The Price of Beauty (I)

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Nina Throne is at her peak. Her career as a ballerina has taken flight and she is engaged to the ravishing Adrain Felton, heir of the Felton Construction Inc.

But her life is shattered when a road accident leaves her face disfigured beyond recognition and her career in tatters. Soon enough, Adrian breaks off their engagement and Nina is left to fend for herself and her sister Faith.

Drowning in depression and closing herself off from everyone she loves, Nina finally decides to undergo extensive surgery, investing all her life savings to emerge as a beautiful reincarnation of her former self. But beauty comes with a price.

Detective Tristan Vincenzo is a young, rising detective with enough charm to swoon a battalion. Hired to investigate a beautification clinic suspected to be engaged in illegal activities, his path crosses that of the beautiful Miss Nina who he learns had been a patient there. While Nina is powerfully attracted to him, she cannot forget that she is, to him, only a suspect in his case.

Things take a turn for the worse when the doctor of the clinic is murdered and the suspect caught on tape, which turns out to be...?

Love and duty battle it out in court and Tristan finds himself more and more drawn into the case until he uncovers a shocking secret that could destroy Nina forever.

Will Tristan choose to save the one he had been sent to destroy?

Or will Nina have to pay the price of beauty?

***

All right reserved. Action will be taken against plagiarists.

*** 

Chapter One: Darkness

“Goodbye!” Nina waved to Alicia as she made her way out of the four storey building where the Elliot Ballet Company practiced everyday.

“You’re coming to Matt’s party, right?” Alicia yelled from afar.

“Yes,” Nina said without turning as her eyes searched for her fiancé, Adrian. She saw him sitting in his convertible, across the street, texting on his phone. He looked up as she came and leaned over to open the door for her.

“Somebody’s been practicing late,” he commented as Nina took her place beside him.

“Oh, you know we’re doing performing at the Royal Art Theatre next month,” Nina pouted.

“Yes, I do know,” Adrian laughed, “You’ve only mentioned it like fifteen times per day.” He drove off as Nina leaned her head back.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Surprise,” Adrian smiled.

***

“I’m home,” Nina announced as she dropped her bag on the table. A low grunt from the next room told her that her sister Faith was alive and well. She washed her face and peered into the master bedroom. Her mother, Mrs. Thorne sat gazing out from the window, her eyes blank, registering nothing.

Pausing for a moment, Nina steeled herself as she knocked lightly. “Mom?”

The lady turned around, stared at Nina for a moment before turning away and gazing off in the distance again. Nina sighed. Not today, either.

She came in and cleared the eaten plate from the table and dusted the bed of crumbs.

“Honey, when you’re done will you clean the toilet as well?” Mrs. Thorne said suddenly. “It’s been clogged since yesterday. I’ll leave a huge tip for you.”

Nina kept the plates down and opened the door to the attached toilet. A stench as bad as three decomposed corpses hit her before she could slam the door close within two seconds.

“Mom! Why didn’t you tell Faith! You’re not supposed to use a clogged toilet,” Nina sighed heavily.

“Oh dear, stop calling me your mom,” Mrs. Throne said blankly, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you girl but you better do your job or else I’d like to speak to the manager.”

Without a word, Nina gathered the plates and left the room. Faith was setting the table for dinner.

“She didn’t recognize you either, did she?” she asked.

“It’s not her day,” Nina shrugged.

“She wouldn’t let me in. She thinks I’m some intruder who wants to mug her,” Faith sighed and sat on a chair. “Please Nina, once I leave for college, there is no way you can look after her alone. You’re out fifteen hours a day.”

“Faith!” Nina glared at her, “You do not leave your mother just because she has Alzheimer’s!”

“We can’t look after her,” Faith said. “I am eighteen and I am tired of looking after some…some decrepit.”

“She’s your mother!” Nina said aloud.

