A Lesson in Manners: The Antique Fair Curse

“Dude, wait! I need to stop and rest my feet! Running in these things is not easy!”

Julian leaned exhausted against the yellowish wall of the hotel corridor, trying to catch his breath while struggling to keep his balance. He looked down with pure hatred at the generous slit of his new long pink rose-print dress, and especially at the high-heeled sandals squeezing his toes.

Leo stopped a few steps ahead and glanced back, his expression caught somewhere between panic and exasperation as he watched the bend in the corridor.

“This is not my fault! You’re the one who insulted that woman with the unusual accent!” Leo hissed, waving his hands frantically. “I warned you not to start trouble at that antique fair! But no... you had to be your usual arrogant jerk.”

“I only said her amulets were fake!” Julian shot back.

But his voice came out soft, sweet, and unmistakably feminine.

He immediately covered his mouth with both hands, startled by the sound of his own voice. The delicate fingers were covered with rings he certainly hadn't been wearing that morning.

“Yeah, but nobody told you to be rude. I just never imagined her words, ‘You should behave more like a delicate young lady,’ would literally make you become one! Right in the middle of our escape!”

Julian closed his eyes for a moment as the weight of his new, long brown hair slid smoothly over his bare shoulders and down his back.

He remembered exactly when it had happened.

The local police had started chasing them after the argument. As they ran across the historic courtyard, Julian's body had suddenly begun to change. His tourist clothes reshaped themselves into the fitted, revealing dress. His masculine features softened into a delicate face with full lips. His confident stride became an awkward, unsteady walk as his feet were forced into high heels.

The sound of heavy boots echoed closer, coming from the plant-filled courtyard just behind them.

Leo looked Julian up and down.

Then an idea occurred to him.

“Well... think about it,” Leo said, pointing at his friend. “They’re looking for two guys wearing jackets. You’re a woman now. So I’ll hide somewhere around here. You use that new look of yours, distract them with that sweet little voice, and tell them you saw the two guys running in the opposite direction. Then we can try to get back to the fair.”

Julian's eyes widened, but Leo was already slipping behind a large ornamental plant.

“I mean, you talk to them, okay?” Leo whispered from behind the leaves. “After all, you’re the one who has to fix this. Good luck, sweetheart!”

Before Julian could insult his friend, which would probably sound strangely charming in his new voice, the two police officers turned the corner.

Julian swallowed hard.

He adjusted the pendant resting against his neckline and, pretending to be shy, raised one delicate hand toward the opposite end of the corridor.

In a soft, melodic voice, he told the officers that the two suspects had just run that way.

The officers thanked the “young lady” and immediately took off in the wrong direction.

Once the corridor was clear, Leo emerged from behind the plant, laughing at the whole situation.

Without wasting any time, the two friends used a series of alternative passages through the hotel to make their way back toward the historic square where their day had begun.

Julian spent the entire journey limping, complaining about the high heels, and cursing the mysterious woman who had done this to him. He could think of only one thing: finding her and begging her to turn him back into the man he had been that morning.

But when they crossed the stone archway leading into the square, both men stopped abruptly.

The place was completely empty.

There were no stalls. No tourists. No merchants. Not even a trace that an antique fair had ever been there.

They questioned a local man passing by with a small cart. He stared at them in confusion and explained that there wasn't any antique fair scheduled for that month.

The entire fair had simply vanished into thin air, along with the mysterious woman.

Leo stared at the empty square.

Then he turned toward his friend, now standing beside him as a beautiful and increasingly desperate woman in a pink dress.

“Well, Julian...” he said with a grin. “Looks like you’re going to have to get used to walking in heels for a while.”