The moment we were about to leave, another problem arose in front of us. It was... the devil. Well, he always looked angry, but now he was looking like a real devil akin to the fierce satan or some frightening creature?

His face flushed with rage, I could feel the fume coming out of his nostrils while he was grinding his teeth. The more horrific thing was that he was constantly glaring at... Wait! Was he walking towards me? But why me? In no time, he towered over me. I don't know why but everything suddenly felt dark and grim. I was sure that the blizzard of his rage would destroy me.

Alright then, I'm right about him being sceptical of me leaking the design. Ah! Should this day be this twisty!

The tension dissolved in the air sent a jolt of adrenaline through me. Battling through the plight of vague thoughts and flapdoodle fear, my mind was so clouded up that I couldn't feel a cold hand on my left arm until it started paining. Quivering in heat of fury he hissed, "Mind telling me why you did this? How could I forget cheap girls like you can do anything for money, right? You must have bagged a handsome amount from Renerio for doing this. Tell me, why did you do this? Just why?" He roared with uncontrollable irritation while the mounting exasperation tightened his throat. The unexpected explosion of his rage seared my heart.

Besides, I was in sheer shock when he blamed me for such a filthy act. What on earth was wrong with this man's conscience. I felt like someone stained my dignity. I was antagonised by those impertinent remarks he made for me. My vision got blurry because of the frozen watery layer. They became still for a few seconds and when they couldn't bear the burden, fell.

I could have scolded him for accusing me without any evidence for something. I hadn't done it. Witnessing the crucial situation I chose to help out Alyssia before proving myself innocent and now he was drinking the time like it's a leisure beer?

I had promised to myself that no matter what, I'll definitely unveil the face of the real culprit behind all this mess. But this wasn't the right time and this man was never worth anyone's time any day ever.

Calm down Zari. You need some patience. I kept mumbling it. When I felt my rage steaming me, Alyssia's one firm grip on my shoulder soothed mine irks.

"Just calm down. You can't fix things by blaming Zariyah. We both have an idea and we want to use this last chance. So please, for God's sake, keep your anger in your pocket and try to understand the gravity of the situation. We will reach the mastermind one day but if we miss this time we will also lose the last resort to get the much-needed contract. You know very well that we are in dire need of this contract. So, please cooperate with us." Alyssia persuaded the devil.

"Alright, do what you want. But the moment I find this girl's name in this controversy, she is finished." He disgorged, clenching his fist. A blaze of indignation was burning furiously in his blue eyes and dripping red flames for me. That gaze literally shook me to my core. His anger nearly killed me.

Alyssia held my hand and started running towards her car as we had to reach the office as quickly as possible. While running with her, I saw Silvia talking to the devil and showing her despair. Sometimes the person who would offer you a shoulder to cry or showing too much dismay over the ashes of your loss would be the one who actually set the blaze and then hides their glee under the mask of benevolence. The very thought landed on the surface of my vivid mind out of the blue, when I saw Silvia comforting the devil.

This world is a weird place, you have an arduous time here to figure out who is your friend or who is... the foe.

Between my clumsiness, we ended up in the black Porsche Macan. The traffic on the road and the haunting honkings were so nauseous. I couldn't even liberate myself from what happened a couple of minutes ago and Alyssia's rash driving gave me another reason to pray to God as I could see my end.

"Spiacente, Tesoro. It seems to be a bad day for you. Just close your eyes, keep on praying and don't forget to breathe," she said.

"Bad day? Umm not sure. Till now, my brain functions and relaxes when I say to myself. Don't worry, it's just a bad life, not a bad day." I said while tucking my eyes and covering them with my hands only to save my feeble heart from a minor heart attack.

"By the way, what made you think of this idea? I'm still not sure if we can make it work. I can't even think of any design right now. Oh Jesus! Help us." Alyssia showed her actual agitation.

"This incident happened to me a lot when I was in college. My naivety failed me terribly, but I couldn't let that become a handicap. You can't change your natural instincts, but do adopt something to save yourself from disasters. I applied the same principle. I used to make two designs at that time and I made sure to design the first one with a lot of flaws and the second one meticulously flawless. It was quite fun to witness the scorn on their faces. Well, I'm not a person who holds grudges, but nothing makes you happier than an act of mighty revenge. Sometimes." I denoted chucklingly recalling those victorious moments.

Alyssia also had a good laugh. It was indeed a much-needed one on this not so heavy day.

"And don't worry this time too, I have my plan B. To be honest, it has become my habit now to always have plan B. I'm certain we can sail our boat through this storm." I assured Aly.

"You're a saviour, darling. I'm glad to have you in this company, you're the only brainy in this horde of sheep. I'm indebted to Denver for that." Alyssia expressed her delight, while the name she took reminded me of the moment that happened a couple of minutes ago which ultimately strained my nerves.

Luckily, we reached the office in no time, thanks to Alyssia who threw caution to the wind and diced with death.

Without wasting more time, I commenced my sketch for the dress to match with the speed of lights from my age-old physics texts. My hands were moving rapidly and also trying hard to impress the exact composition that was on my mind. I took every minute detail into account while thinking about the dress as we were running out of time. Therefore, I cautiously choose materials, fabric, texture etc for the dress. It took me a few minutes to sketch the design and quickly ran to Alyssia to show the design.

It's not the best but it is something better I could grab and push it into papers in this tipsy time.

"Aly, I want your-" She waved her hand to stop me. Then I saw her humming and huffing some gushes of pulled out breaths.

Alyssia was on a call, from the conversation I overheard it seemed like she was bribing someone to take care of the lighting so that we get more time. She turned up with a smile and informed me that she had taken care of everything at the venue.

"We still have some time. There is a short circuit, UNFORTUNATELY." Alyssia smirked.

"Don't tell me, you're behind that, UNFORTUNATELY," I said while flaunting a suspicious smile.

"There is an old saying, make hay while the sun shines. I too did the same because you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Sometimes we need to stoop down to our enemy's level to give them the taste of their own medicine. I'm not a cruel kind of person but I wish whoever is behind this malicious act must receive a punishment," said Alyssia in a melancholy tone. Her eyes pouring the grief over the unjust happened to her.

"Don't forget, every cloud has a silver lining. People can snatch it from your hands but they can never snatch it from your destiny. So, cheer up."

I felt bad for her but I tried my best to console her. She smiled and hugged me.

"Now, could you please look at the design I made?" I cut off Alyssia before she could say anything and showed her my sketch.

Alyssia jumped out of her skin. Her eyes were on the stalk as she watched the sketch. I couldn't decipher her thoughts through her expression. It was hard to understand. She was looking glad, emotional and sad at the same time.

I was not sure if she liked it or not. My patience level was roaring hastily to hear something good.

She finally opened her lips to utter something. At that time, I could hear the clamour of my heart humming its beats of mixed emotions amidst the eerie stillness. Keeping my little hopes high, I awaited her words. The ones that might be incredible, maybe!