With that, we both left the restaurant. Nocte, as usual, picked up the bill. I did insist on paying my half, but he refused, saying that it was put on the ‘work bill’, whatever that meant. We ended up driving to what looked like a boutique. As he gave me a smile, he led me inside. The inside of the boutique sure looked lavish. There were flowers everywhere, as well as marble floors, and marble counters. I also caught sight of what looked like a dragon statue. That is a weird bit of decor to have in a boutique, but who am I to judge? I then noticed that there was only one other person inside apart from me and Nocte, a short distance away was someone dressed in a black dress and they had long pink hair. They seemed to notice our presence and walked straight over.

“Nocte? Baby. Hello darling.” They called out to Nocte. “I received your call earlier and I’ve been waiting for you.” 

My eyes widened when they were close enough for me to tell who they were. The black dress was lavish and glittery, even the pink hair glittered slightly, and the make up? It’s not something I would wear but, surprisingly, the entire outfit really suited their dark skin. But, as I looked them up and down, it finally dawned on me what their fashion choice was. Wasn’t this what people call a ‘drag queen’? I had to admit, I always admired them massively.

“Ruby, not disturbing you, am I?” 

I watched them hug.

“You? Disturb this old girl? Psssh. Never. My girls have all gone home for the day, so you’ll just have me.” I saw them look directly at me. “Is this the pretty young thing that you told me about?”

I blinked several times at this Ruby. Did they just say ‘pretty young thing’? It also sounded like Nocte had already spoken to them about me. Did that mean that he referred to me like that? Or was it just Ruby’s way of talking?

“Yes. This is Lexi.” I felt Nocte’s hands on my shoulders as he moved me closer to Ruby.

“Hello.” I robotically responded. At this point, I figured that it would be safer to use female pronouns for Ruby, as that is how she represented herself. Who am I to argue with that?

“Why hello there Lexi, you can call me Ruby.” With a delicate smile, she held out a well manicured hand. I smiled back and took her hand, however her eyes lit up and she examined my hand. “Been to the spa, have we? Very nice.”

“You can tell?”

“Oh, honey.” She put my hand down, and stood a little dramatically with her hands on her hips. “I’m a beautician, I must know these things. At least, that's what I believe.” Her dark eyes moved to Nocte. “Hair and makeup, right?”

Instead of replying, Nocte nodded. Ruby became a little giddy and clapped her hands together, then looked right at me. Before I knew it, I was getting steered to sit in front of a mirror and, immediately as I sat down, Ruby was puffing up my hair.

“So…. A nice set of bouncy curls, or maybe sleek and straight, or I could do an updo. Choices….” Ruby hummed to herself as she kept puffing at my hair. I could personally see Nocte in the mirror sitting on a sofa behind us.

“You’re the expert.” I told Ruby.

“Me? You’re too kind, my bonnie lass. Erm… Masquerade isn’t it, Nocte darling?”

“That would be right, Ruby… Darling.” 

I had to stifle a laugh because Nocte copied Ruby’s way of talking for a split second.

“You are this year’s best Joker.” Ruby half laughed. “Be careful of that one, my dear. He can be a handful.”

“And how would you know?”

“A girl just knows when she can see a trouble maker from a mile away.”

“That makes no sense.” Nocte sighed, as he rummaged through the magazines on a table in front of him.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at their playful banter but, after five minutes of Ruby playing with my hair, she made a loud ‘Ah ha’ sound, and dragged me away to get my hair washed. She then dragged me to the seat again for her to dry and style my hair. I watched in the mirror as she gave me some curls in my hair. I think the phrase for this type was ‘beach curls’? With a big grin on her face, Ruby took a step back.

“Well, I think this will make the mask pop.”

Getting off the chair, I moved in closer to get a better look in the mirror. My hair? Has never looked this good! My hair has always been this plain basic brown, but what Ruby did to it? It looked brand new!

“This is amazing!” I exclaimed.

“I’m glad you think so! Your hair has some natural flow to it, so that helped. But I have got to be honest….” I saw Ruby turn towards Nocte, who was still casually reading a random magazine. “If you find out what this man here does to have gorgeous hair, no matter what he's doing? Lemme know the secret, because it has been baffling me.”

“As I said to you before….” He licks his fingers as he turns a page. “It’s natural.”

