𝚕'𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊̀ 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚜 | a.s x fem!oc

• 2 ~ 𝙲𝚊𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚍𝚎 𝙺𝚢𝚋𝚎𝚛 •

"I'm sorry, we're going to where?" I stared my boldly and outrageously dressed sister in the eyes as I watched hers glisten mischievously in the moonlight after proposing something I didn't quite understand fully.

She rolled her eyes sarcastically as though I was the uncultured one, smirking at me in amusement. Lyssa always does this to me; talks to me as if I am still a child shrouded within my innocence like a bundle of cotton wool protecting me from the outside world. I remember when I was small, she and Adriana would always butt heads on how to raise me seeing as Father was preoccupying himself from his grief with business and our mother was dead; Lyssa always used to accuse Adriana of 'babying' me too much in certain situations and caused an even bigger rift between the two of them than there already was.

"Only to the best nightclub in Paris! And what better way to celebrate your first night back at home? Now go and get dressed; I refuse for you to spend tonight cooped up in your bedroom!" Lyssa exclaimed, seizing me by my shoulders and playfully shoved me towards my ridiculously large closet.

I look down onto my cream dress which modestly covered my body - unlike my sister's - and shot Lyssa a look of confusion, slipping the skirt in between two of my fingers. "What's wrong with what I'm already wearing?!" I say to her in protest, causing my sister to stifle a snigger as she clasped her hand to her mouth.

"Adi... do I even need to dignify that with an answer? You can't seriously think about wearing that old thing! You need to blend in; and plus, you're not a child anymore. It's time for you to act like the adult you are, Adira!" Lyssa said to me, strutting over to my closet and began expertly flicking through the endless rows of dresses hung on the rails, letting out a disapproving grunt after examining each.

Sighing, she landed on my crimson red gown right at the end of the rail and held it out in front of her. I had only worn it once, and that was when I was nearly sixteen years old at my father's business partner's Winter Gala for Christmas. I watched Lyssa examine the dress with squinted eyes in heavy concentration, holding it up against my body as though she was envisioning something.

"Go and slip into this for me, Adi," Lyssa commanded, shoving the red material into my arms and giving me a little push towards my dressing divider in the corner of my room.

I quickly changed out of my cream dress, discarding it neatly on the back of the chair next to me as I struggled to step into the red dress my sister had instructed me to change into. The last time I wore this dress was five years ago, and obviously I had since matured and grown, causing the red material to cling to every single curve on my body, the skirt now heightened to just below my ankles. It wasn't as form-fitting or as short as I remembered it to be; I especially don't remember not being able to properly breathe since the last time I wore it... come to think of it, I hadn't began to even wear a corset at that point and so I'm not too surprised.

Reluctantly, I stepped out from behind the divider and took my place next to Lyssa by the mirror. I watched her reflection through the polished looking glass, observing her as she crouched down to take a look at the skirt. My eyes widened in horror as I notice her produce a pair of sharp scissors from behind her back and brought it to the red silk, already hacking off the material before I could even open my mouth to protest.

"Lyssa what on earth are you doing?!" I exclaimed in panic, but was ignored and cut short from the shushing noise emerging from my sister's lips as she continued to snip the material higher... and higher. My jaw dropped, unable to speak as Lyssa took a final cut, majority of my skirt falling to the ground as she removed her scissors from the dress. "Wha-what have you done?!" I gasp, eyeing my reflection as Lyssa stood behind me, arms folded, looking at me proudly.