Page 94 of The Sins of Noelle

Noelle reluctantly nodded. She did want something different. But not…this. Or did she? Maybe because she'd never worn any designer stuff—at least not in recent memory—she could not qualify the experience. Her mother had certainly tried to get her to wear expensive,girlystuff when she'd been a child. But she'd categorically eschewed that then.

Ironic that nowshewas the one voluntarily seeking it out.

"Fine. Let's do this," she sighed, allowing herself to be led inside the department store. "Do you usually shop here, too?"

Yuyu nodded.

"I might go for more formal styles since Cisco and I are always on the go, but I have to admit that designer clothes are one of my weaknesses. I don't know if I ever told you, but I grew up poor.Dirtpoor. After my mother died, it was just me and my grandmother and she was too ill to work. So I had to do what I could to put food on our table. I could barely clothe ourselves for the winter, let alone allow for any extravagances but…" she trailed off, swallowing hard at the painful memories.

"I used to come on this street. Pickpocketing," she chuckles. "That's what I did to survive back then. But as I was waiting around, scouring for the next person I could rob, I couldn't help but stare at the wonderful displays and be in awe at the colorful dresses and the modern styles. There was one dress in particular that simply mesmerized me. It was a pink Chanel tweed dress that represented everything I wanted to be.Classy, feminine, rich. Someone with no worry about money or for the future," Yuyu smiled fondly.

"I promised myself that one day I would have enough money to buy one of those dresses for myself. And after I started working for your brother, it happened. It might have taken me an entire year of penny pinching, but it happened."

"So fashion is personal to you, is it not?"

"You could say so," Yuyu nodded. "It represents both a period of my life when it was out of reach, but also one of prosperity when I can buy anything I wish. More than anything, it symbolizes my journey and how far I've come."

"Is that why you like pink? Because of that Chanel pink dress?"

"Yes. I think that one dress was imprinted on me. I still have it, you know. It's been more than a decade, but it's one of my most prized possessions."

Noelle smiled at Yuyu. Odd how with one small anecdote she felt closer to her than ever before. But truth to be told, no one knew much of Yuyu's past. Even the fact that she'd been Cisco's bodyguard was known only to a select few who'd interacted with her as Yu.

"Then I'll leave everything to you," Noelle chuckled.

Yuyu took her assignment seriously, taking Noelle to every single store and introducing her to brands she'd never heard of before.

Despite wanting a change of style, Noelle didn't expect to like the selection of clothes very much, merelyforcingherself to bear them for the sake of her goals.

Yet as Yuyu pointed out dress after dress, coupled with some skirts and fancy shirts, Noelle found she didn't mind it much.

Especially as they entered the Chanel store and Yuyu led her to their ready-to-wear rack, pulling a tweed dress and showing it to Noelle.

"It's violet," Noelle whispered in awe, greedily eating up the design and imagining herself in it. Yet more than anything, she imagined what Blue would think of her dressed like that.

"Come on, you have to try this," Yuyu said, asking the sales assistant for her size before leading her to the changing rooms.

Just as the sales assistant brought in the dress, Yuyu found five more for Noelle to try.

Shaking her head at her sister-in-law's enthusiasm, Noelle set about trying the first one on.

"Oh, wow," she muttered to herself as she looked at the person staring back at her in the mirror.

It wasn't her. It couldn't be her.

No longer a combination of goth and tomboy, she looked like a woman—a dainty,gracefulwoman.

"You need to add some shoes," Yuyu declared, bringing her a pair of pearl flats. "And a bag," she added after a second thought, picking a black Chanel mini square and handing it to Noelle.

"Yuyu, this is…"

"Perfect, isn't it?"

Noelle could only nod, her throat clogging with emotion.

She…liked it. And not only for Blue. But also for herself.

She didn't feel sick anymore at the thought of wearing anything else but her comfort black clothes. She actually felt beautiful, a first for her.

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