Chapter 5: Cool Down
Ariel woke up at four in the morning and managed to drag Hazel out of bed too. They had to leave early to go to the Transcendence Plaza.
The interviews were being held in a large local photo studio. Outside the door, there were already many employees trying to arrange the interviews in an orderly manner.
"Do I need to participate?" Hazel frowned, thinking of her vulnerability.
"Hey Hazel, come on, you don’t quit anything!" Ariel persuaded her, "With you here, I feel more assured."
"I can still be on your side even if I don't participate!" Hazel was struggling.
"Stop that already!" Ariel pulled her body and said, "Alone, I will have an odd of one in 100,000. With you, our chance is one in 50,000!"
"Is there a difference?" Hazel almost collapsed.
"Of course!" Ariel said confidently, "We just doubled our chances of winning!"
"..." Hazel finally gave up.
Hazel and Ariel received two forms from the staff at the reception desk.
The items required on the form were simple, just some common information like name, age, place of origin, etc., which was meant to screen out some unwelcome participants.
This so-called surrogate mother's preliminary selection only had a particular demand on the age. It was only open to participants between the ages of 20 to 21.
Just when she saw this form, the resistance in Hazel's heart rose again.
"I'll do just fine without filling this in." Hazel put down the paper form.
"Don't be stupid!" Ariel quickly grabbed her form and said, "Come on, think of it! You have come all this way anyway! Think of the thousand dollars. Let me fill it in for you."
"I am not short on money..." Hazel argued.
"I am short, and a thousand dollars would help, OK?" Ariel quickly fills in the form for Hazel, "You can just give it to me if you don't want it!"
"Why should I?" Hazel stared at Ariel.
"Oh, I thought you weren’t short on it," Ariel said confidently.
Hazel really wanted to kill Ariel. But Ariel was only talking tough.
After completing the form, the person in charge gave them each an assigned number.
The whole process was brief. Ariel did some research about it, which mainly included the measurement of their height, weight, and bust. Then according to the sizes of participants, their appropriate dresses would be sent to the locker room.
After they changed to their dresses, they would have their photo taken in the order of their assigned number, then their photos were shot, and they could leave.
When the process was done, the Denmark Family Group staff would review the information of participants to make sure there was no falsification. Then they would wire the payment to the accounts of participants.
However, just after measuring her height and weight, Ariel took Hazel to the washroom.
"Hazel, what's your number?" Ariel grabbed the assigned number from Hazel, looked at it, and sighed, "68, what a lucky number."
"Give it back to me!" Hazel said.
While Ariel was holding the assigned number and giggling, a woman came around the corner. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and collided with Ariel.
"Ouch!" The two exclaimed simultaneously, both fell to the ground, and the assigned number in Ariel's hands also landed on the ground.
"Ariel!" Hazel ran toward Ariel to help her up.
"Where did you learn to walk?" The other woman yelled. She got up and glanced at the assigned number on the ground and shouted angrily, "Are you blind? Oh, look at who it is! I didn’t expect it to be you guys!"
Hazel looked up and sensed some trouble ahead.
The girl was Kyla Lee. Hazel disliked her and the guy, Derek.
"I was so blind indeed." Ariel sneered, "Otherwise, how could Hazel and I get to know a pair of geniuses such as you and Derek?"
"You..." Kyla's face turned blue. She coldly looked at Hazel and smirked, "Hey Hazel, I thought you were way out of our league. But you also come here to compete for the surrogate mother selection!"
"Hazel is still single. You have a problem with that?" Ariel yelled, "And you are Derek's girlfriend. Does he know his girl is about to cuckold him? Look at you, low-cut evening dress, do you worry people will see your slutty nature? I need to take a picture of you and send it to Derek. He should enjoy my message."
"How dare you!" Seeing Ariel take out her phone, Kyla stretched out a fist to try and punch Ariel!
Hazel got a serious look on her face. She caught Kyla's wrist in a flash and warned her, "Don't even think about it!"
As the pain started in her wrist, Kyla began to recall something terrible. Her face turned white. "Let go of me!" Kyla hurriedly said.
Hazel suddenly let go. Kyla stumbled for a few steps before she finally stopped against a wall.
Kyla looked at Hazel and Ariel and said, "Just you wait!"
After saying that, Kyla ran away.
"Ha ha ha!" Ariel laughed out loud behind Kyla's back, "Not so tough now, huh?"
"You need to watch your mouth too!" Hazel was less than pleased.
Kyla turned her head at a distance and saw Ariel pick up an assigned number from the ground and give it to Hazel.
So, that was Hazel’s assigned number?
Kyla suddenly snickered in her head, "Hazel, it's about time to make you real ugly!"
"I fear nothing with you on my side! Here is your plate, Hazel." Ariel looked at her with adoration, "Hazel, you were so striking just now! If there is no Prince Charming around, I will definitely marry you!"
Seeing Ariel was about to embrace her, Hazel hurriedly pushed her away, "Cool down!"
"It’s a coincidence seeing her, don’t worry about that," Ariel explained.
"What's that you had?" Hazel looked at her with a grin, "You must have an idea about what is going on with these guys, right?"
"Yeah." Ariel relaxed and said, "It was that pair of geniuses who always got you in their business." Speaking like this made Hazel feel like she was powerless.