“Well, she doesn’t seem to remember that at all!” Faith yelled. “Do you know how hard it is for me to get her to eat when she doesn’t even want to see my face? She’s happy and bubbly one day and grumpy and suicidal the next. How many times do I have to wrench a razor away from her hands? I’m sick of it!”

Nina sighed. Their father had passed away when Faith was 16 and Nina 22. Soon after their mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but Nina was adamant that she would not leave her under the care of some institute that made a commercial business out of the weak. But with Faith leaving this fall, it seemed unlikely that she alone would be able to manage the dysfunctional household. Her work hours were strenuous and leaving their mother alone would always result in her playing with dangerous objects. She had attempted suicide twice in the past year alone.

“I – I will look into it,” Nina said slowly. I’ll ask Adrian, he’ll know something.

***

A week passed as preparations for the rendition of Nutcracker increased threefold.

“Do you want me to drive you home?” Matt asked as Nina prepared to leave the institute. “You look dead beat.”

“I am,” Nina smiled, “But nah, I’ll get a cab. Alicia needs he ride though.”

“Sure,” Matt said as he jogged away.

“Skater Avenue, please,” Nina said as she got in the cab. The driver nodded dutifully, if a little drowsily and revved up the car. Nina placed a call to Adrian who didn’t pick up.

Some meeting again, she thought. Adrian Felton had known each other for seven years and had started dating three years back. He had been with her through everything, her father’s sudden death, the announcement of her mother’s condition, her failure to get into Eliot Ballet Institute on the second try (she made it in the fifth). Adrian was her rock and she was glad to have him. They had been engaged last month and while Adrian’s parents were worried about their different lifestyles, especially his father, they weren’t opposed to Nina simply because they liked her. Adrian was in line to inherit his father’s construction company and for the most part, the Felton’s lived their lives in luxury. Nina on the other hand was a hardworking girl from a middle class family. Her father had been a professor and had been appalled when Nina had decided to pursue ballet as a career. But he had supported her nonetheless and Nina wished more than anything for him to see how successful she had been.

Nina smiled as she thought of Adrian and how they had met, at a weekend party in high school. She had been the nerd and he the quintessential popular kid and they had clicked together instantly. Yet it had taken him four years to finally muster the courage to ask her out, partly because he was afraid of what his strict father would say if he knew he was dating someone well below their social status.

Her reverie was interrupted when she felt the car lurch and she smelt a lingering trace of alcohol. She looked up to see the driver snoozing at the wheel.

“Excuse me!” She yelled in his year but he was knocked out cold. Panicking, she swerved the steering wheel to avoid hitting a tree as the car took a dangerous turn. The driver’s foot was firmly pressed against the accelerator and the car kept speeding even as Nina bent forward to remove his foot. The next few things happened very slowly. There was blinding flash of headlights in front, she made a dive towards the wheel, pushing the cabbie away with all her strength and felt for the brake. She grasped it with her fingers and pressed it downwards when the window splintered, there was the sound of metal against metal, the screech of a woman, a shower of glass shards, the smell of burning rubber, a splatter of blood against her face and something crashing against her with the force of an elephant crushing a can.

Darkness.

Chapter Two: Decisions

“Easy there,” Faith said as she supported Nina on her shoulder. One trembling foot after another as Nina slowly made her way through the door of her home, after two long months spent recuperating in the hospital.

“Take me to the dresser,” Nina breathed heavily, the walk talking its toll on her.

“Nina!” Faith’s eyes widened, “You don’t have to!”

“Please, Faith,” Nina gulped. I saw how your eyes dilated when you saw me. I see how everyone looks at me. She had not had to opportunity to look into any mirror at the hospital. Her face had been bandaged until yesterday anyway. The cab driver had died on impact but Nina had managed to survive. The glass shards had pierced her face and cut her skin open and the impact had broken her wrist and left a long scar on her thigh, but for the most part, she had eluded death.

