章 528: La mode boutique

Natasha groaned as she shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh, she really did not feel like going out today, but she knew that regardless of how she felt, it was better to get this over with now sooner than later.

The party would be in less than two weeks and it was better to get a dress now than at the last minute. Natasha knew that it was essential she go out to buy a dress that went with the theme of the party.

She just did not know why she felt so reluctant to go out? Maybe it was because she just did not like shopping and going out alone to shop did not seem appealing to her at all.

She felt even more reluctant when she called Chloe to ask if she would be able go out with her today, but unfortunately Chloe was busy.

Natasha shook her head as she got up from her chair and walked out of her office to her bedroom. There was no need overcomplicating it, if she needed to go out, she would do just that.

Natasha wore her black sneakers and got her handbag, she tied her hair quickly into a ponytail and walked down the stairs.

"Alfred I'm going out, I'll be back in an hour or two." she said as she opened the front door.

"Alright Madam, see you soon and be safe." replied Alfred as he smiled on his way out of the kitchen.

"Thank you Alfred, I will be." she replied as she smiled and closed the door behind her.

Natasha got into her car, turned the ignition and drove away.

...

Natasha blew out an annoyed sigh as she walked into the mall. She just really wanted to get this over and done with.

She walked around the mall wondering where she could find a store that sold evening gowns. She was not in any way well versed with stores, if anything, the only person she knew that would be knowledgeable about this would be... Lia.

Natasha did not want to think about Lia right now, it was better that she focused on more important things. Natasha stopped in front of a security guard as she asked for directions to a store that sold evening gowns, to which the man nicely replied giving her the directions she needed.

Natasha thanked the man and set out on her way, she brought our her phone to check the time, it was already ten minutes past ten, she definitely did not want to spend her entire morning in the mall so she quickened her pace and before she knew it she had stopped right in front of the store.

Natasha looked up at the name of the store. La mode boutique. That was the name written. Natasha could not help but feel like this place exuded an aura of expensiveness.

She shook her head and scoffed internally, luckily she was stable enough to afford at least one of the all too exuberant dresses displayed in the store's window.

Natasha walked into the store and walked to the front desk where the clerk was busy typing something on the computer.

"Hello." she Natasha politely as the woman at the front desk who stopped typing and looked at her.

The woman had a far from friendly look on her face, if anything she looked as if she was irritated that Natasha had interrupted her.

The woman did not reply to Natasha's greeting, instead she eyed Natasha up and down before sneering slightly and returning her attention back to the screen.

Natasha frowned wondering what in the world was wrong with this woman, but of course she did not say her thoughts out loud.

"Hello." Natasha said again just in case somehow the woman did not hear her the first time even though she was sure that she did.

This time the woman did not even respond she just continued on typing. Now Natasha was starting to get annoyed, it was clear that this woman was very contemptuous.

She could see clearly that this woman looked at her with contempt as if she was below her.

"Excuse me, I said hello." Natasha said starting to feel annoyed as well.

"Excuse me can't you see that I am busy working??!" responded the woman angrily as Natasha looked at her with disbelief.

"I am a customer here, I want to buy a dress and you seem to be the only one here to attend to me and isn't that why you are employed?" asked Natasha as the clerk scoffed.

"Oh please, stop speaking as if someone like you can afford the exquisite and tasteful dresses that we have here." the woman said her eyes trailing down to Natasha's black sneakers as she snickered.

Natasha did not even know what to say, she was not in any way angry at the moment, if anything she was just surprised that there were people this inconsiderate and stupid not to care about the feelings of other people.

"Mhmm, that's what I thought, so if you would excuse me I have much more important things to do, so you are free to leave or stay, suit yourself, just don't use your grimy hands to mess up the expensive dresses that you obviously could never afford." said the woman once she saw that Natasha had not replied.

Natasha just turned around and showed herself around the store. It was clear that this woman would be of no help to her at all. This woman was lucky that Natasha was not in the mood to defend herself or else that woman would have lost feeling on the right side of her face for all the unnecessary insulting words that she had used.

The woman just scoffed as she returned back to typing while Natasha looked for a suitable dress that she liked.

Natasha sighed, she could not help but recall fond memories of she and Lia going shopping and Lia would pick out dresses for her to try since she was the one who knew about fashion more than she did.

At this point Natasha was unsure whether to feel that Lia's behaviour back then was just pretence, she did not even want to know, but one thing was for sure, to her, Lia was a friend that she once considered a sister.

Natasha could feel herself getting drained from this entire ordeal. So as soon as she found a yellow chiffon evening gown that was her size she took it off the rack and proceeded to the checkout where unfortunately the only employee present was the rude clerk.

"I would like to pay for this please." said Natasha as she decided to be the bigger person here and just pay for her dress and leave.

"Are you sure you can afford it? We don't allow lay-by payments here at La mode boutique." said the woman haughtily.

"I had no intention of paying by lay-by, I am paying right now." said Natasha.

"Oh really? Then cash, credit or debit?" asked the woman as she scoffed.

"Before that at least tell me how much this dress is, there's no price on the tag." said Natasha.

"That's because we don't want people like you to chicken out of paying." said the woman.

"You know what just... here's my card." said Natasha as she shook her head and brought out her credit card from her purse and handed it to the woman.

"Let's hope that it won't be declined." came the crude remark of the woman as Natasha narrowed her eyes at her.

"The transaction has been approved." said the clerk with a slightly surprised look on her face.

"Right, please pack this up for me." replied Natasha as she handed the dress over and the clerk collected it still rather rudely.

At this point Natasha did not even mind, as she waited for the clerk to pack up the dress for her, she suddenly had an idea while she looked around the store and her eyes fell upon a cute pink dress on a small mannequin.

Natasha brought out her phone as she texted rather quickly.

...

Dom yawned as he was busy in his office, he felt really drained at the moment he was wishing for something to distract him and it seemed as if his wishes had been answered when his phone suddenly rang.

He moved his attention from his laptop screen and picked up his phone as he was surprised to see a text from Natasha that read:

"I need you"

To say that he was shocked would be an understatement, he had to rub his eyes to make sure that he saw well.

"You need me?" he texted back as he needed to make sure that this was not a typo.

"Sorry, that was a mistake, what I meant is that I need you to come over to the mall now." she texted back as Dom was even more confused.

"Why?" he asked wondering what was going on.

"Are you busy right now? If so just say that so I won't bother you." she texted back.

"You're not bothering me at all, I am just curious, is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Just come over to the mall and meet me in La mode boutique." she replied.

"Alright, I'll be there in ten to fifteen minutes." he replied as Natasha did not reply.

"Here." said the clerk as she rudely handed Natasha the bag.

"Actually I'm going to buy another dress." she said as she collected the bag and turned around as she continued to look around while the woman scoffed, it was clear that she wanted to say something else but she kept silent, which was for the best. The woman just frowned and returned back to whatever it was she was doing on the computer.