Chapter 3 Big Event

• Laurie PoV
• The dress I'm wearing now is designed by a famous designer whose dress is only made in three sizes and each size only has one piece.
• To get a dress from that designer, you have to order it from the time the designer starts showing the rough design on paper, usually three to six months until the dress is completely finished.
• It once happened, a celebrity ordered the dress, which turned out that after the dress was finished, the size was too small for her. The celebrity went on a strict diet in order to be able to wear the dress once, at her lover's birthday party and after the party was over, she had to be hospitalized due to malnutrition and fluids due to her diet.
• Now, I'm wearing a dress designed by that amazing designer. I've been eyeing it since I saw the designer show the sketch of her design on her Instagram story, then without thinking twice immediately ordered the right size for me and paid the down payment.
• I don't know. I really like the designer's design this time, because I imagine, from the presentation of the sketch, when it's finished, the dress will look similar to the wedding dress worn by my mother when she got married. I still hang her picture on my bedroom wall until now.
• I am not a wasteful person who likes to spend money to buy branded and expensive items because of prestige. Not at all. I just want to buy the romantic value of the dress, even though it actually only exists in my own feelings and thoughts.
• However, when the dress arrived three days ago, delivered by a special courier, I was speechless, even when Valerie gripped my hand tightly, with her mouth wide open.
• I don't understand why the timing was so perfect. I thought the dress would be a long time coming. I had even planned to buy the dress to wear to tonight's event, with Valerie, two days ago. But the dress arrived the day before I went shopping.
• It was a very beautiful dress. Extraordinarily beautiful. Silk fabric with blue pantone, from the darkest to the palest, from the bottom of the dress to its high neck, made the dress look graceful. The model is made similar to a cheongsam, a traditional Chinese women's dress, wrapping the body tightly to the ankles, with a side slit on one side, from the bottom to the middle of the thigh and sleeveless.
• One of the most amazing things is the peacock image that is made like a hologram, will only be visible when the wearer moves or stands under the light.
• "Laurie, you will be the most beautiful and sexy woman at the event and Tommy will be crawling all over you!" Valerie muttered in an irritated tone.
• I pinched her waist lightly. "You're overreacting. He will definitely come with his wife and child and they will definitely try to pretend not to know me."
• "Tsk!" Valerie snapped in an irritated tone. "Don't be shy to beat him up if he tries to approach you. You have to show who you are now, so he won't underestimate you anymore."
• I just laughed at Valerie's words. Although at first I was quite shocked to hear from Valerie that Tommy had registered his company as an exhibitor, I was not afraid either.
• I did tell Tommy that I didn't want to see him again for any reason, six years ago when we divorced, but now I was ready to face him no matter what.
• I was not the Laurie who used to be belittled and bullied by him and his cruel family. I could face him with my chin up and my head held high now.
• My uncle Nelson once said that when my father was sick and I rarely visited him because Tommy restrained me, he often cried and lamented how unfortunate my fate was for falling in love with the wrong man. He was always worried that I would end up miserable with Tommy, which turned out to be true.
• Now, I will face Tommy, for the first time again, after six years of separation. I will take revenge that I have long harbored against him and his family. They must know what it means to me that they consider useless and unworthy.
• Valerie helped me dress up. She had taken a makeup and hairdo course after graduating from high school, to fill in the time before college.
• After Valerie finished dressing me up, I couldn't blink, staring at my reflection in the full-length mirror. It didn't seem like me.
• "Oh, Laurie, if I were a man, I would have fallen in love with you at first sight," Valerie said in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.
• I laughed at her words. Valerie stood next to me. She herself looked beautiful and graceful in her maroon A-line evening gown with Sabrina sleeves. We looked like sisters.
• "Are you ready, Laurie?" Valerie asked as she grabbed her and my handbags. "Let's go and make every man fall on his knees."
• When we arrived at the building where the event was held, the atmosphere was already quite lively. It was a big event attended by many large and developing companies in the world.
• Not only product exhibitions were held at the event, but also business seminars, auctions, and dinners.
• My company had participated in such events several times since two years ago, although on a smaller scale and usually local or national. This was the first time my company had been invited to an international event like this.
• Valerie and I handed the invitations to the reception manager and he invited us in with a pleasant, friendly attitude.
• Valerie nudged my arm as we walked on the red carpet. "Do you feel that many eyes are staring at you right now?"
• "Staring at us," I said, correcting. I took two glasses of wine from the waiter who offered wine to the guests, and gave one to Valerie. "Let's go around first to see what's in this event. After that, we'll take part in the auction, who knows there might be something interesting to buy."
• Valerie and I looked around the exhibition and chatted with several other businessmen who greeted and invited us to talk.
• My company's booth also looked crowded. I had time to greet the five staff I assigned to guard the booth and accompany them for a while to greet the guests, before walking around again.
• We got to know each other and exchanged business cards with businessmen from various countries who attended the event. We also exchanged information and business knowledge and I felt lucky because my company was invited to participate in an event like this, because it turned out that there were many other companies that seemed like they could become business partners after this.
• A packaging industry entrepreneur from Finland looked very enthusiastic to hear my explanation about the company I run.
• Valerie nudged my arm and pointed to a booth. "I'll take a look over there for a while. Mr. Finland seems to still want to chat a lot with you, so talk to him until he is willing to give a big discount if one day we order packaging for our fruits from him."
• The Finland businessman looked disappointed when I said goodbye to him to go to the auction room. We promised to contact each other again for more serious business discussions.
• I breathed a sigh of relief when I had walked a little bit away from the guy. He was kind of making me uncomfortable because he seemed to really like skin ship and was always trying to touch my hand.
• I looked for Valerie, but she was nowhere to be seen. My need to pee was unbearable, so I decided to bypass the auction room and head straight to the back, following the signs that pointed to the ladies' restroom.
• I checked my appearance in the mirror after I finished peeing, and only added a little perfume behind my ears and a spritz of face mist to freshen up my face.
• Just as I was about to walk out of the ladies' restroom, the door swung open from the outside and someone rushed in. Her cream-colored dress had a reddish stain on her chest.
• Our eyes met and the woman stopped right in front of me, her face looking shocked.
• "You..."