It was her face which worried Nina the most. The doctor had made clear that she would be left with a twisted nose, scars and patches, that she would not look in the least what she used to look like – and Nina’s first thought had been, “Will Adrian stay with me?” He had visited her several times over the course of two months but was currently attending some workshop at New York. Her muscles had atrophied from lying in bed for so long and the stitch on her thigh made movements painful. In the two months she had been trapped there, she had undergone around 6 operations – to remove the glass shards, to graft skin, to set her nose again, but none of the terrifying hospital lingo had prepared Nina for what she was about to see. Her room had been banned of mirrors because the nurses were afraid patients undergoing major body scarring could be triggered if they scrutinized the process too much. All she knew was that everyone struggled to maintain a straight face once they saw her unbandaged face.

As she came face-to-face with the mirror, all she could manage was an inaudible gasp. Her nose bridge was bent towards the right, her eyes were out of place and around 2 centimeters to the right of where they should be. A scar ran down the side of her face from the forehead to her chin, her chin too was deflected to the right, there was a bald patch on her head, where fuzzy hair was slowly growing, her skin was a patchwork of pale ivory and cream and her eyebrows were absolutely non-existent. She raised a hand and ran it through her cheek but they felt rough and smelt of putrid medicine.

“It’s unreal,” Nina whispered slowly, “To see myself…and not recognize it.” Shock, anger, resignation, she was still coming to terms with them, still unable to grasp or accept that this was it. She saw in her mind all the images of herself and realized she’ll never look like that again.

Faith placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “The doctor did say that with some rectification surgeries –“

“Monster!” someone yelled. Nina’s face snapped to the left to see her mother standing in the doorway, gawking at her.

“Mom!” Faith yelled, “Why aren’t you in your room?”

“There’s a monster in the house, housekeeping!” Mrs. Thornton yelled even as Faith tried to take her hand and lead her back into her room. “There’s a monster!”

“Security! We need to call security!” She frantically fought against Faith who was holding her in an arm grip and leading her away. Nina watched silently, rooted to the spot. She looked back into the mirror as a tear formed in one of the squinty eyes and travelled downwards in a curved path, across a jagged terrain.

***

It came earlier than expected. Nina had been expecting it, and yet the finality of those black words printed on a stark white sheet somehow made the food harder to swallow. Sitting at the table, with a plate of steaming hot toast before her, she read aloud the letter from Elliot Ballet Company, who had had to fire her due to the extended leave and also as she could no longer be considered for the post of a prima ballerina.

“They didn’t really give a clear reason,” Nina said aloud to Faith, sitting on the opposite end of the table. Their mother was still sleeping in her room due to sleeping pills Faith had had to give her last night. She had been too hysterical to sleep ‘with that monster next door’.

“Well...” Faith began, “Two months is a long time in ballet years. They were bound to find someone else for your part in Nutcracker.” It had taken Faith a long time to steel herself when the doctor had first removed the bandage from Nina’s face. She tried her best to keep her breath steady around her, but the patched skin and squinty eyes that peered from a mound of melted skin made her skin crawl. She is still Nina, she is still the sister you love and hate so much, she had chanted to herself the entire night.

“They completely avoided mentioning that the reason I can no longer be a prima ballerina is because I look like a pig!” Nina yelled. Every time she spoke, her thin lips curled in like an old woman’s. Avoiding her eyes and without refuting the truth, Faith simply added, “You need to start looking up clinic brochures then. Moping around won’t help. I’m leaving for college next week and Mom will be picked up by the Bareton Old Age Home people. Time is running away.”

Nina mentioned nothing as she saw Faith avoid looking at her face. “Will you get the groceries today?” Faith asked, as she cleared the table, “I have to visit Bareton to sign some final papers.”

“Me?” Nina looked up, “No way! I’m not stepping out anywhere with this face!”

“Nina, you can’t sit around just because of that,” Faith said, “Adrian is coming to visit you in the evening, you can’t hide forever.”

