Page 91 of The Sins of Noelle

"What do you mean by prized commodity?" She enunciated the words slowly, her upper lip twitching in displeasure.

"By now people should know you're meant to marry Sergio Villanueva. He has enemies. As do I. Anywhere but at home you'll be an open target, so it's better to be safe."

Her mouth curled up in a sardonic smile.

"You're telling me Yuyu is the equivalent of ten bodyguards?" she asked ironically.

"No," Cisco chuckled. "Yuyu is the equivalent of a small army. You'll be safe with her."

With that, the matter was settled. Yuyu would accompany Noelle to the city the following day, and Cisco was gracious enough to bestow a generous budget on Noelle for her shopping spree.

Trudging her way back to her room, Noelle was happy Cisco had at least allowed her to go out. After all, she had plans that she'd been carefully concocting for weeks now.

Ever since her conversation with Blue, she realized they might be compatible intellectually, but she wanted him to like her physically too. From what she'd managed to glean from their conversations, Blue liked feminine women, who were as dainty as they were graceful. And though Noelle might fit in the former category by virtue of her small build, she had no clue how to act or dress like the latter. In short, she had not one graceful bone in her body.

Yet not all was lost.

Despite having her arranged marriage looming in the distance, Noelle was not deterred. One way, or another, she would succeed in escaping that dire fate. And if everything went according to plan, she would enlist Blue's help to do so. It wasn't an entirely mercenary goal, for as much as she wanted to be the master of her own fate, she wanted Blue even more.

Of course, it wasn't a simple matter, or an issue that could be solved within a day. No, she was merely laying the foundation for the future, quietly biding her time until everything would fit into place to perfection.

From the moment she'd heard about hermarriage, she'd known that she would never solve anything by throwing a tantrum or crying about the injustices of the world. The only way she could exact change was for her to be change in itself, and that meant tackling everything in a non-impulsive, intelligent and calculated manner.

Noelle had never been one to quietly succumb to her fate, nor had she ever been the type of person to let life pass her by while others took her choices away from her.

She wanted to live, and she would do so on her own terms.

If she needed to show a rather obedient front to the world while she put her plans in motion, then so be it.

The following day, Noelle donned her a regular black shirt and a pair of dark sweatpants and went downstairs at the appropriate time.

Yuyu was already waiting for her in the foyer.

Dressed in a pair of loose dress pants, a smart dark shirt and combat boots, Yuyu had her hair tied up in a bun atop her head. Black sunglasses rested low on the bridge of her nose as she fitted her crossbody bag on her right hip.

"Ready?" she asked with a kind smile, turning to face Noelle.

Noelle flushed, averting her gaze as she gave her a brisk nod.

It would be so easy to hate Yuyu… So, so easy. But even when her thoughts had been darkest, Noelle had never managed to quite revile her as she'd attempted to.

Yes, Yuyu was the indirect cause of Noelle's current circumstances, and likely her relationship with Cisco had set everything in motion. But Yuyu had always been kind to her.

Since young, when everyone had criticized and blamed her for things that were out of her control, Yuyu had been different. She'd been the only one to be there for Noelle, be it with a kind word, a piece of candy, or an understanding gaze. She'd been the only one to make an effort to understand her when everyone had branded her abnormal, and consequently, she'd been the only one to try to engage with Noelle and make herfeelnormal.

How could she hate her when Yuyu was the reason she learned how to smile when she was little? When she'd given her more affection than her own mother?

And so she found herself in a seemingly unsolvable conundrum.

How could she reconcile the warm and kind Yuyu who'd been like a true mother to her with the Yuyu that she was looking at now—the cause of all her misfortune.

She couldn't. And if she were really honest with herself, she didn't want to.

She'd rather put all the blame on her brother as long as she still had this—the only memories of the past that mattered to her.

"I'm ready," she muttered in a low voice as she reached Yuyu's side.

"I'm so happy we're going out," Yuyu gushed. "It's been so long since we've had a girls' day, hasn't it?"

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