[Katrine Dmitriev]

It was just after noon, and after a long, arduous morning of nitpicking, Katrine was done getting her shop set up for a new release. Giving her body a good stretch to loosen her tense muscles, she allowed her body to relax a bit.

While waiting for the crowd outside to grow, she noticed that across the street from hers, Virgil was beginning to move mannequins out in front of his store. Seeing this, her heart stopped, struck by realization of what was happening. Yet again. Her eyes caught his, but she quickly cast them away, looking down at the ground, unwilling to allow him to see her sorrow.

Why do I even bother hoping for my own day to release a new collection? It’s never happened before, and it probably will never happen at this rate. Maybe I should stop hoping that it will.