AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A perfect choice. A beautiful candle for a beautiful lady.” The gentleman kisses my hand but abruptly drops it, staring behind me. Leo stares intensely at us from the doorway.
“Leo, come in. Come and smell this; it is absolutely gorgeous. This lovely gentleman here has just shown me how to make my own candle; look how pretty it is.” I link Leo’s arm and pull his stiff body into the shop. The candle I’m wafting under his nose does nothing for his cold, wide-eyed expression.
“See, doesn’t it smell wonderful?”
“If you say so. We need to get going.”
Chapter 8
Katie
The gentleman bags up my candle along with a few other bits I like. Leo insists on paying. We make our way through the street; Leo steers me up a little alley and into a magnificent jeweller. The whole shop twinkles with diamonds and precious stones in glass cabinets.
“Apparently, my wife-to-be needs a ring.” I follow Leo around the shop as the assistant explains the different areas.
“Over here, you find our solitaire rings, and here are our three stones. Do You have anything in mind?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe something black to match his heart.” The assistant does a half giggle, not knowing whether to laugh or not.
“I’ll leave you both to it.”
I have dreamt of this moment since being a little girl. But not like this.
Taking a look around, imagining if this were a real engagement. Which ring would I choose? It has to be a solitaire. Either a square or a round. Platinum, definitely. Wow, there are some stunning rings.
“Do you see anything you like?” The assistant pulls me from my bubble. I see Leo’s dark eyes looking at me with impatience.
“Yes, ummm, this one.” I point to a gold ring with 3 large diamonds. It’s pretty, but it’s not me.
“Lovely choice.” The assistant hands me the ring to try on. It’s huge; it doesn’t fit at all.
“No!” Both the assistant and I jump at Leo’s outburst.
“We can have it resized; it won’t take long.”
“Not that one; this one here. We will take this one.” The assistant places the ring Leo has chosen
on my finger, and it fits perfectly. It’s also a platinum band with a large round solitaire. I love it.
It’s exactly the one I would choose. I don’t want it.
“I don’t like it.”
“Yes, you do.” Leo hands his card to the assistant before I can refuse further.
“I told you; you liked it,” Leo says with a smirk when he catches me admiring it on the journey back.
“Yes, I do like it. I love it, in fact. It’s exactly the one I would have chosen. That’s why I didn’t want it.”
“I don’t understand. Why do you not want it?”
“Because we aren’t really engaged. Not properly. I wanted this ring to be given to me by someone who loved me, whom I loved. For them to get down on one knee and tell me how much they loved me, for them to ‘ask’ me to be their wife. Not force me into it, give me a list of rules, and threaten me with goodness knows what if I don’t comply. That’s why I don’t want it.”
For a change, it’s not anger on Leo’s face. Its confusion mixed with something else.
Leo.
Ungrateful. That’s what she is. From now on, I will be treating this arrangement as I do all my deals. I am in charge. She gets nothing else.
