Annette breathed a big sigh of relief as Aaron pulled into the theater parking lot.
Her anger with Ivan had started to simmer again. However, Mei Ling's enthusiasm quickly dampened it.
"You are an excellent driver Master Aaron" she praised, her face glowing as he helped her out of the car.
Annette grudgingly took Ivan's offered hand. "I hate you right now." she growled at him in a low voice.
"Hate me all you want. You needed to learn to have some faith in Aaron" Ivan growled back at her.
Ivan handed a pass to Aaron and the four of them ascended the sweeping steps of the theater hall.
A big, beefy African-American security guard in a crisp black suit with an earpiece in his ear stopped them at the imposing doors.
"The dress code is black tie, the young lady and gentleman here can go in, but you need to change Madam, and you need to wear a jacket sir" he rumbled in a deep baritone at Ivan and Annette, indicating a smaller set of doors marked as 'cloak room'.
Annette who firmly refused to subscribe to the idea of dress codes, was about to unload her frustration on the security guard, but Ivan's warning hand gripping her forearm stopped her from making a scene. She gave the security guard a withering look as Ivan firmly led her to the cloak room.
"I don't have a dress!" Annette snarled in a low voice as Ivan pulled her towards the cloak room.
"I anticipated this eventuality and took the liberty of packing you a dress and shoes" said Ivan coldly as he pushed open the cloak room doors and steered Annette inside.
Seething, Annette grabbed the bag from him and stalked off to the women's changing room. Inside the changing room, she opened the bag to find a shimmering black cocktail dress, along with a bag of lingerie, and strappy flat sandals. She growled in frustration, pulled off her comfortable sweater and jeans, and took stock of the lingerie Ivan had packed her.
It was obvious that Ivan had done the shopping himself, as the black front-closing, underwired strapless bra, lacy black panties and sheer black pantyhose were items she didn't have and would have never picked up herself. With a look of disgust, she stuffed the bra and panties back into the bag. Sitting down on a stool, she pulled on the pantyhose, but due to her unfamiliarity with it, the sheer material ripped, and her feet stuck through the upper part of the pantyhose. Ripping the ruined pantyhose off herself in disgust, she quickly stood and changed into the dress and sandals that Ivan had packed for her.
She looked at her reflection in the changing room's mirror with loathing. The straps of her simple black cotton bra were clearly visible under the thin spaghetti straps of the dress, the figure-hugging skirt of the dress came only up to mid-thigh, and did nothing to conceal the thick lines of her cotton panties. Fresh anger and loathing towards Ivan bubbled up within her.
"This is not the man I fell in love with and married! How dare he try to turn me into his dress-up doll! Well. He will have to bear the consequences of forcing me into a dress that I hate! Let's see how he reacts to me showing up with my bra-straps and panty-lines exposed like the shameless hussy he wants me to be!" Thought Annette furiously to herself.
Packing her jeans, sweater, and sneakers into the bag, she stalked out of the changing room.
Ivan was adjusting the cuff-links on his tuxedo when Annette stalked out of the women's changing room.
"I packed you appropriate lingerie, and I packed you a battery powered shaver as well, it is in the front pocket of the bag" said Ivan, surveying Annette's frumpy appearance, and hairy armpits in the cloak room mirror.
"We don't have time for that!" growled Annette.
"We have 30 minutes, take it or leave it" said Ivan.
"Just how far ahead did you plan this?" snapped Annette.
"Far enough to compensate for your stubbornness, now are you going to properly dress and groom yourself? Or are you going to embarrass our son on his 13th birthday?" asked Ivan, clearly near the limit of his patience with her.
Seething again, Annette ripped open the front pocket of the bag, pulled out the shaver and stalked back into the women's changing room.
Aaron and Mei Ling entered the cavernous theater entrance hall and slowly walked past the other theatergoers, navigating their way to the box that Ivan had booked for them.
They entered the box to find another couple there, who looked around as they entered.
"Cousin Mei? Mr. Zakhrov?" exclaimed the man in surprise, while the woman smiled and waved.
Recognition flashed in Aaron's eyes. "Ms. Kate? Father Abel? You look very different without your cassock" he responded in his clipped voice.
Father Abel chuckled, he was dressed in an expensive-looking sharp black suit, with a black cleric shirt and a small golden Society of Jesus pendant pinned to his suit lapel being the only indications of his profession as a priest. He stood up to shake hands with Aaron. "I see you've met my cousin. And I believe you already know my college classmate Kate Summers" he said as Kate smiled warmly at him. "It's good to see you again young master Aaron" she said as she shook his hand.
"Likewise Ms. Kate." he said.
"What brings you here Mei?" asked Father Abel as Aaron and Mei Ling took their seats.
"Young master Aaron was kind enough to ask me to be his escort for the evening" said Mei Ling.
"It's my 13th birthday. Father took me to Mr. Thompson's shop to get me fitted for a suit before coming here" explained Aaron.
Father Abel raised his eyebrows. "I see! Happy birthday, Aaron" he said.
"Thank you, Father Abel" replied Aaron.
Father Abel observed Aaron out of the corner of his eye, Aaron's new black leather suit gave him an air of command that he had never seen before.
He now understood why Ivan and Annette were worried, Aaron exuded a natural dominance and a hint of danger in this black leather getup.
Kate and Mei Ling sat on either side of Aaron. Kate on his left, and Mei Ling on his right. They each clasped one of his hands.
Father Abel watched the three of them with amusement and newfound admiration for Aaron's self-control. Another boy, or even a fully grown man would have been reduced to an inarticulate mess with the dazzling display of beauty and charm that Kate and Mei Ling displayed.
Kate and Mel Ling seemed to be having a competition of sorts over Aaron, they seemed to be trying to get him to admit his attraction to them. Father Abel chuckled as Aaron firmly and stoically maintained that they were both beautiful in their own way.
Finally, Aaron grew tired of their teasing him, he stood up and faced the both of them. "This is getting tedious. Be quiet and wait patiently for the play to start" he commanded them sternly. Kate and Mei Ling blushed and looked at the floor. "Yes sir" they answered meekly, much to Father Abel's amusement. He leaned over and whispered to Kate. "Was he really that good at projecting authority? Or were the two of you just humoring him?" he asked her taking care that Aaron couldn't hear."He was that good." Kate whispered back, the effect of Aaron's command evident in her blush.
"He's only 13! Get a grip!" whispered Father Abel furiously at Kate. She took a deep, calming breath and nodded in contrition.