Melody Monroe hurried back to the 22nd floor, where Louis Mercer was waiting anxiously outside the door.
The moment he saw her, he asked worriedly, "Where have you been? What happened to you?"
Melody's makeup was smudged, her hair was a mess, and a man's suit jacket was draped over her shoulders. She looked as if she'd been bullied.
"I'm fine. Did you get the gown?"
"I got it, but we've been delayed for so long, we've definitely missed our chance to walk the red carpet."
"It's fine. As long as we're not late for Rose, that's all that matters." Melody quickly took the gown.
It was a pure white gown.
The design was so simple it looked like a piece of cloth had just been casually stitched together into a dress.
"This was the only one I could find. The others were all taken. It's the one everyone else passed over," Talia Mercer said, her voice full of self-reproach.
Melody patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's fine. We're lucky to have found one at all."
"But your makeup is ruined, and your hair..."
"It's fine." Melody turned and went inside to change.
Thankfully, the gown was a perfect fit.
She opened her purse. Inside, there was only makeup remover, a bottle of serum, and one lipstick.
'If this were the body's original owner, she wouldn't have been scared even without a stylist. Her purse would have been packed with cosmetics; she could have handled it all herself.' But when it came to makeup, Melody was far more awkward. She wasn't even entirely sure what these things were truly for.
Her makeup was already ruined. Going out like this would just make her a laughingstock.
She decided to just remove her makeup completely. After washing her face clean, she applied a layer of serum, then put on her lipstick.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Melody was once again struck by her own beauty.
'I really have to hand it to her,' she thought. 'The original owner of this body was truly blessed by the heavens!'
In fact, she thought her bare face looked even better than her made-up one. She let her hair down; the dark tresses, still slightly curled from being styled, possessed a unique charm. Her silky black hair had a lustrous sheen and only needed a little tidying.
"Let's go!"
The two of them returned to the venue. The red carpet was now empty, with only staff members left to maintain order and direct the fans to exit. Even the media had already moved inside the hall.
Melody didn't try to get onto the red carpet, instead taking a side path toward the venue's entrance.
Just as she reached the entrance, a security guard stopped her.
"Hello, I'm here for tonight's charity gala," Melody explained politely.
"The time for entry has passed. You can't go in anymore."
"We're invited guests. This is our invitation." Talia Mercer immediately pulled out the invitation.
"An invitation doesn't matter. The time for entry has passed." The guard's face was impassive, leaving no room for discussion.
"What should we do? Should we call Rose?" Talia asked, turning to Melody.
Melody quickly took out her phone and dialed Rose Shaw's number. The phone rang until the very last second, but no one answered.
"Rose is probably busy right now. Let's wait over to the side."
There were several planters near the stairs, and Melody leaned against one, clutching her phone.
'Today has been the absolute worst luck.'
'To think something like this would happen.'
'And the worst part is, I ran into Evan Fairchild!'
"Something about today feels really strange," Talia suddenly said. "Melody, think about it. How could a brand-new gown just fail like that? Even if it's from a sponsor, it would never have such a serious quality issue! Why didn't any other part break? Why did it have to be the zipper?"
Melody looked at Talia. "Go on."