Alicia was Korean but never knew the country she was born in. Her parents didn't speak the language with her. Living in the country-side in the midst of rolling hayfields, it was tough enough to be Asian, to look different let alone speak differently. So Alicia grew up removed from the culture of her grandparents; only her face and body was Korean. She was the spitting image of the actress Oh In Hye, who wore that spectacular red dress at the Busan film festival in 2011. At that time Alicia's fiancé John teased her incessantly.
"Even your tits are the same. You two could be twins. Or clones."
"No way! My breasts are nowhere near that big. And she's five years older," Alicia defended, scrunching up her nose. She had to admit it was creepy, though. Her face and body, it was like looking into a mirror. Look up Oh In Hye on the net and you'll see, especially those film festival shots.
Alicia thought often of those risqué photos. Perhaps there actually was a spiritual connection between the two of them.
**********
"You want to win the deal, right?" John smiled at her. They had been married a year.
"Are you serious?"
"Alicia, baby, come on, you're the rookie. Those guys will flay you. Their only weakness is they're guys."
"I can't wear that in the client office," she said holding up the backless dress she wore to John's company Christmas party. "It's inappropriate. It's obvious."
"True," he agreed. "But that's the point."
"And this other one. It's even worse, you know how embarrassing that day was."
Alicia had worn the second outfit to John's friends' wedding. After a few drinks it was difficult to keep her breasts covered.
"This one?" he suggested instead, holding up a simple black dress. Tight around the top, waist and hips it loosened at the thigh.
"Too short," Alicia whined.
"It is not," John laughed. "Just be careful not to bend sharply."
"What if the wind blows it?"
"Come on, you'll be inside. There's nothing about this dress that you can't wear to a client..."
"Maybe," she conceded.
"But no underwear," he completed his vision.
"No way!"
"Alicia, it's perfect. It's a professional dress. The only people that will notice you've got nothing under will be the people that you actually hope notice you've got nothing under. Perfect stealth marketing to a targeted audience."
"John! I'm not going to wear nothing under this. Not to work."
"Try!" he advised. "Just put it on. It was fine at our anniversary dinner."
"That was night. And it was just us."
He had to help her, but John managed to pull the clothes entirely from his pouting young wife and pull the smooth black dress over her naked body.
"See? Looks good," he said over her shoulder into the mirror.
"I can't wear it like this. You can see my nipples."
"That's the point."
"My whole breast...the shape is plain as day!"
"I like this dress without anything under," John shrugged. The material hugged the shape of her chest and showed her every movement, it was super sexy. The same with her ass. The material fell down into the crack of her rear, hugging her cheeks. In daylight the material was translucent, in the stretched areas you could literally see the colour of her skin. From behind it was entirely obvious she had no panties, you could see the outline of her ass. John didn't tell her that.
"This is the one," he assured her. "Give yourself a shot at the deal. Today's the day baby. Today is your turn to win."
"Using my tits. You can't be serious."
And ass, he thought.
"It's yours for the taking."
"Grrr!" Alicia frowned.
***********
"So?" John asked seeing her come in the door.
"Fuck off," Alicia snapped, darting into the bedroom to change.
"That good huh?" he grinned to himself.
John was cooking red-sauce pasta, with lots of wine. It was a long time before Alicia came out, having changed into boring track pants and t-shirt.
"Don't say anything," Alicia warned John. "Nothing."
Alicia swigged from the wine bottle. He couldn't help himself.
"You should have worn that dress," he teased.
Twack! She hit him with a kitchen glove. He laughed, which didn't help.
************
Alicia was feeling the heat. She had campaigned shamelessly for promotion and the money that came with it. But the glorious title came with a sales target.
"You've never sold," the senior partners had frowned.
"I can do it," she'd returned brazenly, waving all of her university and business school certificates in their face.
"No graduate has come up this quick," the senior partners had frowned.
"Diversity," she had boldly replied. The time for being Asian and female had come.
"Short rope," The senior partners had frowned. "Hit target. Or it's over."
Her own Partner had warned her not to be so aggressive. There was no going down, he advised, only up or out. Be careful of moving faster than you can cope with, he had told her. She hadn't taken his advice any more than she had taken her husband's in regards to that dress.
And now she was in the shit. Six months and not a single deal. No one had gone this deep in with nothing and survived. To go down without a single dollar would be career suicide. The seniors from the other teams chuckled to see her arrogance dismantled. Her confidence was genuinely wavering.
For the next two failed pitches her performance wasn't even close to good.
Finally, when John was away with his own work, Alicia fingered the black dress in the wardrobe. Should she? Could she?
