(Long Chapter)

Lou never actually thought he would've been given a chance to redo everything he regretted. But he had been given that chance, and he wasn't going to lose that chance again. The two of them were walking out of the gauntlet deciding how they were going to sort out this problem. Mandy decided to break the momentary silence. No, it wasn't awkward, but I feel it was more comfortable, hearing the sounds of miniature doll-chirps and the sun up in the sky. Indicating it was 12 in the afternoon.

"So how should we go about this, Lou?" Mandy asked, it wasn't soft this time but more neutral. Lou felt comfortable and replied

"I have no idea... I want to fix my mistakes. But, I don't really know where to start. " He lowered his voice and looked at his feet. He never knew he could feel so vulnerable around someone like this. Well, he saw it coming with Mandy. She had an affect on him everytime.

Lou felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see Mandy smiling warmly at him. He didn't know what he felt, a warm fire burning in his heart suddenly increased as he gazed more into her fire-yellow eyes. He never noticed how firey they were.

"Don't give up now Lou! Now's your chance to finally redeem yourself. And I'll be there with you all the way. " Mandy encourages Lou. Lou looked at Mandy with a genuine smile, encouraged to change his path. "Okay. But, first of all... I really doubt that anyone would take me seriously looking like this. " Lou gestured at himself, Mandy pondered for a moment and clicked in a thought.

"I think I can help with that. "

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The two dolls finally arrive at the neighbourhood of where Mandy used to live. Usually when dolls leave they can still have their house but only fora certain amount of time. In Mandy's case she only went out to Big world once, and spent a month away from home, if the doll spends more than 3 moths away from home, then their house is taken off of them. But this only happens once at a time and as I have mentioned, in the Doll World Mandy left for one month, and in the big world left for five years. So it highly unlikely happens. But if it did, they wouldn't be homeless, they would only be relocated. Since Mandy only left for a month, her house was in perfect condition and is exactly the way she left it. Mandy pulled out her keys from her doll pocket and unlocked the door.

Mandy sighed "Home sweet home." She said with happiness. The Big World is wonderful and fun, but in her opinion - she is honestly glad to be back. She continued going down the hall, but slowly so Lou could have a look around. "It's really cozy." Lou complimented. Mandy just gave a small hum in appreciation and continued down the hall, there a door was revealing a very bright and elegant room.

She had decorated last minute and decided to give it a different feel. There were a lot of white furniture and the walls had elegant printings on them. But what interested Lou the most was that this her beauty room. Mandy had a talent for skin care, but Lou never knew. He looked on the table to see a vanity and a bunch of make up and skin care products that Mandy must've been saving up for.

"Wow." Lou said, with a gaze that made him look so amazed. Mandy blushed but shook her head and gestured her hands to the seat in front of the vanity.

"Have a seat" Mandy said kindly.

Lou sat down on the chair and took a good look at himself. Now realising he looked worst than he that. Although his hair was somewhat tamed, it was still bendy and very much out of proportion. He had a couple of marks on his face. But nothing more. Mandy noticed him staring at himself in shock and slightly laughed at his expression. She walked over to him and gripped his shoulders gently to relax him. This made him tense for a minute, but slowly relax into the touch and feel of Mandy's hands on his shoulders for comfort.

"Relax Lou, I'll fix you up in no time." She said massaging his shoulders, looking at him at the mirror.

"I know Mandy. It's just I can't believe I'm going through with this." He admitted. Mandy sadly smiled and quality laughed "Honestly. I can't believe it either" He laughed along with her.

"Stay here, I'm going to get my supplies" She warmly smiled at him, stay having hands on shoulders. "Sure" Lou replies with a genuine smile. She then removes her hands and heads into another room. Lou secretly frowned, missing the warmth and comfort from her hands. He looked around for the second time and found a book that was inscribed with 'Motivations'.

Lou reached out to grab it, but quickly stopped himself. "No! I can't do that. That has all her secrets and everything she uses to keep herself happy and- okay maybe if I have a peak..." He grabbed the book and flipped to a random page. At first he looked intrigued and cheeky, but as soon as he read the words on the random page, he soon felt even more remorse and hurt as he began to frown.

'If you are perfect, then you'll be loved'

'Cut it down from time to time.'

'People care about looks, so focus on that and you'll be accepted."

