Chapter 7: Duplicate!
Julia’s POV:
The large red-colored diamond on top of the ring was dazzling under the bright lights of the airport hall, and I could see both Meanie and Marco gazing ardently at the ring.
“T-That ring…I…” My words trailed off as her question made me nervous and stifled inside. There was no way I could confess the truth of how I got this beautiful ring to Melanie.
If I rather said I bought it on my own, my pride wouldn’t be able to bear the shame since Melanie was still wearing the diamond ring on her finger which Marco put on her in front of me, tearing my heart into shreds.
“Haha!” But surprisingly both me and Marco, Melanie let out a small sarcastic chuckle after she had finished keenly observing the ring. With a gulp, while I stared at her, she snorted, “I get it now, sis. You don’t have to explain it to me. Heartbroken to see your ex-boyfriend proposing to me with the ring you thought to own forever, to cheer yourself up you must have brought this duplicate ring, right?”
“D-Duplicate?” My voice shuddered a little in confusion as I narrowed my gaze on the ring.
“Of course! Don’t you know, a red diamond is a priceless gem in the world and only a few people in the world would be lucky enough to obtain it. There’s no way it is original, but just a replica of that red beauty.”
She widened her smug face while explaining as if she purposely wanted to make me lose face before Marco. “But I must say…the ring you’ve brought to console yourself is gorgeous. You have got an eye for beautiful things. It looks so authentic that for a second I was scared, thinking it might be real, haha! But that’s purely impossible…”
Her scornful chuckle stirred the uneasiness I was enduring inside, making me feel gloomy all of a sudden. I knew the red diamond was one of the rarest gems in the world, and finding the ring on my finger the next day after I spent that hot night with that handsome masked stranger, it would be a lie if I said I didn’t doubt its authenticity.
But knowing Melanie had a keen eyes for jewelries like this, now that she confirmed it was a duplicate, I couldn’t help but feel a flare of rage growing inside my heart. After leaving all those shameful hickeys on my body, I opted to make myself feel a little better hoping to leave with this priceless ring.
But now finding out that it was fake made me grit my jaws, as I cussed at that man internally.
“Sis, since it looks so beautiful, I am borrowing the ring for a few days from you. I hope you don’t mind?” Without having any decency to ask for my permission, Melanie took off the ring that Marco had put on her and wore the red diamond ring on that finger instead, showing it off proudly on my face.
I knew she had a lame habit of never returning any of my stuff after borrowing it from me, despite that I didn’t oppose her from taking it as I would rather keep that ring away from my sight since I knew, it would always make me reminisce about my fraud night-stand partner and flare my rage.
“Babe, but why are you taking off my ring?” Marco didn’t seem pleased at her decision and even after he opposed it in a faint mumble, Melanie shrugged, “Come on babe, look this ring’s so pretty! At least let me wear it for a few days, okay?”
“Do whatever the fuck you want…I am out of here.”
Riled with anger, I couldn’t bear to stand there and watch their lovey-dovey act as I proceeded to leave. Even though Melanie called me aloud a few times from behind, I didn’t bother to pay any heed…
Heading straight to my apartment, to avert my concentration from the countless thoughts bothering my peace of mind, I rather focused on working on the task our new CEO Damon had assigned us. However, he had told us to prepare a perfect date plan, and while I was already broken-hearted, it was quite hurtful for me to work on this task.
But I did finish it. Wrapping the project proposal by late night, the next morning I showed up early in the office to have some necessary documents printed for the interview.
While I was doing so, I heard the sound of pointed heels approaching my desk, and lifting my eyes up, I saw it was Yasmine standing near my desk and greeting me with a smile, “Good morning, Miss Julia. Have you already prepared the plan as our Boss had asked?”
“Um, yes, of course.” I cut my answer short as I was quite busy arranging the necessary documents. But at that moment I saw my printer had run out of paper, and before I could grab a sheet myself, Yasmine arranged a sheet of blank paper for me and started helping me with the printing.
“Thanks, Yasmine.”
I felt a little grateful for the help but reverting a polite smile, she answered, “We are colleagues, of course, we should look after each other here, Miss Julia. Anyways, what kind of date idea have you planned for? I have thought of a simple beach date…because I find it quite romantic.”
“Oh, I have planned for a drone show date. It has been quite trending among couples these days.” Finishing up with the print quickly as it was almost time for the meeting, I answered her query in a cordial tone, “Though, I don’t know if Boss will like my idea or not—”
“Oh no, I find it perfect! I can guarantee our CEO will love it. Good job, Miss Julia.” She tapped on my shoulder once before heading towards her desk first.
But even though she smiled at me, I could feel a mysterious cunning gaze in her eyes when she walked away from my desk.
As soon as we entered the chamber, I was struck by how Damon appeared like a work of art, even more dazzlingly handsome than yesterday! Calmly seated on his chair, his dark eyes first met my gaze as we entered the room, but soon he slid it away towards the other attendees and asked in a cold tone, “Have you all prepared the date proposal as I had asked for? Let’s start with Miss Yasmine today.”
“Yes sir,” Yasmine confidently marched ahead among all of us, placing a file of documents on the table before him, as she uttered aloud, “I have planned a unique date proposal for you, Sir. And that is a…Romantic Drone Show Date, which has been very trending in our generation now.”