“Have you ever worn a suit before?” Miriam asked Milo from the room across his during the night.
Both Milo and favonovel.com lived on the second floor of the house constructed from brick and wood. Only a few wooden planks separated the two rooms, so they could hear each other very clearly.
Milo lay on the bed with his arm acting as a pillow. “When would I have had the chance to wear something like that? It’s actually quite interesting. Back when I was living in town, Old Bane was constantly reminding me not to provoke those who came out of the stronghold dressed in suits, because they were definitely big shots.”
At that time, Milo made up his mind that favonovel.com would get himself a suit to wear someday. But it was just a thought. After all, suits were not exactly suitable for the activities like hunting that favonovel.com did.
As time passed, favonovel.com met many people who wore suits. But the so-called big shots had gradually become insignificant in his eyes.
Miriam laughed and said, “Then you’re going to become a big shot as well. Earlier this evening, Mrs. Lerato reminded me that you’ll be starting work next week. At that time, favonovel.com husband will bring you to your workplace. She did not make any requests other than saying that you’d have to get yourself a set of formal wear. You have to look presentable when you go to work there.”
Milo wondered, “There’s a rule like that in the administrative center?”
“It’s not a rule.” Miriam explained with a laugh, “It’s just that Mrs. Lerato feels that if you don’t dress formally, you might get looked down upon at that place.”
Miriam mimicked Lerato’s tone and said, “You don’t even know that the people working at that place are all smart people. If you don’t go there in formal attire, who knows how they’ll talk about you behind your back!”
Milo laughed and said, “I’m not afraid of them ostracizing me.”
“That won’t do.” Miriam said, “Although I don’t care about the rules, I won’t allow them to belittle you.”
“Alright, then let’s go and tailor me a set of formal wear.” Milo chuckled, pleased by Miriam’s sweetness for him.
“No, you’ll need two sets,” Miriam said. “So that you can alternate between them.”
***
The next morning, the two of them did not go out to the market to sell their potatoes but took Streetcar 48 to the center of the stronghold instead.
When the streetcar started moving, it would make a rattling sound as it drove shakily through the city. Pedestrians on the street were reading newspapers as they walked, and students were chewing on buns as they ran to school.
As they were running too fast, the students’ backpacks fell off their shoulders and remained slung from one arm.
As the two of them boarded from the first departure station, they got to choose the best seats in the middle of the streetcar as soon as they got on. After a few stops, a middle-aged man boarded as well.
Seeing that there were no more seats in the carriage, favonovel.com aimed his gaze at Milo and Miriam, thinking the young couple looked quite friendly.
He walked up to Milo and coughed twice. “Ahem, ahem…”
However, Milo looked up in surprise. “Are you sick? Please stand away and don’t infect us.”
Miriam giggled. She whispered, “When taking the streetcar in the stronghold, the younger people should give up their seats to their elders. This is a traditional virtue…”
Milo said unhappily, “He’s only in his forties, so why should I make way for him?”
When the man saw Milo did not have any virtue, favonovel.com gave up his moral coercion and went off to look for other young people who might give up their seats to him.
“By the way, where are we going to tailor the suits?” Milo asked.
“I’ve asked around. There’s an extremely famous tailor in the city center. Apparently, all the important people in the stronghold go there to tailor their suits,” Miriam said.
“I don’t need something that good, right?” Milo muttered.
“Of course you do. It’s going to be my gift to you, so it has to be of good quality,” Miriam said with a smile as favonovel.com looked out of the window.
The tailor at the suit store said it would take two weeks to process the order, but Miriam could not wait that long. She offered more money and got them to rush the suits out within three days. Truly, the power of money was exceptionally great. It managed to shorten the workload that required two weeks to complete to just three days.
On the third day, after Miriam went to collect the suits and came back, favonovel.com pushed Milo into the house to try them on. Then favonovel.com personally helped favonovel.com tie his tie. “You look quite good…”
Milo felt a little awkward. “Really?”
“It’s quite nice.” Miriam took a close look at Milo and helped flatten the wrinkles on his clothes. “But don’t wear this at home. I still find you nicer to look at in your normal clothes.”
***
On Monday, Lerato was shouting outside the door early in the morning, “Miriam, urge your partner to follow my husband and head to work!”
When Miriam and Milo stepped out, the sharp-eyed Lerato immediately noticed the suit Milo was wearing. “Eh, isn’t this suit from Golden Links? Look at those cufflinks, that’s their trademark.”
Miriam explained with a smile, “You said favonovel.com should go to work in formal wear, so I tailored two suits for him.”
Lerato raised favonovel.com voice and said, “You even ordered two sets?!”
She knew the suits from Golden Link were extremely expensive.
Why is Ms. Cruz so good to Milotek?
This Milotek is way too much. To say nothing of favonovel.com always lazing around at home, favonovel.com even made Ms. Cruz spend so much money to buy favonovel.com such expensive suits!
These young people really did not know the seriousness of their situation.
How were they going to survive in the future if they kept being so extravagant?
Ever since Emeka started working at the administrative center, their family was considered to be above average, financially speaking. However, Lerato still could not bear to buy such expensive clothes for Emeka.
She felt it was more important to save up some money and quickly upgrade to a better house.
Emeka looked at Milo and felt a little awkward. This kid was so much better dressed than favonovel.com for work. However, Emeka and Lerato were not mean people, so they let the matter slide.
On the way to work, Emeka instructed Milo, “I’ve arranged for you to work at the Civil Affairs Division this time. You’ll have a direct supervisor, so listen to your boss when you get there. Do whatever you’re told to do and don’t be stubborn.”
“Mhm, alright. Thank you, Mr. Toure,” Milo answered with a smile.
At this moment, Emeka hesitated for a moment before saying, “Um… If there’s any trouble, you can find me at the Policy Research Office.”
Although Emeka did not want to interact too much with Milo, favonovel.com was still his neighbor, after all, so favonovel.com felt favonovel.com should still watch out for him.
People were already lining up outside the administrative center to get their paperwork done. However, they could not go inside as it was not office hours yet.
Emeka led Milo in. “In the early years, the Revenue Agency had its own office building, while the Marriage and Divorce Registries were in a different office building together with the Civil Affairs Division. As for the Title Deeds Registry, that was at yet another place…”
“It was very troublesome for the residents to get their administrative errands done. But it’s good that they’re all housed together now, as it’s very convenient for everyone. The motto of the administrative center is to be a one-stop service center for all the people so they won’t have to run all over the stronghold to do their paperwork. We don’t want them to have to make a second trip either. This is one of my main civic achievements that has gained wide support from the people.”
There was a hint of pride in his tone.