“What?” Nina felt her feet go cold, as if she had opened the door and been hit by a blast of wind. “A-Adrian? Today?”

“Yes,” Faith recalled, “He called to let me know that he came back a day early to see you.” No sooner had to words left her mouth that she saw Nina’s grotesque face take on a shade of gray.

“Are you okay?” she asked, afraid to touch her face but worried all the same.

“I-I can’t,” Nina said shakily, her eyes drooping into the folds underneath, “I can’t meet him…”

“Should I tell him to come tomorrow then?” Faith asked, placing a hand on Nina’s shoulder.

“No!” Nina said. “I can’t meet him, ever! Faith, how can I? Look at me! I’m a monster. I’m an ugly, old, hag. I – This is just…I hate myself! I don’t want Adrian to see me like this! He’ll hate me forever.”

“I’m sure…” Faith began but stopped herself. She took a deep breath as she placed her hands on Nina’s and bent down to be at par with her face. It was red and splotchy with eyes far apart like a chameleon’s. Swallowing her disgust, Faith kept a hand on her cheek. It came in contact with skin that felt soft and mushy, like rotted cheese. Running her hand down her check, she said slowly, “It’s alright if you don’t want to meet him, Nina. But you won’t be like this forever. We’ll find you a nice plastic surgery clinic and set everything straight. It’s just a phase and you’re strong enough to make through it. If Adrian is put off enough to hate you, perhaps he never deserved you anyway.”

“B-But,” Nina began as she choked on her tears, “We already spent so much on my medical bills! We don’t have enough for plastic surgery! We’ll have to pay the monthly bill for Bareton’s too including the down payment. You’ll have to take care of your college funds. And now I’ve lost my job and nobody’s ever going to hire with this face. I don’t want to lose Adrian too.”

“Oh, there’s enough money. I’m working two jobs part-time, we still have the nest egg dad left us, all untouched,” Faith encouraged her. “You and I, we’ll make it through, Nina.”

Nina looked at her little sister, all grown up and taking charge. Wiping her tears, she managed a light smile. Faith looked at the thin lips stretch themselves into an unusual shape which she assumed to be a smile. She bit her cheek to keep herself from wincing and patted Nina’s head lightly.

Chapter Three: Shock

“How’s she?” Adrian asked, the moment he made it through the door.

“Not very good,” Faith said slowly, a crease forming on her forehead, “I can’t seem to cheer her up at all. She was fine in the morning but then she went into the room and hasn’t been out since. I can’t get her to come out at all. She hadn’t had any food since then.”

“Do I try talking to her? How bad is it?” Adrian asked as he removed his coat and sat at the table.

“You’ll be surprised,” Faith said, avoiding his eyes, “It’s like God took her entire face and replaced it with some 100-year old acid attack victim’s.” She shut her eyes tightly and then mouthed, “Sorry, I shouldn’t –“

“It’s okay,” Adrian said. “The doctor warned us.”

“It’s just so much worse than what I had been prepared for,” Faith said in a low whisper, “And we probably don’t have enough to afford an entire face renovation.”

Adrian looked at Faith, her hair all over the place, her eyes red and bleary, her finger tips slightly cracked due to the cold and work and couldn’t help but feel extremely sorry for her. To have to look after a mother who didn’t recognize her, a sister recuperating from an accident along with college and a part-time job, her frail shoulders carried much more than anyone her age should ever have to. He remembered when she was 16 and crying at her father’s funeral. She had been broken once, but she had bounced back, got her life in order. Now at 18, she already had the eyes of a wizened man in his fifties and Adrian doubted he’d ever hear her careless laugh again. He had grown quite fond of Nina’s family and their quirks.

“Will you talk to her?” Faith asked, breaking his reverie.

“Yes, I will,” Adrian said in a low voice, “But…but I have some news, which she won’t take to easily.”

