Chapter 49.1: The mysterious looking boutique

Ivy stood dumbfounded in front of a boutique that was painted to look similar to the train station next to it. "Why are you standing here? Quickly enter now…" Ray urged as Ivy hold on to him to stop him from entering. 

"Are you sure this is a boutique?" Ivy questioned skeptically as all the brothers couldn't help but chuckle. 

"Yes… She is only designing clothes for selected customers only and you should see for yourself her designs…" Jin explained as he walked up the stairs at the entrance before Ivy mischievously hooked her arm onto Jin's while they entered the store as an idea to tease Cassandra came up in her mind. 

"Welcome to the subway boutique…" Cassandra greeted as Ivy tried to ignore her and meddled with Jin's face. "Honey, your pores are expanding on your face. You need to apply some moisturiser to keep them flawless, honey…" Ivy put on an act on purpose as Jin's girlfriend to tease Cassandra. However, little did she know, Cassandra was informed in advance of their arrival and Jin had spoken a lot about his expectations and updated Cassandra about Ivy often whenever he had time. 

Ryu and Ray who were shocked at first couldn't help but chuckle when they exchange glances with Cassandra who smiled indicating she had already known Ivy's true identity. 

"Stop your craziness, my dear sister…" Jin who was annoyed walked up to Cassandra instead and gave her a kiss on her forehead as Ivy watched in disbelief that her trick failed with a jaw drop. 

Ivy began to feel the chilly airconditioned was overwhelming for her recovering self that she accidentally bellow a loud sneeze. Cassandra quickly handed her some tissues as Ray took off his jacket to cover it over Ivy who was blowing her nose. "Sorry… Thank you…" Ivy was mumbling while blowing her nose. "She isn't well yet?" Cassandra asked as she returned with a cup of warm water. 

"Nope… Dad had to kidnap her from Landsfield this morning…" Jin said while crossing his arms and standing on one leg leaning to a side table watching Ivy drink up the glass of water as Ray and Ryu fidgetted over her. 

"Hmm.. you sure know a lot about me…" Ivy couldn't help but say it out loud as she sniffed. Cassandra held out her hand to Ivy moments later for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Elder Sister…" 

"Oh, busted… What a waste…" Ivy mumbled to herself when she realised Cassandra could see through her act as Ryu and Ray chuckled when they heard her.

However, Ivy could tell there were a lot of emotions running through Cassandra's face as she kept her eyes on Cassandra before standing up. One thing Ivy was sure of was that Cassandra knew a lot about the family. Ivy shifted her stare to Cassandra's hand as she smiled before shaking it.

"Ivy… Call me Ivy will do. Nice to meet you, Ms… Future Sister In Law…" Ivy teased as Jin smacked lightly on Ivy's right arm. "Stop teasing!" Jin hissed as Cassandra giggled while Ivy stuck her tongue out at Jin after she let go of Cassandra's hand.

"Cassandra… Call me Cassie will do…" Cassandra smiled as she quickly get her assistant to lead them the way to the clothing they had prepared. 

Along the way, Ivy couldn't help but think to herself just how close Cassandra was to the whole family. Just based on her touched but yet delighted facial reaction earlier, she must have been with Jin long enough to know about her history and how the family had longed for her return. If Ivy wasn't mistaken, she might have seen Cassandra's eyes were slightly teary. That made her own eyes teary a little wondering about the depth of endurance the family had been put through all these years.

"Here are the sets of tuxedos I have prepared for all of you and for Ivy, yours would be at the end of the hallway… Let me help the guys out first, alright?" Cassandra explained as Ivy nodded while looking around and saw Cassandra indeed was a professional as her designs were very well suited for everyone.

"Wow, charming!" Ivy teased Ryu as Ryu took a look at his ocean blue blazer with silver lining at the collars. Ivy realised all the brothers had different designs despite the same color radiant. Ray's one had silver linings by the end of each sleeve and at both sides of the lower helms which looked elegant while Jin's one has more pockets and the silver linings were by the left side chest pocket opening and also at the lower end of the blazer's pockets opening. 

