[Music Recommendation: "Usui Takumi" theme (Kaichou wa Maid-sama OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

Staring blankly in the reflection of myself in the mirror, my mind was lost in the stupidity I had done. I was so hung up on the idea that Kaiden chose "dresses'' and it never even crossed my mind that he would pick a nightgown. Yup. To the point that I mistook the camisole dress as an actual dress and not a part of the nightgown. I should have noticed it when I wore the floral robe but no, I didn't. And I even ended up showing it to him! Ughhhhhh… Why am I so stupid?

'But then again… why would Kaiden even want me to wear a nightgown? Was he at that stage already? Come to think of it, he's still sixteen and it is totally normal for young men to be a little aggressive and lustful at this stage, right? Wait a minute, that sounded like Kaiden wanted to… with me? No way! H-he doesn't like me that much to want to do that, right? And we're just pretending to be lovers. If he liked me already, he would just straight away ask me to be his girlfriend, not a pretend one. Yeah. There's just no way. And his reaction, he was disgusted by it… not seduced or anything. Maybe he just picked the wrong clothes? Or he didn't know as well. He's too innocent to think that way. He's a virgin, too, so he really won't think that way. Yeah, that's probably it.'

As I was lost in my own thoughts, the ladies helped me change back to my casual clothes. Once I was done, one of them suddenly gasped in shock, much to our surprise.

"What's wrong?" I asked the lady that seemed to pale up.

"Young miss, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, almost into tears. "I just remembered, t-that night gown is… ahm, the young sir didn't pick that."

"Huh? He didn't? Then why is it…"

"I-It was a part of the new collection that I was gonna make the mannequin wear. I was about to put it on the rack when the young sir and young miss showed up. Then he started picking clothes and I followed right away. I forgot to put it back on the rack and mixed it with the clothes he was choosing. I'm really, really sorry!"

"Oh, I see. So Kaiden didn't really…" I muttered to myself. I knew it. He wasn't that naughty to actually make me wear something like that. "It's alright. No need to stress yourself about it," I forgave her. At least now it was clear to me Kaiden didn't plan it.

After that, I went out of the dressing room and saw Kaiden staring at his phone with his ears and neck all pink and blushing. OMG! Don't tell me he was looking at my pictures?!

I quickly ran to him and snatched his phone.

"What are you looking at that you're all red over there?" I sneered at him. It seemed that this young man was learning how to be naughty.

Kaiden was surprised by my rudeness—it was really rude to just snatch the phone from him but it's more rude to stare at my picture wearing a nightgown. I scowled at him and squinted my eyes, then checked on his phone.

"Hm? Y-you're not…"

I was taken aback. He wasn't staring at my pictures. He was looking at restaurants nearby!

…

…

…

Oh my goodness. Senara… you're jumping into conclusions AGAIN!

"I'm so sorry!" I apologized asap and returned his phone to him. "I… I thought you were… Anyway, delete those pictures of me wearing t-that n-nightgown!"

Haaah… My embarrassment was as high as the tallest skyscraper.

"… I-ah, I deleted it."

"Really?" I asked, surprised that he deleted it even before I told him to. Right. Kaiden was a gentleman. There's just no way he would keep a girl's picture wearing a nightgown in his phone, right?

Kaiden averted his eyes from me—he had been avoiding looking at me ever since I got out of the dressing room. Was he still shy about seeing me like that? Was it that ugly that he couldn't bear to look at me anymore?

"Y-yeah… Ahm, should we go somewhere to eat after? It's almost dinner."

Feeling dejected, I agreed, "Yeah. Let's… do that."

Kaiden paid for the dresses again and the ladies continued giggling for some reason. Carrying the paper bags in his hands, we went back to the car. He dropped them all inside the backseat, and we went inside the car. Then, he drove us towards the restaurant he was searching for a moment ago.

On our way, I just stared at the window, still dejected. If Kaiden thought I looked ugly in a nightgown, how in the world would I make him fall in love with me? I shouldn't have been shy and instead used that opportunity to seduce him. Stupid me. But then again, he was disgusted by it. Maybe I just didn't have any womanly appeal at all. Ugh. This sucks. What should I do?

"What's wrong, Senara? Are you still angry because of the nightgown? I really didn't pick it. It was probably—"

"Yes, you didn't," I interrupted him. "One of the ladies who assisted me confessed that she mixed it up with the dresses you picked. It's fine."

'Haaah… I should fix my tone. It's so obvious that I'm sad about something. I should act more cheerful… but I don't feel like it. It's hard pretending to be okay when you're not. How do other people do it? They're amazing.'

"Then why are you sulking? Did I do something wrong?"

"… No," it took me a few seconds to answer. It really wasn't his fault if I'm just too ugly. "I just realized… nothing."

"Realized what? You can tell me. I won't judge."

"No. You're too kind. You'll just say a bunch of good things to cheer me up."

"Did I do that when I first read your book?"

"… No. You gave me honest feedback," I mumbled.

"Yeah. I'm blunt like that. So tell me what it is."

"Well… It's just a girly thing. I just realized that… I'm not that beautiful and not all dresses look good on me like Crystal, and that I have no sex appeal AT ALL," I confessed in one go. "And don't try to say I'm not because it's true."

"Pft! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"