Faith’s eyes widened as Adrian continued haltingly, “My parents have strictly opposed to our…marriage.”

“What?!” Faith gasped, “You can’t! Adrian, you can’t. This is madness! This is the worst possible time ever to tell her this! Are you insane?”

“It happened a month ago. They couldn’t really stop me from visiting her in the hospital but ever since she’s been discharged, they’ve been breathing down my neck to set things straight,” Adrian said, “I stand to lose the inheritance of the entire construction company my father runs, unless I marry…the woman of his choice.

“His choice?”

“Fiona White, daughter of White & Roger constructions. There’s some plan of merging our company and – “

“Adrian, no!” Faith begged, “You can’t leave her now! Please! She won’t make it through without you, we both won’t!”

Adrian looked at her and Faith noticed his eyes were moist. “It’s not in my hands, Faith. I had always told her it could end up this way.”

“But…oh God, it gets more nightmarish every day,” Faith said as she fell in a heap on the chair with her face in her hands. Adrian reached out to her but she slapped his hand away.

“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe you’re pulling this sort of sick stunt on us using your parents as an excuse just because Nina got into an accident,” she said in a strained voice, “You’ve been a constant in our lives since dad died. You helped me find Bareton’s, and you looked after mom when she spiraled into Alzheimer’s, you…”

“I’ll still be there for you, Faith,” Adrian said, “And for Nina too. I could never leave the both of you alone.”

“Leave whom?” a cold voice cut across the room.

Adrian and Nina looked up to see Nina standing outside the door to her room, her face twisted with some emotion lost in its appalling form.

“Nina!” Faith’s hand flew to her mouth. Adrian let out a loud gasp, visibly shaken as the enormity of the truth hit him all at once. He couldn’t recognize the almond shaped eyes, the pointed nose and plush lips simply because no trace of that existed anymore. He couldn’t recognize whoever was standing before him.

“Adrian,” Nina said slowly as she took in his expression, “It’s me…”

“Y-yes, Nina?” he said in a shaky voice as his knees shook violently. His breath was heavy and his eyes kept oscillating between her face and the wall behind. He didn’t know where to look. Was this his fiancé? The same Nina he fell in love with? The one he had kissed in the library and proposed to on his birthday? It couldn’t be! His fists were tightly clenched at his side and some subconscious part of him wished she wouldn’t come any closer.

Nina stared at him for a long time, before she turned around and went into her room once again. The door clicked shut.

“Holy fuck,” Adrian cursed in a whisper as he took a gulp of water from the glass before him. Faith sighed and sat down again to steady herself.

“That was some entrance,” Adrian managed to say.

“You were awful,” Faith said in a cold voice, covering her face in her hands. “This is a disaster.”

“With all due respect Faith, how the hell do you expect me to marry her now?” Adrian said incredulously.

Her head snapped up as she hissed, “Shut up Adrian. I know it’s not what you expected but she’s still my sister! And if you did love her, I doubt you’d even ask that!”

“Are you telling me you aren’t in the least bit thrown off by this?” Adrian asked, his eyes wide. “Holy shit, that was…oh my god, I didn’t know it was possible to fuck someone up this bad!”

“Adrian!” Faith glared at him. She agreed with every word he said, and yet her conscious wouldn’t let her admit it. She was disgusted by his wording and his open revulsion – the same revulsion she felt but kept hidden.

“Alright, alright,” Adrian held up his hands trying to pacify her, “I’m still here if you need me, okay? But honestly, she looks like some monst –“

There was a whoosh of the wind as Adrian felt a stinging pain on his left check. Faith was standing over him, her chest heaving. She had slapped him. The little Faith Thornton had slapped him.

“Get. Out,” she said between clenched teeth. “Get out before I set your fancy ass on fire.”

With a snigger, Adrian picked up his coat and said, “Best of luck trying to save face.”

Faith glared at the door until she heard the gate outside close and was sure he had exited their premise.