“I do not believe any of that nonsense. Anyway, make up next.” With another little smile, Ruby dragged me away from the mirror, towards another chair. As I sat there, she pulled over a box and sat in front of me. Whilst she was peering inside the box, she spoke. “What colour is the dress?”

“It’s mostly black, with red detail.”

“Of course, and your skin complexion….” I saw Ruby look at me for a brief second. “You are….. This!” She plucked something out of the box, and she held it up to my face. “I’m right, as always.”

With that, she started to work on me. I had no mirror this time, so there was no way I could watch the progress. I took a quick peek at Nocte again and I noticed that he seemed to be really interested in that female magazine that he had. After a while, Ruby exclaimed. “Beautiful!”

“Huh?”

As she was smiling at me, she grabbed a mirror and handed it to me. At first, I did not recognise the woman looking back at me. This was…. This was me?

“You like?”

“Like?” I looked at Ruby. “I love it!”

“Excellent!”

Nocte came over, and I saw him nod happily.

“Now, if you two don’t mind? I need to fix this masterpiece.” She gestured to herself.

“Oh, of course! Thank you again!”

“Anytime, my dear. Anytime. If you need any personal makeup tips? You know where to find me.” 

With that, me and Nocte said our goodbyes to Ruby and exited the boutique. I did, in fact, realise something, as I looked up at him. 

“You really know a lot of different kinds of people….” I blurted out, and he looked at me and smiled.

“You have met both Charlotte and Ruby and think that’s a lot?”

“Well, to me it is…. It’s one more than I have.” I nervously laughed to myself.

“Ah, you’ll know more people in due time….” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I couldn’t help feeling a lot of warmth coming from it. I had to fight off the urge of not leaning into it. “But let us be off.”

With another smile, he led me back to the car and we drove off. As I watched the scenery go by, I started up a conversation.

“So, how do you know Ruby?”

“Ruby? I have to admit, for Ruby? I’ve only known her for a few months. Her other identity? I’ve known them for a few years now.”

“Oh, another identity?”

“Yeah. Ruby is one, and there is another. Which I’m probably sure you’ll meet in due time. But Ruby is the one you see when they are working.”

“Oh, so it’s like a front persona?”

“Basically…. But if you want more information? It’s best to ask the one in charge of them.”

I had to admit that he was right. It is better to get information from the horse’s mouth rather than a third party. But, as I looked out the window again, I noticed that we had pulled up into a drive and went through a gate. I then noticed that the side of the pathway was littered with animals. As I looked ahead, I saw a lavish large house come into view.

“Is this your house?!” I couldn’t help but exclaim, as he pulled up right outside a staircase.

“Yep.”

“No way.”

He turned to face me and smiled. “This is the private entrance, so no other person comes in this way really.” Then he turned to get out of the car.

I followed on after him, whilst carrying the dress. “I suppose, with all these animals here, it can be dangerous.”

“Somewhat….”

As I walked up to him, I wondered something. “Erm, by the way…. What is with the animals?”

“They’re rescues….” Nocte started to explain. “Most of them cannot be returned to the wild, due to too much human interaction, and some places can get filled up pretty quickly. I basically gave a home to the ones that don’t need constant attention and can live somewhat on their own….” As he talked, a squirrel came up to us, climbed up his leg, and perched themselves on his shoulder. Nocte gave the little squirrel's head a scratch. “I became the animal whisperer, and these guys just love living here.”

“I’ve noticed….” I commented, as I looked around again. “A lot of them are predators and prey, have there ever been issues?”

“Surprisingly not.” Nocte pulled out a nut from his pocket and handed it to the squirrel, which then took it and darted off. “They are more accustomed to the more interesting food that I give them rather than each other. Plus, a lot of them know each other from babies and would you want to eat your best friend?”

I blinked at him. Seriously. How was this guy single? A man who is both devilishly handsome, legit rescues animals and, not only that, but he seemed to get along with them, is a mighty fine catch. There must be something wrong. There had to be, right?

“Well, we should get going.” 

With a smile, he turned to walk up the stairs, and I followed him. We came up to a door with a pretty big cat flap to the side of it, which I had to guess was for the animals.

“The animals can basically have the run of this part of the house.”

“Ohhh…. That explains the giant cat flap.”

