It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
Mark Twain
JENNIE
An hour later, I'm skiing down some slopes in Athens at full speed with Mino trailing closely behind me. I can't actually see him, since I have the glasses on, but I can definitely hear him, shuffling furniture around so I don't blindly hit anything.
He even has thick, cushy pillows in each of his hands for when I'm about to walk into a wall. He sticks them in front of my face, and I'm met with a face full of pillow plushness instead of a face full of wall.
I'm midway through my Olympic-worthy jump off a ski lift when I hear, "No way, girlfriend. What in the world are you wearing? I don't ever want to see those gloves and those hideous glasses again."
"Jimiiin!" I shout, whipping off the glasses and throwing them at Mino's face.
He catches them.
Barely.
"Expensive prototype," he says.
I shrug. I'm not in the mood to be gentle with Lisa's things when she trapped me here. I'm in the mood to get the Hell out of this building, and my ticket out has just arrived… yet, I find myself gently taking off the gloves and setting them down carefully on the coffee table.
Mino lifts a questioning brow at my change of pace, but I ignore it. I don't know what to tell him. So, maybe I am grateful for Lisa's gift and don't want to ruin it. So what? I turn quickly away from Mino's inquisitive eyes and envelope Jimin in a hug, squishing his pudginess into my eager arms, which are far more toned than they used to be, thanks to Mino's training sessions.
I hope the newfound definition in my body doesn't require Jimin to spend another month altering clothes. Speaking of taking forever, I want to ask him why it took him so long to make a few outfits, but I don't want to be rude and upset my ticket out of here. So, I keep my mouth shut and wait.
He doesn't make me wait long. "Try these on," he says, shoving a garment bag into my dumbstruck hands. "I'll go grab the rest of the clothes from the hall."
I decide to change in the living room, so Jimin doesn't have to carry his creations up the stairs. Plus, I don't want this to take longer than it needs to take. Now that I have the clothes, I can get out of here.
A part of me sours at the thought, unable to believe that Lisa kept me trapped in her home because I wasn't clothed appropriately. I even asked her if I could just head to some designer store on 5th Avenue to buy something to wear. I would have even let her choose the outfit.
She gave me a resounding "no."
The clothes have to be from Jimin.
As I open the bag, I can see why. There's a gorgeous burgundy colored dress inside, consisting of a mesh and lace corset top bodice and a fitted skirt. The corset top is hand sewn with beautiful rubies and what I hope isn't real diamonds. I've never seen anything like it. I'm excited to get this dress on.
Mino averts his eyes as I change, struggling to hook the back up until Jimin comes bustling in and does it for me. He heads to a switch by a flip panel in the wall, pressing a few buttons until the floor to ceiling glass window that separates Lisa's penthouse from the rest of New York shifts. It turns into a mirror, causing my mouth to gape.
"What just happened?" I ask.
"It's a version of electrochromic glass made from nanotech. Black Enterprises manufactures it," Mino says.
Our eyes meet in the mirror, and I see his widen as he takes me in. I turn to my reflection, remembering the dress and eager to see how it looks.
"Wow," I breathe out.
The dress fits like a glove, hugging every curve of my body. The corset is all mesh and lace, which looks like lingerie yet somehow still appears elegant. There's a nude slip stitched into the lining underneath, so I'm not actually naked under there. The skirt of the dress clings tightly to my body, ending just at the knee. I can see myself wearing this to an elegant dinner or cocktail party, though I've never actually been to one.
"I know. I'm awesome," Jimin says smugly.
When Mino turns to take me in properly, he doesn't say anything. He simply stares, and it's all I need to know. I look damn good in this dress.
"Jimin, if the rest of the clothes look like this, I'm kidnapping you," I tell him, unable to stop staring at the dress.
"Speaking of," he replies. "The rest of the clothes should fit you, so you don't have to try on everything. But there are a few things that might need altering, so you'll just have to try on those items only."
I nod, overwhelmed as I turn to see what he brought me. There are hangers upon hangers of clothes, hanging off of wheeled metal racks. This is more clothes than even Lisa owns. I have no idea where we're going to store them or how we're even going to bring everything upstairs. Now I understand why it took Jimin this long to make all of this. He built me an entire boutique's worth of clothes.
"I would have finished everything sooner, but Lisa said you've been working out. She sent me an updated picture, and I fixed everything for you." Jimin's eyeing my new figure.
I decide to ignore the part about Lisa having a recent picture of me. "You refitted all this off of a picture?!"
"I'm very good at my job."
"Yeah. No kidding," I agree, ogling the collection in disbelief.
There are at least a dozen evening gowns in the mix, all stunning of course. I have no idea when I'll wear them, seeing as I've never been invited to a fancy event and Lisa hasn't taken me out since our engagement. But I'm excited to try every single one of them on.
I feel like I'm Cinderella without the part where she's chased around the kingdom by a stranger she danced with over a damn shoe. Can you imagine going to a club, dancing with some random guy and having him chase you all over the country afterwards?
That's called stalking.
And it's not sexy.
By the time I'm done trying on clothes, I'm exhausted. A few items turned into me trying on most of the collection, only for Jimin to take merely two dresses for more altering. The security guards come out of the security room to help Mino carry the clothing racks upstairs. Jimin and I follow with at least a thousand new velvet hangers.
We have to switch out the thick wooden hangers from Lisa's clothes with the new, ultrathin ones Jimin brought in order for my clothes to fit in our shared closet. Even then, our clothes are packed so tightly together, it's difficult to pull an item out. And this is a giant closet. I'm amazed that Jimin got all of this done in such a short amount of time.
It's not until Jimin and I are stepping back to admire our work that I realize all my old clothes are in a bag on the floor. Tommy picks the bag up and heads towards the door.
"What are you doing?" The accusation in my voice is clear.
"I'm taking these to Goodwill for donating."
"You're what?!"
I know I have all these wonderful new clothes, and Lisa said she'll let me keep them after this is over, but I can't help but feel attached to my old clothes. They're mine. I worked my butt off during high school to afford a lot of what Jimin is so ready to give away. I didn't have a family to buy these things for me. I worked for them, and because of that, I'm attached. At the very least, I want to keep my little black dress.
Jimin shrugs. "Lisa's orders." He eyes the clothes, packed like sardines beside one another. "You don't seem to have any more room, too."
He's right. I should be grateful for these new clothes. No way should I want to get rid of some of them to make room for the old, but I can't help myself.
"But I—"
His eyes dart towards Mino, who's sitting on a chair in the center of the closet, purposely minding his own business. "I have strict orders to give these away. Sorry." And then he runs off quickly.
I let him, because I don't have another choice. I can't chase him down the elevators when the stupid biometric lock won't allow me access.
"This is your fault," I tell Mino.
He finished his rounds a few minutes ago and has been sitting in the closet since.
"How?!"
"If I had access to the elevator, I could have chased him down."
"I can give you access now."
And he does.
For the first time in a month, I'm free.