“Everything will be fine soon,” she said aloud to nobody.

***

“Please come out, Nina,” Faith begged for the umpteenth time outside the locked mahogany door. Still no answer.

Well, this is it.

Lifting the hammer with all her might, Faith brought it down on the lock. Fifty years old and rusting on the inside, it cracked open like a coconut. A surprised yell from the inside let her know that Nina was still alive, if not well.

She pushed open to door to find Nina sitting by the window, a diary in her lap.

“You have to get out, lady,” Faith said resolutely, “I don’t want to hear excuses.”

Nina said nothing but continued writing in the diary.

“NINA!” Faith yelled, “For heaven’s sake, get out! You’re destroying yourself away. Come out and we can look up the internet, search through the directory, find brochures, we’ll set you up fine in no time! You can’t live the rest of your life cooped in. somebody’s got to keep this house running and you’re the only earning member!”

“I did, Faith,” Nina said slowly, “I looked through half the internet and all the clinics I can find are too damn expensive. I have to accept it – this is what I am and will be.”

“No,” Faith said resolutely, “You won’t. Because I found one we can afford.”

***

“You’re saying this came in the mail today?” Nina asked.

“Yep,” Faith said. “No return address, nothing.”

“It could be a prank,” Nina said. The letter was simply and crisp. It had arrived that morning and requested Miss Nina Thornton to avail the services of the plastic surgery clinic located near the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. It mentioned no name, no signature, no telephone number or email. Just an address. A small paragraph impersonally mentioned that they were currently in the process of researching a trial medication routine any person agreeing to undergo trial would be offered the process at a fraction of the actual prices.

“It could,” Faith said. “I looked it up but there are no plastic surgery clinics in that area or anywhere near it. In fact, the entire place is 60 miles from civilization and from what I could see via satellite images, it seemed like a warehouse.”

“You knucklehead! Of course it’s some stupid kid’s idea of a prank!” Nina fumed. “How can you take this seriously? The idea of someone chuckling over this!”

“I don’t know,” Faith said dubiously, “It seemed…kinda genuine to me. All clinics seem sketchy to me anyway. Maybe somebody sent it out of sympathy? Adrian perhaps?”

“Don’t take his name,” Nina snapped. Faith kept mum as she said, “So? Want to check it out?”

“Aren’t the old age home people coming to take mom away today?” Nina asked.

“Yes, and I’m leaving the day after,” Faith reminded again.

“Well, I’ll see then,” Nina said as she flashed her grotesque smile again and filed the letters away.

“But you must be careful,” Faith said as she rummaged through a notebook, “A lot of plastic surgery clinics have turned out to be hoaxes. Some inject fat oil instead of proper injections and some have plain unqualified doctors. And recently there’s been this string of women committing suicide after undergoing improper surgery that left them with unsurpassable pain or a worse result than before.”

“What could be worse in my case?” Nina asked through half closed eyes.

“Worse as in this!” Faith slammed some newspaper clippings on the table. “While you cooped yourself up without being a help to anybody, I actually did some goddamn research!”

Nina blinked twice as she processed the anger in Faith’s voice. What a horrible person I’ve been! I’m supposed to be the elder one for god’s sake! She mouthed an apology and picked up the images. In the grainy images, she could see the women had black marks on their bodies, like bruises caused by the impact of a train.

“Some surgeries require life long maintenance and regular visits to the doctors,” Faith recited from a page, “And those who cannot afford them often experience breakdown of the silicone injections or pads inside their bodies. They try to sue to doctor for negligence but it doesn’t work because the doctors warn them in the beginning itself that plastic surgery comes with the price of regular trips to the doctor. If you cannot afford an upkeep, it is best not the begin in the first place.”

“Hmm, that’s scary and off-putting,” Nina said keeping down the clipping.

“I’m pretty sure at this point we don’t have a choice,” Faith said giving Nina a hard stare.