“Yes. I installed that after I got fed up with opening the door each time one wanted in or out.”

As he opened a door, he gestured for me to enter and, as I did, my mouth opened wide. Even though this part of the house was overrun by animals, it was lavish.

“However, I never did ask you if you were ok with animals….” He came in and gestured to several animals that were sitting on chairs, tables and beds. 

“Oh no, I love animals!” I quickly informed him. “However, I’m not so keen on bugs and insects.”

“Ah well, the animals here? Are only mammals, but there are some reptiles.”

“Then I will be fine, as long as they won’t eat me.”

“Don’t worry, no animal here will eat you.” For some reason, he gave me a wink and walked past me. I had to admit that I was rather confused by that gesture. But, as a chipmunk stared at me, I stared at him, then quickly walked on after Nocte.

I followed him to a set of stairs, and he started to climb it. I noticed that there were a few snakes chilling on the railings, and I SWORE I saw some of them bowing their heads as Nocte walked by. Eventually, he led me to a room where the door was slightly ajar.

“If, for any reason, the events of tonight wear you out? Or if the events of tonight make it too late to take you home. This will be your room.” He lightly pushed on the door, and it swung open.

“Wait, I have my own room? Isn’t that too much?”

“Well, some employees can live under the same roof as their employer. Like a live-in nurse for one example, so it’s not that uncommon.”

“But I’m not a nurse?”

“Then you just deserve this room.” With a smile, he gave me a light push and pushed me into the room.

The room itself was beautifully decorated, with the whole room having a blue and white colour scheme. But, as I looked around, I stopped in my tracks as my eyes turned to the bed. Something was looking right at me.

“What did I tell you?” Nocte commented as he strode in and walked over to the bed. I watched as he picked up a small fox and cradled it like a baby.

“Is that a fox?”

“Yep.” He came over, still carrying the fox like it was a baby. “I found her as a baby like two weeks ago? She was abandoned by her mother, and she just became attached to me.”

I watched as the fox wiggled out of his hold a little, and started to rub her face against his.

“She’s a cutie.”

“Give her a stroke.”

“I can?”

“Of course.”

He lowered himself down slightly so I could reach her. I gingerly moved my hand and gently started to stroke her. The little fox seemed surprised at first, but I smiled a massive smile as she leaned into my hand. When I removed my hand, she looked like she wanted more, but Nocte’s hand moved to give her head a scratch.

“We should take our leave before you get too distracted, I’ll come to pick you up in about half an hour or so.”

With that, he leaves, carrying the adorable baby fox with him. Left alone in the room, I walked over to the bed and placed the dress down. There was, in fact, a small fox shaped nest in the bed that I found extremely cute. So this was supposed to be my temporary room? As I sat down, I realised how everything felt weird. I was getting all this lavish stuff from a guy I legit just met a few days ago. Shouldn’t this be ringing bells? But, for some reason, it wasn’t. This man, who called himself Nocte, had been nothing but nice to me, even if he was an extreme mystery sometimes. What did I do to deserve this luck? I suppose I was due some good luck after being what I like to call one hell of an unlucky girl. 

“Well, this dress won’t get on me itself….” I slapped my thighs, as I stood up.

It did not take me long to get the dress on and, from the last time I wore it? There definitely was a significant change. For one, it actually fit quite snugly on me. But I will never understand how Charlotte even got the right measurements by just looking at me. Was she just that good? As I moved to look in the mirror that was in the room, I saw that the girl who was looking back at me was like a different girl entirely. 

“Wow…. I did not know that I scrubbed up that good….” I grinned to myself. As I was eyeing myself up even more, there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” I heard the door open and, as I turned around, I saw that Nocte was standing there in a much posher version of his usual red and black suit. He actually bothered to do up the top most button, instead of leaving it loose. However, I saw him eyeing me up, and I felt somewhat shy.

“Charlotte is still honestly the best….” He commented.

Oh right, he was looking at the dress. Why would he even look at me?

“Yes she is.” I replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. 

“Also, this is yours.” He walked over and handed me a black mask.

“Oh right, I was going to ask when the masquerade part came in.” I took the mask and adjusted it to my face.

“One thing at a time, I say….” He gave me a smile as he placed an identical mask on his own face. In some weird way, the mask made his vibrant green eyes pop! “Ready to go?”