caught hints of the shimmer.

The jacket.

Flashes of memory hit me when I saw it. That old feeling came. The intruder. The chase. The police. It happened so fast, and I could barely remember it.

And the jacket. That jacket that I was supposed to return. Till now it’s still stashed in my apartment as I take it with me wherever I go, in strange hopes that I might come across the owner. It felt stupid, though. I should’ve accepted the fact that whoever it was would never get it back.

The knock on the door made me jump. Dragon, too. With the messy bundle of hair going about my shoulders, I skipped over and opened the latch.

I exclaimed a careless sigh. “Wow, you’re really punctual. I didn’t think—” I paused, my eyes travelling from top to bottom.

With curiosity in his eyes, Kris raised a brow. “What?”

I blinked, then nodded to myself in surprise. “You clean up good,” I said.

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment,” he said, eyes narrowing.

I grinned smugly, then laid my eyes on the flawless white suit he was in.

He nudged my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

I silenced him and raised my finger as I stepped back inside. “Wait, wait, wait,” I said. “I just have to fix my hair.”

He sighed, then followed me in, watching as I went back to my mirror, my fingers entwined with my hair.

“Come on, let’s go already,” he pressed.

“Just a sec!” I said. I pouted in the mirror, trying to untangle my knotted hands. So much for creating a braid. The only things that were braided were my fingers.

He waited impatiently, and for a fraction of a second his eyes laid on something. I was about to turn around, when I caught his obvious reflection in the mirror, him stari