When Mona had finally calmed down, the girls all sat across from her in a small group.

"What were you crying about?" one of them asked her.

"I was thinking about my child I told you girls about. It wasn't too long ago when I lost her to the Japanese."

"How old was she?" another asked.

"She was around five or six."

"Was she pretty?"

"Oh, she was beautiful." Mona looked over at Shu. "I can't get over how much you look like an older version of her."

Shu put her head down. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"No," Mona said quickly. "No, that's okay. It's a good thing. It's like I have another piece of her to hold on to." Mona looked around her at all of the young girls. "You know, John was right. You all are so strong and so beautiful. You girls have huge hearts and each one of you have inspired me." She looked around again and then smiled. "Okay. Go get some of your clothes and let's go down to the cellar to meet with the women. Step one is to dress them up like you."

Mona waited for the girls to grab some of their extra clothes, then all of them went downstairs and opened the cellar door. They descended down the stairs and all the women came to meet them. Each of the girls met with one of the women and presented her with a uniform. Then all the girls watched as the women tried to put on the clothes. It ended up being problematic considering the women were a bit bustier than 13-year-old girls.

One of the women tried to help another button up the uniform, but it was useless. The girls started laughing at her poor attempts to put on the uniform. It was the first time Mona ever saw the girls smile and it filled her to the brim with happiness for the first time in weeks.

Mo got their attention and explained something to them in Chinese that made them all laugh even harder.

Together, all of them went up and grabbed the sheets off the beds and the curtains off the windows. They sewed the fabric from the cut-up curtains onto the uniforms to help them fit better so they could get it over their bodies. Once the uniforms were finished, Mona helped the women wrap their chests up in sheets in order to make them flatter and more like a schoolgirl's.

After the women were all dressed up to look like the girls, they all grabbed something small that came from what little possessions they had and held it in their hands, then went up to the girl they were going in place of.

Mona smiled at the bittersweet sight of all the women tearfully giving each girl a small present before they parted the next day. She realized that despite all of the events that had happened in the last few days, these girls and women shared a special bond now that no one, not even the Japanese, could break.

Tears fell down Mo's cheeks as she held Dou's old instrument. The bloody strings that they had gone back for now were tightened onto it. She handed it to Shu as her gift.

Shu asked her a question, and Mo's eyes brightened a little bit. The women gathered up in a group at the front by the stairs with Mo sitting down, brushing her fingers delicately against the strings to produce a beautiful sound.

With the girls and Mona watching as they sat on small crates, the women began singing a beautiful song and doing a simple dance to go along with it. Mona treasured these minutes more than anything. It was a perfect moment of unity.

When the women finished the song, everyone applauded for them. Mo gave a little nod and the girls came up and joined them.

"Mona," Mo said to her. "We all have something we would like to give to you as well as a thank you for all you have done for us."

"Really? What is it?"

The women and girls all smiled at each other. Apparently, they had all been planning this together in secret.

"We want to dress you up."

"You…you want to do what exactly?"

"We want to make you look even more beautiful than you already are. All of us would like to put some makeup on you, dress you up, and fix up your hair."

Mona laughed lightly. "I haven't done anything with myself in a very long time."

Mo smiled a little wider. "We want to help you impress Father John."

Mona scoffed and laughed harder. "I do not have feelings for John."

One of the women exclaimed something in Chinese that made all of the girls and women begin laughing. Mo looked over at Mona. "Ling says that your cheeks are getting very red!"

Mona's hands flew up to her face to cover her reddening cheeks which made everyone laugh even harder. She smiled at all of them. "Alright."

The women sat her down on a crate and began working on her. First, they took her hair out of her ponytail and let it collapse around her shoulders where it fell just below the middle of her back. She noticed that they all lightly gasped a bit when her hair was down.

"It looks so beautiful," Shu said to her.

"Thank you," Mona answered, touched by her sweet words.

Some of the women began tying and pinning up her hair so that half of it rested on her back while the other half was pinned up in a traditional Chinese style.

The girls helped some of the other women pick out a dress from their collection that they had brought back with them from the brothel. Once they finished Mona's hair, the women put on some of their makeup along her eyes and lips.

After Mona was finished with her hair and face, the girls and women presented the dress they had chosen for her to wear. It was quite elegant, yet simple at the same time. Seeing as Mona had no idea how to wear Chinese dresses, the women helped her get on the dress and then buttoned it up for her. Then they made her stand at the base of the stairs so they could all look at her.

"You look so gorgeous," Mo said. She walked up to Mona and handed her a very small mirror.

Mona gasped a little. She didn't recognize the woman staring back at her. She looked so much different…and for the first time in years, she felt beautiful. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked back at all the women and the girls.

"Thank you all so much," she quietly. "I haven't felt like this…in a while. You are all…so amazing. Thank you."

Every single one of the females went up to her and hugged her tightly as a few tears leaked from her eyes.

"Go," Mo said to her. "Go see John."

Mona laughed. "Wish me luck."

She went up the stairs and exited the cellar. John was nowhere in sight, so she went up to her room. She slowly opened the door and there he was with his back towards her. He turned at the sound of the door opening, and he froze in place at the sight of her new appearance.

"Um…hi," she said quietly. "They insisted on giving me a new look."

"You look…beautiful."

"Thank you." She nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I feel beautiful." She smiled a little at him. "So…you said you're a terrible dancer?"

John laughed and nodded.

She stepped towards him. "Well, come here, I'll show you a couple moves."

They stood in the middle of the room and Mona guided John's hand to her waist while she held his other hand in hers.

"Now, it's easy. Just step in time to a beat." She started counting and led him in a small dance all across the room. At one point, John made her spin around in circles before wrapping his arms around her, and soon they were both laughing with pure pleasure.

They stopped dancing and met eyes for only a second. Slowly, they took their hands away and parted a little.

There was an awkward pause before Mona said to him, "John? I would like to apologize to you as well."

"What for?"

"I wasn't really…the nicest person to you when we first got here."

"Well, that wasn't really your fault. I was kind of a jerk."

Mona smiled. "You said it, not me."

They both laughed together, which broke up the tension they had allowed to build up.

"I'm so sorry I acted so heartless when you had lost someone so close to you so recently. That was very disrespectful of me."

Mona took a small step towards him. "You know, when you first arrived, you only cared about three things. Yourself, drinks, and money. Well now you care about 24 things. And not one of those is one of the original."

John stepped towards her. "You're wrong." She looked up at him with slight confusion in her eyes. He took her hand in his. "I care about 25 things."

She looked straight into his eyes and noticed that they were a gorgeous green color that she got lost in. But she had never seen such love in them before. She tilted her head up and leaned closer to him. Their lips softly brushed against each other at first in a small kiss, then they began kissing with more fervor. After several kisses, they both broke apart for air and were breathing heavily. They looked into each other's eyes once more, and before they knew it, they were kissing again as John slid his hand under her knees and hefted her up bridal style into his arms.