'Be more prettier and beautiful'

"What?..." Lou quietly said to himself, before he could read more, he heard Mandy coming from behind him and quickly put the book back in the place he found it. Just as he sat back down, Mandy was only a metre away from the door. "Alright Lou, sorry if it took longer than expected. I didn't realise how many aloe masks I had and-" Just as she was about to continue, he noticed Lou being very tense "Lou? Are you okay? Did something happen while I was gone?" Lou just acted like nothing happened and dropped the tense act. "No, nothing happened. I was just waiting."

Because Lou was so perfect, he could really fool anyone. He could excel at any challenge you threw at him. Acting just also happened to be a forte as well. But to Lou's surprise, Mandy was certainly not convinced and began to analyse the room. Noticing that he had arm closest to the book even though his back is facing it. This set a trigger in Mandy's head and she soon realised what Lou had been hiding.

"You took a look in there didn't you." Mandy said sadly. This making Lou's eyes widen. "I-," he sighed and gave in "Yeah... I did." "And I'm guessing you read those pages about being perfect?"

"Okay- how did you know that? I closed the book!" Lou said, struck with disbelief. "I can see the spaces between the pages are slightly openly packed compared to the rest, and the loose pages end where I write most of those things." Mandy said, she may have been she but she was quite the detective - which Lou of course did not know as well. "Wow. You are quite the detective." Lou said, clearly impressed with Mandy's investigative skills. Mandy just put down the supplies on the table behind them and awkwardly admitted, "I read a lot of 'Lady Detective' books..." she said with a slight chuckle, this earning a small genuine smile.

Mandy soon then realised where the conversation was brought up, and decided not to comment on it again. Lou noticed this and thought otherwise in addressing the problem. "Mandy I hope you know that you are really pretty just the way you are." He said really softly. Mandy heard this and squinted her eyes, clearly trying to hide the pain and attempting to cover up her insecurity. She relaxed and decided to change the subject.

"I'm going to start with your hair and then gradually work on your complexion." Lou just mentally rolled his eyes in frustration. He knew he shouldn't approach Mandy in a very ill manner, but he had to get the point across. Just as Mandy was about to start to use her hands to start with his hair, he stopped her hand by holding the wrist. This caught Mandy off-guard. All she saw was a stern, and very concerned Lou. She didn't know that he even cared about her, so this was surprising enough.

"Mandy. I don't think you know how wonderful you already are. I don't want you to compare yourself to others. Because I think you're great. You probably already learned to accept yourself but you still feel vulnerable. And you may not believe it but I. Understand. Completely." Mandy was shaking, and she was about to drop to her knees at this point. She knew Lou knew how it felt to be in her shoes. Not fitting in. Being afraid that because you were different you wouldn't be accepted. But all of that is finished now. And even Lou knows that! So why can't her mind accept it? Lou let go of her wrist and watched it fall to her side. He expected to be shouted out for looking at her diary, or even just a counter from Mandy saying that he didn't understand. But instead...

"...I'm sorry." Mandy apologised. Lou widened his eyes and was about to speak, but was interrupted by Mandy who wasn't finished. "I always kept thinking about being accepted and I'm glad I am! But you wouldn't believe the things I heard in the Big World. My child as she grew talked about me... Saying how these glasses look weird or my hair looks too tight. It's just that, I already know I don't have to be perfect like I thought I did but... I at least want to find someone who will love me for me...Someone who has unexpectedly yet closely been in my shoes... And no not someone like Moxy. She has all the love and happiness in her heart, but me, I try to be optimistic and always end up comparing myself to other people.... It's a problem, and I'll admit it. And I'm sorry."

Lou only held her hand gently and encouraged her to speak, even though he was learning so much about her, he still couldn't believe what he just heard. Comparing herself? To people that are different? But it's not the fact that she thought of these reasons is why he was shocked.

It was the fact that she was sorry. For something she intentionally did not cause herself, but what Lou caused. He felt more guilty now than ever. He clenched his other fist in anger, making it shake at the risk of an explosion, he somehow managed to still keep a gentle grip on Mandy's hand. But his anger did not go unnoticed Mandy. She looked up to see Lou looking at himself in the mirror in regret. "This is my fault..." Mandy then quickly shook her head "No, Lou-" "It's my fault you feel like this! I told you all those things!" Mandy then quickly regretted talking about how she felt, knowing she'd risk that something like this would happen. Lou groaned in frustration, hands in his head in shame.

