Now Life was a kingdom of diverse cultures with many immigrants from all over the world. To keep her status up as the most up-to-date girl in such kingdom, Girl went shopping every week and bought all the 'new arrivals' of manicures.
NARS nail polish: Image source
She changed her nail polish for every meal. For breakfast, she would go with a lively and strong colour to mark the bright start of the day. For lunch, she wore the fanciest nail polish with large glitters that almost blinded everyone who neared her. For dinner, she wore something more glamorous and subtle, close to nude colour, to match the relaxing dinner atmosphere in her palace.
She would never do any work, such as making her bed or even zipping up her dresses, because she was afraid to damage her perfectly-polished nails. Not even the slightest crack was forgivable.
But that was not a problem. Nobody would ever trigger Girl's anger by ruining her nail design because everybody - her servants, friends and even parents - feared her massive fit of crying and cancelling all her duties for the month. As long as people did all the work for her, she would smile and greet princes from foreign lands with charming courtesy; of course, that was all she ever did in her life.
Then came a day when the most evil of evil and the most mischievous of all mischievous thieves decided to rob Girl of her most valuable manicures. They called themselves the Drivers for they liked to "drive" their victims mad after their crime. The four members of the Drivers watched her from outside the palace and sometimes even went inside the palace, masked as handsome princes with their notorious skills and technologies. Once they have all figured out the perfect time and method to break in, they started out on their mission.
Batman Car: Image source
Girl, just satisfied with her new nail polish for tomorrow morning's breakfast, was about to close her manicure drawer when the thieves broke in. She screamed the highest note she could reach that the sound did not even come out, but the silent scream broke some small mirrors in the room. The three of the Drivers were already prepared for such scream with their newly innovated earplugs which filtered out girls' loud, high-toned voices. They took out the entire manicure drawer and jumped off the balcony. All the while Girl was screaming, paralysed on her spot.
As soon as the three guys fell perfectly onto their seats in the car, the Drivers' driver took off with great speed.
When palace guards and ninjas came, they were already a moment too late.
Tinkerbell: Image source
Girl was devastated. She could not find the right person to blame for her loss, so she blamed everyone and everything. She hated the palace guards and ninjas, the servants, the nail polish companies and even the most innocent angels and fairies. She sobbed and cried and wept and whimpered and sniffled and all the synonyms of crying all day long over two months' miserable period of time.
She shooed away all visitors and trusted nobody. Her painted nails grew and cracked and tore. Her cuticles were in the worst condition in her entire life.
This news spread all over Life. People of Life sent gifts and comfort foods with best wishes for their vain yet beloved princess. Girl accepted them, but nothing could make up for her ugly nails anymore. It was her heart that was broken and hurt too, not just her finger nails.
Doctors came to check on her health and psychiatrists recommended the best-selling books to soothe her sorrow; however, she remained sick.
Then one day, the news of the saddened princess reached the kingdoms far, far away, and princesses from other lands came over to Life's palace. Girl tried all her best to greet them and treat them with the most heartfelt welcome but failed: the princess guests noticed the sorrow in Girl's eyes and felt sorry for her. They decided to cheer her up with music and dancing. Some even gave up their favourite nail polish to give to Girl.
Nothing worked until they sat down for a tea time. The princesses, including Girl, sat down in a circle and talked about their lives. They shared the most personal stories and listened to one another, sometimes encouragingly and sometimes sympathetically. After a few nights of sleepovers, all the princesses became best friends.
Girl started to feel better. She tried to be thankful for any trivial things that simply did not go wrong. Her friends encouraged her to be more positive and complimented on her hair, eyebrows, ear shape and skin tone. They talked about major life changes as well as unimportant daily happenings. Slowly over time, Girl learned that her true friends were not friends because of her fancy nails but - well, to be honest - for no reason.
Friendship: Image source
Summer came. Then fall. Then winter. A light bulb in a bubble appeared above her head, and at the same time, tears ran down her cheeks. Girl realised that she had not looked at her nails at all ever since the thieves stole the manicure drawer from her. She was thankful that she had friends that loved her heart, not her nails. She did not care whatever happened to the thieves after they robbed her. She did not give a shooting star for her lost expensive manicures. If everything happened for a reason, her loss happened for this - new, awesome friends. She thanked for the time she was in pain for that was what brought the princesses to her palace then.
She forced all the manicure factories to close down and banned everyone in Life to paint their nails forever and ever.
No, she didn't. She kept in touch with her dear princess friends, stopped relaying her own duties to others, became the Best Princess of the Year 2020 and lived happily ever after. This one's true. The End.
