Rule #17: Be open to different logical pathways and stray away from setting your mind on one theory

"Yay or nay?"

"The blue clashes with your hair. So nay."

Saera groaned and spun on her heel before walking back into the change room of a small boutique downtown.

Mireu crossed her legs on the couch as Saera whipped the curtain closed. "Don't you have dresses at home?"

Saera tossed the blue dress over the curtain, at Mireu, who was collecting all the rejects in a neat pile.

"None of them are…good enough."

"You do realize that you're not the bride, right?" Mireu snorted while scrolling through her phone.

Saera stuck out her tongue at the door. "Ha ha, very funny. It's just that most of my dresses are plain and black. You can't just wear black to a wedding."

"You also can't just wear plain and black if you're trying to impress a hot detective that's going with you as your plus one."

There was a beat of silence on Saera's end before she spoke, "That's irrelevant."

"So then tell me why all these dresses make your legs looks painfully long and your s look amazingly perky?" Mireu snorted.

Saera made a sound of disgust. "Hey! That's not true! The only reason I'm doing this is so I look good when I see all those people from my old school. I want to really stick it to them for being jerks."

"That's pretty clear since you closed up the bakery early just to do this. Which, might I remind you, you didn't even do on your own birthday."

Sara scoffed as she stepped into another dress, "You've been begging me to go shopping with you for years. Why are you complaining now?"

"Oh, I'm not complaining. I'm intrigued by this change in persona." She hummed.

Saera scrunched her face up as she twisted her arms back to try to zip herself up.

"How about this one?" Saera asked before swinging the curtain open. Mireu looked up before gasping.

She clapped her hands before hopping out of her seat, "Oh it's so pretty! Get it!"

"Really?" Saera let her fingers brush the blush coloured fabric as she stared at the mirror with her head tilted to the side.

Mireu stood behind the girl and squealed. "It matches you so well! Get it! Get it! Get it!"

Saera chuckled and spun around while checking out her back. "I guess this is the one."

"Yayyyy! Now hurry up and change so that you can buy me lunch." Mireu said while dropping back down to the couch.

Saera rolled her eyes with a snort before stepping back into the changing room and slipping out of the dress.

"Hey can you toss me the dress for a second?" Mireu called out from the other side.

Saera made a face as she wiggled her jeans on, "Why?"

"I need to check something."

Saera laughed under her breath before  whipping the dress over the top. She heard Mireu pick up the dress before her cell phone started to ring. Saera pulled it out of her bag and felt her breath catch when Mark's name flashed.

"Hey." Saera said slowly as she answered the call.

Mark groaned on the other end, "Are you done yet?"

"Excuse me?" She asked in amusement as she pulled her shirt on.

Mark sighed, "Did you buy a dress yet?"

Saera's eyes widened, "How did you know I was going dress shopping?"

"Mireu told me." Mark replied blankly.

Saera scoffed, "Alright, first of all, stop tracking me through my friends and second of all yes, I did find a dress."

"You should get a white one." He chirped in.

She chuckled while absentmindedly playing with the hem of a dress hanging on the rack, "Good idea, unfortunately I think another girl is going in white."

Mark clucked his tongue in mock disappointment, "Oh damn, that's a bummer. You'll just have to settle for something else. What look were you going for?"

"Second hottest girl at the wedding." She said jokingly.

Mark snorted, "Ambitious."

"Oh shut up." She hissed back.

Mark let out a breath, "So when are you going to come by?"

"The precinct? I didn't think you needed me in today." She asked in surprise while pulling her jacket on.

Mark made weird sounds while mumbling speedily under his breath, making her knit her brows, "Use human words please."

"It's boring, can you come in?" He said quickly.

Saera scoffed, her face dusted in a light red, "I'm not just a distraction, Mark. I am a very valuable member of society. "

"Yeah and I'm not going to suffer alone. So get down here, asap." He said before hanging up.

Saera made a face at her phone before putting it away. She drew the curtains back and stepped out, only to frown when Mireu and her dress were nowhere to be found. She looked around before stepping away from the changing room.

She walked into the rest of the store and just as she was about to turn the corner, she slammed into someone, sending her tumbling backwards with her belongings pouring out of her purse.

She groaned and rubbed her hip when two hands reached down and started helping her pick up her stuff.

"I'm sorry."

Saera blinked rapidly before looking up at the person she bumped into her. The man had sunglasses over his head, a black cap over his head and a pair of leather gloves over his hands.

"O-Oh, it's fine." She stuttered while trying to help him gather her stuff.

Her eyes zeroed in on the small cut on his wrist when his sleeve rode up.

"Here." He said while handing her, her purse.

Saera took it from him and stood up, trying to catch his face, but he turned away. She tilted her head at him before taking a step away.

"Um…thanks."

The man nodded and brushed passed her before stopping, just a foot away. "You should be careful. A girl like you could get in serious trouble if she's alone."

Saera's eyes widened at the chilling voice and spun around only to met with emptiness.

Whoever it was, was gone.

And she was so distracted by his disappearance, that she didn't notice that the police badge that she stole was no longer in her bag.

"Yo, ready to go?"

Saera yelped and spun around to see Mireu standing behind her with a smile. Saera looked over her shoulder again before looking back at her friend who was looking at her expectantly.

"Where did you go? And where's the dress?" Saera asked as she scanned her.

"Here." She said while holding a bag out from behind her back.

"Wait. You already bought it?" She asked in shock.

Mireu nodded enthusiastically, "Yup. I bought it for you."

Saera's face fell into a scowl with a locked jaw as her fingers curled into fists, "Mireu this is not okay. This dress is kind of pricy and I managed just to scrape up enough extra cash after talking to Youngjae. I can't allow you to pay for this for me. I--"

"Oh. Wait did you think that I….oh hun, no, Mark paid for this." She said lightly before strolling casually out of the store.

Saera raced after her friend, "Wait what do you mean?"

"He gave me his card when I told me that we were looking for a dress for you." She said while flashing a dark blue credit card in front of her face.

Saera's eyes grew wide as she grabbed the card and stared at the gold embossed name.

Yi En Tuan

"Why…why would he do that?" She breathed out.

Mireu shrugged and hooked their arms together, "Well I told him that I was forcing you to go to the wedding, so I guess he felt bad that you had to pay for something that you didn't want to go to. I texted him when you were changing and he told me to buy it for you. So while I got the dress and he called you to distract you from finding me at the register."

Saera's brows furrowed as she stared at the piece of plastic.

"Oh! There's a smoothie place over there! Do you want something?" Mireu asked while hopping up and down.

Saera shook her head half heartedly, "I'm good."

"Okay, I'll be right back." She said before skipping over to the counter.

Saera stood off to the side and whipped out her phone before sending a furious text.

To: Mark

Why did you do that?

Do what?

You know what.

Oh that. Yeah, I got a notification for the transaction.

Why?

It's for a good cause.

I'm not a charity.

Anger bubbled in her stomach at the thought of him feeling bad for her money issue and buying her a dress like he was giving her some sort of hand out. That is until his next text came in.

Yes you are. The charity to fund the second hottest woman at the wedding.

You're welcome.

A small smile crept up her lips at the