Heaton accompanied Verian as they ran for two kilometers that night.
Verian sat in front of the drawing block after she was done with her shower. Her mind was empty when she thought about her design entry.
When Heaton got out of the shower, he noticed the woman was in front of her drawing block, but her hair was still wet, and the windows were opened. The wind blew at her while she held onto a hairdryer. Then he stood behind her.
"You've just come out of your month-long confinement, and you're letting the wind blow at your wet hair? Are you not afraid of getting headaches in the future?"
Verian thought it was funny when he nagged her, so she said, "Why are you behaving like Madam Leah? Madam Leah is constantly nagging at me about getting headaches for having my wet hair exposed to the wind."
Heaton switched on the hairdryer, used his hand to test the temperature before he stood behind Verian and started to blow-dry her wet hair.
Verian had cut her hair short previously. However, since she had not had a haircut in months, her hair had grown to her shoulder length.
Heaton glanced at her empty white canvas and asked, "Don't have new design ideas for the new entry?"
"I could draw when I had concepts to draw back then. Now that I've qualified for the competition and it carried some sort of objective, I couldn't come up with anything to draw. Wedding dresses, though, are not regular fashion outfits. Trends are always changing, but wedding dresses change so subtly... I haven't come up with the subtle changes for its details."
Heaton raised his brows slightly as he felt that she had limited herself to her train of thought, so he suggested, "Have you considered designing for only a niche audience? Something only for a certain group of people?"
Verian was stunned. After she thought about it for a few seconds, she turned around and looked at Heaton. "You mean a wedding dress for everyone is way too common, and you want me to design something that screams a different design that no one else has ever made? That way, I might have a chance of getting into the final?"
Heaton commented bluntly, "Even though it seems risky but sticking to the norm and staying in your comfort zone is riskier, honestly."
Verian nodded as she agreed with Heaton's opinion. However, she was stressed over a different problem. She said, "However, which group of people should I target?"
"Didn't you say that women are only willing to put on a wedding dress when they are skinny? However, some of them might not be able to slim down. Is there a type of wedding dress…"
Before Heaton could finish, Verian had an epiphany as she spoke excitedly, "So, you mean I should design a wedding dress for plump women? The unique part about this wedding dress is that it will make the woman look slender. That way, even if the woman is unable to slim down before the wedding, she could still wear a beautiful dress for her wedding. The wedding dresses in the market emphasize too much on a woman's body, and even if those dresses are custom-made, plus-size women won't look that good in them. Therefore, if I could design one that can lower the expectation of that emphasis and make them look good, it will be very marketable."
The man patted her head with his huge hand before he praised her, "Excellent work."
After Heaton was done blow-drying Verian's hair, he kept the hairdryer away and went to bed. He was lost in his head as he stared at the ceiling for an hour.
Heaton glanced at the time, and it was already 11.30 P.M. He got out of bed and dragged Verian, who was utterly focused on her design entry, back to bed.
"I'm not done with my drawing…"
"Even if you don't sleep tonight, you won't be able to complete your drawing. Just sleep and rest well. You can continue tomorrow."
Verian reached out to hug Heaton's neck as she buried her little face into his nape. Then she nuzzled him and said, "Heaton, I feel fortunate to be with you."
Heaton hugged her, lowered his head, and kissed her forehead. He did not say anything else as he closed his eyes.
…
Verian spent the entire week entirely focused on her entry design. She did not talk much with Heaton, and their intimacy had decreased significantly.
After Verian had decided on her entry, she contacted the tailor to make a wedding dress and told the tailor to rush it. She finally received the wedding dress on a Thursday afternoon, despite the extremely tight schedule.
When she went to collect her wedding dress, she ran into Bodd on the same street.
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