***

Nina looked at the letter before her on the table. It had been 2 weeks since Faith had left for college and her mother had been shifted to Bareton’s. Groceries were running out, the answering machine was full of Adrian’s drained apologies and altogether, the house seemed too empty for a person to be living alone. She had done everything to keep herself busy from scrubbing every nook and cranny, sterilizing her mother’s room, filing away all of Faith’s books.

Yet, nothing could help alleviate what she felt – a dull ache. She ran a finger through the crisp paper, it gave away nothing and yet somehow, she felt there did exist a clinic in the middle of nowhere, a place that could just magically rewind time and turn her back into what a she was – a regular girl with a pleasant face. The letter felt almost like a savior.

This is not the time for dreams, she scolded herself. Re-reading the letter again, she sighed and when the sharp ring of the telephone cut through her dreams.

Adrian, again?

But she picked it up and it turned out to be Bareton’s Old Age Home.

“Is this the residence of Miss Thornton?” a formal female voice asked.

“Yes?”

“Miss Thornton, we’re sorry to inform you but your mother, Mrs. Anne Thornton, tried to commit suicide today again. She’s recuperating right now and is under intense surveillance and we’d like your permission to move her to the suicidal section for better care. The call is being recorded for easier transactions.”

For a second, Nina’s vision went black. Again? Gulping, she managed to choke the words, “Yes, please.”

The call was cut off with the same formal impunity and Nina found her resolution growing stronger. She knew what she must do.

A three hour drive later, she stood in front of an old, dilapidated warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

Chapter Four: Shock

Getting off the road, she parked her car outside near a stack of hay. The countryside stretched for miles all around.

So they probably just dump the bodies anywhere and nobody finds them until years, she thought to herself and gave her a little shake. She had covered her face with a burgundy scarf that her mother had given her when she had been 12. It was close knit with two different types of stitches and smelled like a warm fireplace on Christmas.

Gathering it closer to her face, she made her way over the uneven ground to the huge rusty gates and pushed them apart. The interior contained…bales of hay, under a truss covered metal roof. She walked in further and the dust in the air arrested her nostrils. Serves me right, Nina thought, some folks are probably having a good laugh over this. Not that they have to live with hideous melting skin. She did not even feel any anger, but just a sense of incredible disappointment. A sense that she had reached the end of the road and now all she could do was accept her fate. Coughing a few times, she looked around and went further into the warehouse. There seemed to be nothing except more and more tied piles of drying straw, placed precariously one above the other.

“Hello, can I help you?”

Nina jumped out of her skin as she spun to locate the source of the voice. Her scarf dropped lower form her face. She saw amidst the hay, a woman sitting at a small wooden desk, wearing a purple uniform.

“Uh…,” Nina faltered. She noticed the woman’s lips twitch as she tried to contain her disgust at Nina’s face. She was good at it. She barely avoided eye contact.

“May I know your name?” the woman asked again with a smile.

“Nina Thorne,” Nina said. She moved a step closer to the desk. It was placed on a small wooden platform in the midst of high stacks on either side of it. Anyone paying a cursory glance would never have seen it unless they went to the far end of the warehouse.

“Hi, we’ve been expecting you.” The name card on her blouse read Janice. “Can you please show us the mail you received?”

“You mean, this?” Nina waved around the unnamed mail with no address.

“Yes,” Janice accepted it and made an entry in her iPad. “Please have a seat Miss. Thorne.” She took out a folding chair and placed it before the table. Coughing again from the musty air, Nina sat down before her. The surreal situation was far beyond her senses now. A uniformed receptionist in high heels in a straw warehouse in the middle of nowhere? She had known bigger shockers but this was just the oddest.