"We will try them on first…" Ryu nodded in satisfaction as he announced and walked into the fitting room while Cassandra and her assistant were also done helping Ray and Jin who had gone to the fitting rooms. She led Ivy down the hallway as they revealed three sets of evening gowns. As Ivy stood in front of the gowns and observed the colors of maroon, silvery-white and white black swirly, she began to admire Cassandra more. "The exact colors I had in mind…Just how much had they told you about me?" Ivy praised as Cassandra walked to the side and added another two pieces.

Cassandra chuckled a little. "Not much honestly but your picture was a good guide in creating all these… Here… Choose one as they all were specially designed for you and from now on we will start to build your collection as well." Cassandra explained as Ivy raised an eyebrow.

"Collection?" Ivy asked skeptically. "Yes, all of the tuxedos earlier you saw were each of their own collection. Your dad's one is right next to you on your right…" Cassandra pointed over as Ivy twirled around and saw a navy blue suit looking very sharp was staring back at her with many other dark ranges colors. 

"The theme is blue tonight?" Ivy asked as she reached out to touch the suit.

"Yes…For the men only…"Ray answered as he stepped out of the fitting room and mesmerised Ivy with his charming look. "Oh, wow…" Ivy watched in awe.

One by one Ryu and Jin stepped out as well as Cassandra and her assistant went around to ensure their fittings were alright. Ivy found herself standing admiring their heart throbbing looks. 

"Gorgeous, we are running out of time… Could you make up your mind on which dress is it?" Ryu teased as Ivy suddenly snapped out from her admiration and turned around to look at her dresses. She noticed the additions earlier were dusty rose pink and bluish silver which looked metallic. 

She removed the dusty rose pink as Cassandra's assistant helped her. She knew it would make her look very childish to a family which already had a so call conflict. She had to figure out which dress could make her look not too intimidating but again not too down to earth as she didn't want to give an impression that she was weak. She didn't quite like the metallic as the boys and her dad would be in very sharp blue and that dress would only be drowned in their colors. 

As she removed the metallic dress away, Cassandra smiled as though Ivy was reading her mind. "Indeed, the Ophal's has good taste…" She complimented as Ivy raised an eyebrow in surprise thinking Cassandra must have been offended. 

"Oh, don't be mistaken. I absolutely love your designs but they aren't suitable for tonight's occasion as it's my first time. I don't want to be seen as weak but again I don't want to be too down to earth or too outstanding too…" As Ivy was talking, she removed the maroon dress.

"Precisely what I had in mind…" Cassandra said as she took the red dress from Ivy who smiled when she knew Cassandra was on the same page as she continued thinking to herself of her options. 

Ivy stood observing the silvery-white and white black swirly dress. She noticed the white black swirly piece was a white jumpsuit with its back helm made to look like a dress with black swirlies while the silvery-white dress had a long back helm and it would a little too difficult to waltz on even with very high heels although it would be the most ideal in this situation to choose a softer color as she turned around to face her brothers. 

"How bad is the situation with the relatives?" She asked facing every one of them with her arms crossed which caught them off guard as Ray walked up to her and held on to her shoulders. Ivy looked up at him as he spoke. "It's not something you should be worried about… Just pick one which you would be comfortable in to waltz beautifully with dad…"

"That's right… It doesn't matter what they think of you… After all, we are the host…" Jin said which made Ivy a little weary as she took one last look at the dress and saw the white element was also rather dominant on the jumpsuit that she decided to pick that and try on. "I will try on this…" Ivy said as she walked into the fitting room. 

"Are we really not going to tell her anything?" Ryu asked softly as Jin shook his head while Ray could only look at the ground and hold back his thoughts. They were all forced to keep their lips sealed as their dad instructed earlier in the day and they could only wait for the day their dad tell Ivy about all of the stories.