Mandy sighed, then did the shoulder massaging trick and this instantly got Lou's attention. "Lou, the past is past. I'm slowly learning to accept myself, and you are slowly learning from your mistakes." The corner of Lou's lip lifted a little, hearing Mandy's voice and telling him that he is forgiven is probably one of the most comforting and wonderful things about Mandy, which is why he is so fond of her.

"So," Mandy let go of Lou and walked to his side, he turned from the mirror to face Mandy and saw that she had a hand out. "How about we call it even with this conversation?" Lou looked at her hand and then looked up to see her with a warm, inviting smile. He decided to be cocky and took her hand and kissed her hand. This catching Mandy off guard, but not enough for her to realise that Lou was actually kissing her hand. She then finally took her hand away and blushed furiously, which Lou noticed.

"Aww did I make her blush?~" Lou smirked

"Lou!" Mandy said furiously, but jokingly.

Lou then began to laugh with Mandy, enjoying their momentary happy moment. They finally calmed down and Mandy spoke up. "Okay, now let's actually get down to business."

Mandy then got her supplies and products out that would help assist with Lou. Once she finally got everything completely ready, she began to play with his hair to select portions of it to fix. She turned on the straightener and as it was heating she gasped. "Oh I almost forgot!" Mandy then walked over to her speaker and played a song that always helped her feel inspired when making people - as well as herself - feel good.

Mandy then took played the song 'All Dolled Up' by Janelle Monáe. This was always the song she sang or hummed along to when she was doing her hair. "Sorry. I hope you don't mind if I play some music, do you? It helps me with inspiration" Mandy said, hoping it wouldn't annoy Lou. Lou just shrugged "It's fine. Honestly I would like to hear what music you listen to. And the room could use some music." Mandy smiled in appreciation and continued to work.

The song began to play and as she did her work with the straightener, she began to hum along. But of course not dance, seeing as she didn't want to accidentally burn him. She was reciting some of the lyrics very quietly and subtly. Lou, on the other hand felt so relaxed, he never felt more at home in his life. He also loved to just sit down on the comfortable chair and listen to her sing along from time to time. There was also such a comforting atmosphere in Mandy's house. How her styling room happened to have the sunshine peak through the trees, making the place bright and calm at the same time. He then went back to her singing, quietly chuckling without her noticing. She had gotten up to the chorus and at this point was singing every single word that was in the song.

Lou interrupted just as she finished the chorus. "You have a wonderful voice, Mandy"

Mandy stopped singing and was immediately quiet, feeling that she was annoying Lou "Sorry!" Lou quickly spoke "No no no. I like it. You can keep singing. Please" Lou actually wanted to her Mandy's voice. Mandy was in shock but continued to straighten. "You're better than me at singing to be honest, Lou" Lou just rolled his eyes.

"You seriously just cannot take compliments." Lou smirked. Mandy just sheepishly laughed. Soon she got back into humming mode.

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"Okay done!" Mandy said after removing a face mask and swivelling the chair to the mirror vanity. Lou looked at himself and was shocked. He looked exactly as he should be! "And notice that you are now glowing this time, and you have soft skin" Mandy smiled. Lou was still shocked at how presentable he looked and smiled in the mirror. He felt good-looking again, and was now even more fired up to change his ways.

"Woah! Mandy, you really have to tell me more about yourself, this is amazing!" He said admiring himself in the mirror, but not in a narcissistic way, just in an appreciative way. Mandy then smiled and thanked him.

"But we aren't completely done yet either." Mandy said gesturing at his janitor suit. "Oh yeah, I forgot I was wearing that." Mandy hummed a laugh and reassured Lou. "Leave the outfit to me as well!"

"You know at this point, I might as well leave everything to you."

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"So do you like it?" Mandy asked, hopefully. Lou couldn't stop staring at himself. It's not that he was mesmerised with how he looked, it's the fact that he had changed so much, and still had no idea how Mandy was able to make him look presentable in one day. The suit he wore had the same classical black and white feel. But it felt more versatile and had some colour - but of course only lining the edges of the fabric that really shape the look. Mandy found it hard to look away too. Still admiring how ideally perfect he was.

"Mandy, I really don't know what to say..." Lou said still shocked, but happy. "Don't worry about it. I had fun doing it and I'm glad that the effort paid off!" Mandy said with joy. Lou then widely smiled, but this time it was a normal repetitive genuine one, or even a cocky one. It was a hopeful, ecstatic one. Something that Mandy never experienced before.

"Okay, come on. We don't want to be late" Mandy said as she was making her way towards the door, Lou following after her. "Where are we going?"

"To Ox"