“Miss Throne, we’re an elite plastic surgery company. For security reasons I am not allowed to divulge the name of the doctor or of the clinic. The clinic began with the idea of a visionary trying to patent a revolutionary technique that would allow people afflicted with superficial physical deformities to avail the services of a world class cosmetic surgeon for low prices. We know that cosmetic surgery is not covered in most insurance plans hence people often look for cheaper alternatives, which turn out to be life threatening.”

Nina listened to the receptionist with growing distrust. The whole idea seemed too good to be true and she was sure she was being dragged into another ‘second hand’ clinic.

“I understand your trepidation, Miss Thorne,” Janice said, reading her face. “But the current procedure involves some technicalities that the surgeon would prefer to not be divulged lest his competitors in the field patent it and claim it as their own.”

“I’d like to know exactly how much it will cost me and where this clinic is. I hope it’s not this hay stack,” Nina chuckled motioning to the bale beside them. Janice gave a hard smile and handed Nina a thick set of papers. “Please take your time and read through them.” She returned to typing on her iPad.

Nina took a deep breath and read the rules. The name of the clinic and other related information had been redacted with a tape. The contract was custom made and clearly stated that given the extent of the work to be done on her, she would need a period of at least months if not more. During her stay at the clinic, she would be sharing rooms, and there would be absolutely no contact with the outside world – no emails, no calls, no pigeons. Her family could not come to meet her. This was done to keep the patients away from worldly criticism during the process as many lacked the patience to see it through. It also contained a non-disclosure agreement which forbade her from telling the name of the doctor, clinic or any information from inside the clinic to outsiders.

After a cursory reading, Nina looked up and after eyeing the entire place again asked, “How did you…find out about me?”

“Oh!” Janice said with a bright smile, “I’m sorry but we do routine checks on hospitals and whenever we see a potential client, we send them a mail. They only arrive 50% of the time because most think we’re a scam.”

That’s what you smell like to me too, Nina thought and asked, “When will the payment be due?”

“Usually, clinics ask for at least 75% of the payment upfront. However, we work on a strict procedure-based payment policy. Which means once you’re inducted, you’ll start paying every week based on your treatment plan of the week. In case of a weekend spend recuperating, you could be charged as low as 100$ whereas a series of procedures could be 750$. You can see an estimate of your treatment cost on the last page,” Janice flipped the document over.

How is any of that cheap! Nina sighed, guess I’ll lose all my savings and more if it goes on for longer than 6 months.

“Can I get back on this tomorrow?” Nina asked. For a moment, Janice looked mildly annoyed.

“I’m sorry Miss. Thorne but company policies and also our surgeon’s need to keep this information secret does not allow us to contact our clients via telephone or let anyone leave with information they can submit. If you leave this warehouse, it shall be assumed you do not want to avail the procedure, in which case you must sign this non-disclosure agreement about today. If you do sign the contract for undergoing the process, we begin straight away.”

Nina was miffed. “But I haven’t told my family or prepared things to suddenly disappear for half a year! I do not even have my clothes with me.”

“You will be provided with all items of luxury and necessity at the clinic,” Janice said firmly, “I have both the contracts ready, so please make you decision.”

Nina rolled her eyes and Janice flinched for the first time as the expression looked especially grotesque on Nina’s scarred face.

“Can I make a call to a family member?” Nina asked finally.

“You will find no cell reception here,” Janice smiled apologetically, “However, once you get to the clinic, you will be allowed one final phone call.”

Is this a clinic or a jail? Nina fumed internally. But time was running out. She only had so much money and while this unnamed clinic was beginning to sound more and more like a trafficking ring, the contract seemed to be drawn out well. It answered most, if not all questions and in case of drastic variance in he final result, allowed money to be refunded.

I don’t think how life could get any worse. I won’t find a job with this face anyway. They won’t even hire me as a cashier. Or a coal-miner.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’ll sign it.”

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Author's Note:

Hello!

This story is going to be updated in a serialized manner. Please check out The Price of Beauty (II) for the rest.

Do like and post comments on how you like it so far!

Thanks xx

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