Eva twirled in front of the mirror and twisted here and there to get a better look at the new white dress she purchased from one of Hargeon’s best clothing stores. She had seen it on a mannequin when she was out doing one of her quests the other day. Getting the dress in her hands turned out to be a quest too since she had forgotten where exactly she saw it. In the end, she had to bother her manager to help her go through most of the shops in Hargeon. It must have tired him out more than Eva because despite it being a little past ten, he was still asleep.

It was a simple dress that reached about an inch above her knees. It also had long sleeves that ended on her wrist with three black buttons going up the soft fabric. Outside that, the dress was plain except for a pale blue ribbon going around her thin waist. She decided to pair it up with her favorite white ankle boots with pointed heels. She wore the hair down in casual waves for them to form a fluttering frame around her and carefully placed a single hair pin with a white flower to keep just the left side of her bangs back. Once she was satisfied with the look, she gave herself a wink and went out.

Hargeon actually had a pleasant weather for once. Eva had been there for about a week now and most of the time, the weather was simply too hot to go out in. That day, though, the sun was there but it wasn’t as intense because of the large clouds that loomed around it. The day was a perfect mix of cloudy and sunny with little chance of rain. It was one of those days that you can stay outside all you want and not get tired of it. Jay Holiday must have thought the same thing because Eva quickly spotted him over at the beach doing extra warm ups. “Oh, it’s you, mon Cherie,” and he just never got tired of that, “Are you out on some errand today?” he asked after giving her a once-over, visibly praising the simple but elegant look she sported.

“Not really. I was just going to walk around the beach and maybe grab some lunch later. Why do you ask, Jay-san?” she tilted her head to the side, silently praying at the back of her head that he wouldn’t ask her for any favors that she can’t refuse. “It’s a perfect day for doing workouts, as you can already see,” he pointed to the sky above with a glimmering smile before taking out a crumbled white paper out of his pocket. “But there is another competition starting next day and I haven’t signed up for it. This is my personal info, see,” he handed the paper over to the secretly hesitant Eva before continuing while pointing towards the other side of the beach, “That’s where the registration desk is and I haven’t signed up for it yet, unfortunately. Would you be a dear and sign me up for the competition? The deadline is by sunset today,” he all but forced the task on Eva as she kept nodding with a smile.

She knew something like this was going to happen the moment he began talking. Jay was known for his obsession for working out and normally had other people do most of the other jobs for him. It was only Eva’s greatest misfortune that she bumped into him early in the morning. “I’ll be back soon, Jay-san,” she managed through a desperately forced smile before she turned around. Her eyes fell to her new dress for a moment; she sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Her first hurdle came in the shape of the ankle boots she wore. It was difficult to walk faster in the thing and for a moment, she found herself cursing at her otherwise favorite pair of shoes. Eva had to balance herself many times as she walked –jogged- all the way down to the other side of the beach. Her second problem came in the form of children and careless teenagers with their drinks. One of them even stopped to give Eva a wolf whistle before quickly running off with his friends that clearly found Eva’s angry huff as amusing. It didn’t get any better when she finally saw the end of a huge line leading up to the registration desk either. There were a bunch of sweaty macho men lining up for the registration that Eva now had second thoughts about becoming a part of. She had a new white dress on and she was already sweating from having to almost run all the way over. Her heels were starting to hurt and the sand from the beach was starting to get kicked up a bit with the wind that picked up over time.

She did it anyway! Bit her lips, said a silent prayer and got into a line full of weightlifters that smelled like they haven’t seen water for ages. One of them, the guy who stood right in front of her, even took a fancy on her as he started raving about how the day was perfect and how much workout he does in a normal day –as if any of that was going to interest her. His attitude changed when she took out the paper Jay gave her, though, and there was a look of hidden fury in his eyes when he saw the name. He didn’t say much after that, thankfully. The line finally moved up until Eva was able to get to the desk. She quickly took the form and filled it out before hopping off the line to go back to Jay.

Not so surprisingly enough, Jay was still at the other side of the beach busy with his intense workouts. “Welcome back, mon Cherie! Did you sign me up?” he stopped as soon as he saw her. “Yeah. It’s all done”. “Great! You can have your reward then!”

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