Sora received a package the evening of the Misra 'Make Your Fate' gala. A cream-colored Misra Couture dress box was hand-delivered to her door alongside a shoebox and cosmetics bag. Sora gave the courier a tip and took the delivery to her bedroom. She had refused Aiko's offer to get ready together when she agreed to accompany Ravi to the event. Whatever he had in mind was for her eyes only.

She read the attached notecard to herself. 'To my Sora. Love, Ravi.'

Sora's pulse sped up. She had nursed a suspicion in Ravi's office that day that she hadn't allowed herself to really consider in the days since. She had chosen to trust him over Hana's insidious whispers. She had chosen with her heart over her head. This was the moment where she was proven a wise woman or a fool.

Sora opened the bigger box.

The dress had been altered since she last laid eyes on it. If possible the gown had grown more splendid. She lifted the garment out of the box to hold it against her in body of the mirror. The folds of the gown spilled over her fingers in a lustrous wave where a faint shimmer danced on the surface beneath her bedroom lamplights.

He designed it for me.

There was something in the dress and she might have been right; it might have been love.

Sora dressed with care, leery of damaging this crucial evidence in her hands. This isn't just friendship, or him leaning on me. This is something else. Sora gave herself permission to believe in whatever it might come to be.

Sora found a slip of Yelena's Truth stationery in one of the pumps Imogen had sent with the dress.

'Don't worry, you'll take his breath away. Love you! –Genny'

Here's hoping you're right.

Sora made herself up according to Imogen careful instructions, substituting some of her more subtle preferences for Imogen's preferred splashes of color. Next time. Sora meant for there to be many times to come.

Once fully coiffed, she checked with the sitter to give last minute instructions and kissed her sleeping boy good night. A ring of the doorbell later, she found Ravi waiting on her doorstep elegantly attired in a classic three-button tux and waistcoat. His pocket square matched her dress.

He held out his hand to her. She took it, allow him to spin her in a slow circle to see her in the gown she'd loved at first sight. "Magnificent. You're more bewitching wearing it that I envisioned. Positively devastating. "

"This dress. I was...I didn't want to put it on, I didn't want to ruin it."

"I designed it in your image; there's nothing to ruin."

Sora took this all-important opportunity to greet him with a kiss.

"Hmm, I'm the luckiest man at the ball and we're not even there yet. Come on, Trouble, there's a limousine and a party with our name on it."

"Lead the way."

They spent the trip from Beverly Hills to downtown Los Angeles discussing a joint poetry competition Ravi had proposed a month or so ago. Sora had looked into the logistics of the undertaking and she thought it just might work.

They pulled up to the LA Opera right as night fell. The glass and stone monolith stood like a three-tier lantern in the surrounding darkness, the crystal chandeliers within lighting the way for the guests to come. Flags bearing the Misra crest waved in front of the windows. An opulent green carpet marked the path from the curb, careening around the lighted water fountain and neat planted trees until it climbed the steps to reach the plate glass doors.

"You thought of everything."

"This night was a team effort. Dad thought of the opera house, Imogen thought of the colors, the Parrillas thought of the theme, and the rest was fate."

"You're becoming a believer."

"In something new every day." Ravi buzzed their driver who came back around to let them out.

Sora stepped out into a frenzy of overdressed press reporters and photographers restrained and only just by the presence of velvet green rope lines and stern men in tuxes sporting earpieces. That there was sure to be one or more Himura journalists in the bunch did little to allay Sora's unease with the majority who weren't. Nevertheless, Sora knew it was her job to suck it up and sell the story, and that's what she did.

"What brings you to the 'Make Your Fate' gala tonight, Ms. Himura?"

"I'm here to support my friends and family who've worked so hard these last few years to make Yelena's Truth the success it's become."

"And your date?"

Ravi was working the press line to her right, fielding questions about the upcoming launch, the soul of aplomb and vermouth-dry wit. Handsome as anything.

"He's...he needs no introduction."

"You're right about that. Have a wonderful evening, Ms Himura."

"Thank you."

Sora figured she was unlikely to have that same luck twice and opted only to take questions from familiar faces, which offered her the opportunity to talk at length about Himura's recent success and their plans for the next quarter.

Ravi snuck into her shot at the tail end of her final interview to add his two cents.

"Nobody asked me, but I think she's best thing to happen to the place in years."

"Ravi is too kind."

"Not too kind to steal you away from the press line. You ready to go in?"

"I think so."

The interviewer wished them both a good evening.

Ravi tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and led her along the green carpet to the stairs under the golden lights.

"That didn't go too badly."

"It's still early. They don't want to piss anybody off yet. Wait until after dessert. Once everybody's got a couple of drinks in them, the press isn't so eager to please. Everyone still sober after ten will take the side exit."

They were checked in by an attendant upon reaching the doors before being escorted inside by an usher in a dinner jacket.

The foyer of the Opera had been repurposed as their ballroom for the evening. The seats and card tables which usually filled the atrium had been replaced with round tables that hugged the walls to leave a wide space for a dance floor. The two floors of balconies rising overhead already boasted full complements of dapper partygoers milling in droves. Diamond-shaped mirrors adorned the ceiling reflecting the light of the trio of chandeliers suspended from above. Beyond the glass walls, the sky was an indigo portrait of pinprick stars, so vast that this building might have been alone in all the world. This is a night when anything can happen.

Ravi brushed the backs of his fingers down her arm to direct her attention to another man in white.

The steward, I forgot about the steward. Sora squeezed Ravi's arm tighter. He gave her a reassuring look. She tried to be as courageous as that look expected. We're this strong together. We can do this.

I can.

"Announcing Mr. Ravi Misra of House of Misra and Ms. Sora Gallegos Himura of Himura Media Group."

They stepped into the ballroom arm in arm.

Sora embraced the lessons years in Hana's and Aiko's shadows had taught her. You're everything you believe you are. Other opinions are immaterial in the moment.

"I can't remember if I told you this, but you look beautiful tonight."

"You've told me a dozen times."

"This is me telling you again. You're the most breathtaking women in the room. I couldn't be luckier if I were the king of the world."

"I promise not to crack up. I can do this."

"There isn't a doubt in my mind. Let's make the rounds."