Addicted to Redemption

Benefits of Doubt

Kate

What Jolene told me kept giving rounds in my mind. "Hot like Kate..." She helped me choosing colors and dressing styles that would fit me, none of them were even close to Donna's look and seeing my expression Jolene laughed. She held my shoulders from behind and turned me towards the huge mirror in her living room. With the snap of her fingers, she put dark jeans on me with A shape. A beige crop top, brown boots, a brown belt and dark copper colored leather jacket. My hair got up in a high ponytail held by a huge beige ribbon. I looked at my image in the mirror and she whispered.

- What do you see? - I watched my reflection from head to toe and couldn't tell why all these different looks looked well together, but they did.

- This is a complete mess, but somehow it feels right. - I mumbled and Jolene smiled brightly meeting my gaze in the reflection of the mirror.

- That's because there is one single component that could make this look amazing. - she said and I turned around.

- Which one? - I asked and Jolene giggled. She snapped her finger and dressed Donna in the same outfit, she looked horrid. Jolene gently closed my dropped jaw and said, still giggling.

- You my dear! Only you can pull this look! - not long after that we left and bought bunch of clothes of many styles. We had a nice Asian lunch and headed already to our next destination, a cosmetics store. A woman, I've never seen before, greeted us with a cold expression.

- Welcome to the Paradise, my name is Rouge, what may I help you with? - she asked and I looked at her from head to toe. It was a really short woman, with extravagant purple and golden makeup. Every piece of her soft purple dyed hair was carefully crafted into their places into a messy bun, her pale skin, looked like porcelain. She wore deep purple lipstick, huge earrings, a simple white dress and she stared coldly at us with her heterochromatic eyes. The right one was deep brown, while the left one, clear blue.

- Good afternoon Rouge! We came to buy some skin care products for Kate. - Donna greeted her kindly but she didn't even flinch, nor even took a glance at me just turned around to the shelves. Seeing my probably confused expression, Donna smiled and pat my back.

- Rouge likes to keep up her appearances, she never smiles or cries because that might affect her perfect skin. Am I right Rouge? - she asked and the woman turned around. She was so skinny, she had almost no boobs at all and reminded me of a weak little bird after a huge storm. Despite the heavy makeup, and cold demeanor she looked so fragile that I wanted to give her a hug. She soon returned with a few creams and facial masks, as well as sponges, perfect shades of concealer, powders, highlighters, lipsticks and so on. She pushed me down in a chair, combes my hair back and put a hairband over it. Then Rouge started cleaning my face with a face wash. She put all kinds of stuff on it and I couldn't take a single glimpse at myself during the whole process. She remained silent and highly concentrated, while Rouge worked on my face, I noticed something that I knew I must ask from Donna later. Once she was done, she took a proper glance at me and walked behind me, to do my hair. After about two hours, she nodded and pushed me into a dressing room in the end of the store. She took a few clothes from the bags we purchased and gave them to me. The dressing room was small and dark, without a single mirror. I struggled to get into the skinny black jeans, white high-heels and fluffy white top she gave me. As soon as I got dressed, she opened the curtains and Donna gasped.

- Wow... - that's all she said before Rouge pulled a large mirror in front of me and it was my turn to gasp. I had such a delicate and soft makeup on my face, that it looked like I wore none, yet it popped out all my good features. The clothes she choose complemented my look and for the first time in my life, I felt gorgeous.

-How do you feel? - Rouge asked and I felt tears getting in my eyes. She quickly lifted my glance to avoid me ruining my makeup.

- I feel gorgeous... - I whispered and she smiled for the first time.

- No. You were already gorgeous, this... - she pointed at my appearance. - This is you without your own doubts. - I thanked Rouge and she explained how to use the different cosmetics before we left. In the car I couldn't hold my curiosity back.

- Donna... Was Rouge a man? - She glanced at me while we stopped at a red light and nodded.

- I knew you'd notice it. Yes, she was a man. When we met he was a tormented soul, he died in the war, fighting for his country. Unfortunately, due to the way he died, we couldn't get him back his original appearances, so he got a rather fragile and femme body. His life wasn't ideal from the moment he came back, doubts about his looks haunted him day and night. He got bullied and beaten up, men thought of him as a woman and tried to hit on him constantly. That's when he decided to get a grip of his life. He started dressing and embracing his femme and hiding his doubts behind the masks she painted on her face. Time passed and she became the jealousy of all ladies due to her unique appearance, and they started bullying her for not having any real female features just her makeups. So unfortunately, she is still full of doubts, but she is working hard on accepting herself.

- So you could reincarnate him into the body of a woman, yet he remembered everything. - Donna nodded.

- This shows that we aren't flawless either.

- Well, Rouge seemed happy to me. She liked what she was doing and poured all her soul into her creation.

- You are such a sweet soul Kate. Dean is very lucky that you named him. - Donna said with a kind smile. After driving in silence for a while I asked.

- Would it be a problem to skip the SPA? I really want to show Dean my new look. - Donna giggled and shook her head.

- Not at all! Let's go home! - Donna parked the car and was about to get out when she saw my doubtful grimace.

- What's wrong? - she asked holding my hand.

- Do you think he'll like it? - I asked and Donna laughed.

- There's only one way to find out! - she said jumping out of the car.

- WE ARE HOME! - She shouted as loud that I could hear it from the outside. Silence awaited her joyful scream. I followed her carefully and saw the tired looking Grim in her embrace, he seemed relieved now that his sunshine was with him. My eyes met Dean's, he just stared at me in awe and I pulled myself straight. I opened my arms wide and said.

- I'm home. - he walked into my arms and I truly felt that I arrived to my safe place. I didn't care about the clothes, the make up, or to be hot like Donna. I just wanted to be his safe place. I didn't know what made him this haggard, but I knew that I wanted to take some of his burden off of his shoulders.