"Who is it tomorrow?" John asked over the phone.
"Big tobacco."
"Huh? I thought you guys dropped that chase on moral grounds."
"My morals are wavering," Alicia admitted, "and I don't think the firm expects me to win anyway."
"Well...," John prompted.
"I know. I know what you're going to say," she sighed.
"Tobacco. Probably as sexist as you'll get. If anyone was going to buy it, it's them."
"By 'it' you mean my body...," Alicia sighed again.
"You won't be naked."
"Under I will. Just that one piece of material between me and a bunch of creepy guys."
"Up to you, baby. If you want the deal, give them sexy."
**********
Walking out the front door was too nerve-racking. The grip the dress had on her tits was too tight, her nipples were too obvious. It clung to her front like body paint. It was too warm to wear a coat so Alicia went back and put her underwear on. She couldn't do nude under.
************
The presentation wasn't until two in the afternoon. In the office Alicia was virtually persona non grata. The seniors didn't look at her as they passed, even her peers hardly acknowledged her any more. Dead woman walking, she thought to herself. They can smell it.
Was there any point to even go? Maybe she should just sit on a park bench somewhere and pretend she went.
"Alicia, are you going to be late?"
The receptionist woke her from her gloom, handing over the portfolio folder and presentation USB.
"Thanks," she replied stodgily.
"You just need a lucky break, Alicia," the girl sympathized. "You could be better than any of these guys. You'll see. You'll get one deal and prove all they say is wrong."
"What are they saying?" Alicia frowned.
"You need to go. You better take a cab," the receptionist replied, avoiding the question.
The last straw was the Whatsapp message from one of her graduate peers, a cartoon picture of a crashed plane. He was a good friend, he was just teasing, but it hit a nerve.
In the back of the cab Alicia lifted her skirt and pulled her panties down and off. She flicked the bra catch through the material at back and pulled the straps through her sleeves.
The driver was looking through the mirror.
"Don't say anything," she growled.
The portfolio pack could hold her purse but not her underwear. She thought about just leaving it next to her, or kicking it under the front seat, but the next passengers would be freaked out.
"Do you have a bin?" she asked the driver.
"Up here."
"Can I have it?" she asked.
"It's stuck to the dash. Sorry lady."
Sighing, she reluctantly passed her underwear to the man and asked him to throw it away for her. He looked like he wanted the ask what she was doing.
"12-fifty," he said instead. Alicia gave him her underwear and her money. And for what? To be ogled by a bunch of big tobacco guys followed by another heartbreaking rejection.
Walking in through the foyer Alicia was conscious of her breasts bobbing within the thin material. She could feel the breeze between her legs. She began feeling sexy which did nothing for hiding her nipples.
"Just you?" the receptionist asked. Normally presenters came in packs. Her own firm had given up supporting Alicia with assistants.
"Yes ma'am," Alicia smiled, pretending it was normal for her. If the receptionist noticed her breasts moving freely, she showed no care.
The boardroom was different, though. As Alicia walked in past her audience, all middle-aged men, she heard the sniggers immediately. She actually heard someone whisper, "No panties." Could they tell so quickly?
Yes, actually. With the light in from the window, you could see the curve of her ass. When she stood still with the sun behind, a lucky few could see the gap between her thighs and the ripple of her flaps.
At least the room looked happy to see her for a change. She stood at the front actively and passionately selling her plan for their business. Seven sets of eyes were fully engaged on her, following every shake of her tits and glimpse of the curve of her rear.
"And will you personally be involved, Miss?"
"Mrs, and yes, I will be project lead."
"You'd work from here, onsite?"
"It's possible, of course, if you prefer. If there is room for me."
Her audience grinned and murmured. Questions kept coming, the gentlemen in the room didn't want to see her go. Some of them took photos with her as she left. It was nice to feel welcome.
************
On the street afterward Alicia wished she had kept her underwear to put back on. Occupied taxis swept past, leaving her to the trains. She closed her eyes and pretended no one was staring at the obvious lack of anything under her dress.
************
Getting the callback was a surreal experience. The message came in a couriered letter. Two contenders were invited back the following week to discuss the pricing and implementation process in more detail. Alicia didn't quite know how happy to be. It was a success, but it wasn't money. Not yet. If the next step fumbled, that would break her heart more than if she had been rejected to start with.
The senior partners seemed interested there was a callback but it wasn't enough to change their behaviour. Callbacks were not deals. To the finance department they were nothing.
************
"So...the dress worked?" John smiled at lunch on the weekend.
"I don't know," Alicia shrugged.
"Could they tell?" he asked.
"Tell what? Nothing was under?"
