My Four Miraculous Treasures

She searched up and down the entire mall, but she just couldn't find a coat with that same pattern of blue and golden stripes across black fabric.

Just as she was about to give up the search, she caught sight of a coat which seemed to match the image in her memory, on a mannequin inside the display window of a luxury fashion boutique.

She went into the shop and inquired with the salesgirl within, "Excuse me, how much for that coat over there?"

"It's thirty thousand, miss," the young lady answered with a polite smile.

"Thirty thousand?!" Willow gasped. "Can't you go any lower than that?"

Why did it have to cost so much?! If she was the sort of person who had thirty thousand dollars to throw around so casually, then her penalty with Hughes Corporation would hardly pose a problem! She'd leave straight away and seek greener pastures elsewhere, so that she wouldn't have to contend with a dangerous character like Jasper Hughes every day!

"I beg your pardon, miss, but these are brand-name items, and ours is a boutique chain. I'm afraid all prices are non-negotiable." The salesgirl remained polite, her smile never wavering.

Willow gave her a sheepish little smile of embarrassment. "Sorry for the trouble."

Xavier Hughes wore a coat worth thirty thousand dollars?! So this was what people meant by 'money to burn.' It was beyond the imagination of a penniless village girl like herself.noveldrama

Defeated and humiliated, she was turning away to leave, when she caught sight of a storefront touting custom-tailored clothes.

Perhaps she could commission an imitation to be made? She only needed an item to return to Xavier-she didn't need it to be genuine quality. One way or another, it wouldn't be the actual coat he'd lent her, anyway.

Willow went in and spoke with the tailor, who declared that he certainly could produce a convincing imitation of that coat she was indicating. However, it would take a week, because he already had a bunch of orders queued up.

In truth, a coat was a fairly simple item to make. With a sincere effort, it should only take a couple of hours, give or take.

Willow couldn't wait a week for this.

"How about this?" she proposed, "Find me a matching textile cloth, and lend me the use of one of your sewing machines. I'll make it myself from scratch, and then pay you for the fabric as well as the use of your equipment."

Previously, she'd worked a year in a clothes factory. She'd learned how to use templates to cut out the pieces for various clothing items. She'd also developed some skill with a sewing machine.

That coat looked simple enough... How hard could it be for her to make another one just like it?

The tailor acceded to her request. Willow got to work immediately.

Peering through the display window of the boutique opposite, she estimated the shapes of the

individual pieces, and then drew

their outlines upon the cloth

It didn't

take half an hour for her to get all the pieces cut out and ready.

The next step was to use the sewing machine to assemble all these parts

together. Willow did this swiftly and with deft expertise.

In no time at all, the garment had been completed.

All that was left to do was iron it out-but it was almost time for her to get back to the office already... so she said to the tailor, "Could I trouble you to handle the ironing for me? I'll come pick it up later, after work."

"Sure!" said the tailor, good-naturedly.

Willow returned to her office, and sat down at her desk. The sounds of her tummy rumbling echoed deafeningly off the walls.

She'd skipped lunch for the sake of that little treasure hunt. Now her head was spinning from hunger, and she could feel her insides eating themselves.

Someone knocked on her door. Willow looked up to find Tyson standing in the doorway.

"How can I help you, Mr. Ward?"

Tyson waved a sheaf of documents. "Please present these materials to Mr. Hughes."

Instantly, alarm bells sounded off in her head. "Why me?!"

"Because he's in a bad mood today, so anyone who goes in there is toast... unless it's you."