"No..." I whispered, the world a hollow puff of air.
The silence in the dressing room was broken only by the sound of my own ragged breathing. How could this happen? I was keeping a close eye on it, so who did this?
How could someone be so cruel as to do this to me?
My fingers trembled.
It had to be Zhen Rui; they used all that commotion to serve as a distraction. Zhu Ri, too. They had won, plunging me into despair.
I felt a sting of hot, furious tears blurring my vision. We were almost there. I wouldn't cry. I wouldn't. But the despair was so thick I could barely breathe.
There should be a way to fix it.
I let go of the dress and quickly scrambled around for water, or maybe a needle and thread to fix the shreds, but how was this going to fix it? How was I going to walk out of this room looking like that?
The beauty of the gown had vanished.
Before I could break down again, the door burst open.
