Chapter 11: A - Imperial Mall
"LET ME buy you a new tie as a reward for your hard work these past few weeks," Vivian says while holding John’s hand and walking through the vast shops in the high-end mall.
This made John smile from ear to ear, he then kissed her hand and pointed to a Men's Boutique that sells suits, cufflinks, belts, and neckties.
Viv eagerly stared at the neckties on the display and took a black silk tie with white lining and a champagne-colored tie.
She also looked at the cufflinks on the shelf while John sat on the chair observing how she picked the items for him.
He then receives a text message from Lucian, inviting them to dinner, before responding he asks Vivian first and she agrees.
—--
"It’s been two weeks, and no text from him."
"Did he ghost me?"
"Is this the end?"
"Should I text him?"
These are questions running through Latton's mind.
A knock brought her back to reality. The girl who is relaxing on her bed, gets up and opens the door to see her cousin Luci.
He hugs her tightly, "I’m happy you’re back home. When did you return?"
"Last week!"
"Let’s have dinner outside, my treat." Luci suggested. His eyes are beaming, as he misses his cousin so much.
To get her mind off Blade she agrees to him and tells him to wait for her downstairs.
Before he left he advised her to dress nicely for him. Her eyes twitched when she heard his request.
At this time, all of the marks Blade left on her neck are gone and she’s free to wear any type of clothes.
She wore a sweetheart neckline lantern-sleeve black dress that highlights her chest area; she paired it with a black stiletto, and a custom-made bag given to her by her father when she graduated from college 3 years ago.
"I hope this satisfies his standard of dressing up nicely." She thought to herself while putting light makeup on her face, she then decided to wear red lipstick.
She went downstairs and Luci clapped his hand and said, "You look good."
He then walks towards her and changes the part of her hair from the middle to the side part. "But this will make you look prettier." He mumbles.
Her father at that time just got home and saw her daughter and Luci in the living room.
"What are you kids up to?" He asks.
He then added, "Honey, you look like a decent human being."
[What he wants to say is: Honey, you look stunning.]
"Wow! Thanks, that’s the best compliment I ever heard from you." She says sarcastically.
"We are going out for dinner," Luci says to diffuse the situation.
They bid him goodbye and drove to The Imperial Mall where various high-end brands and well-known fine dining restaurants are located.
They arrived at the mall when she stepped foot outside the car, she felt the cold wind blowing to her skin, given the dress that she was wearing was backless she felt cold and started to shiver a bit.
"Luci, I’m cold. Give me your jacket." She says while her arms are crossed to keep in her body heat.
"Why didn’t you bring a coat?" He asks.
"I tried hard to look nice for you. I forgot to bring a coat." She paused and then walked towards him.
Then added: "You have a lot of clothes underneath that suit jacket and you’re not as chilly as me."
He grins upon hearing her explanation. He then responded, "I’ll buy you a coat when we get inside."
They entered a boutique on the top floor of the mall. She didn’t even bother looking at the different coats they had, she took the first one she saw and asked Luci to pay for it.
He was taken aback when he saw the price of the coat but when he turned around to look at her. She has the look saying, "You asked for this, should have given me your suit jacket."
He sighs deeply and pays for it. She wore it and left, he followed behind her and said, "Your coat costs $4000, you should at least thank me."
In his mind, why the hell does a simple brown coat cost that much? It almost cost as much as my suit jacket. "I’m going to ask Uncle for reimbursement."
While walking a store caught his eye, it's a store of luxury yarns. He called her name and gestured to her.
They entered the store, and he asked if they had yarn from Vicuña. The store clerk said they only had 10 balls of yarn, around 200 grams each. Luci bought everything, also added some 24k gold thread, and told her to make him some knitted gloves and a scarf.
She crossed her arms and her eyes rolled upon hearing him.
"Why don’t you just buy or order custom-made gloves and a scarf? Why do I need to suffer?"
He walked to her held her shoulder and said: "Come on, be my sweet baby sister and knit me something. The gloves and scarf you make add warmth to my little heart."
She almost threw up hearing his last sentence.
"Okay, I’ll knit you something but please stop talking like a hopeless romantic."
He grins and nods in agreement.
He then told the clerk to send the items to the address he listed.
Soon after they went to the restaurant to eat.
=========
During dinner, Vivian asks Lucian why he didn't bring Malena. Lucian stops eating and says she’s busy with work, in reality, he did invite her but she declines because she doesn’t like his friends.
John then shows off his new cufflinks and neckties just to annoy him.
He laughs and says John is lucky to have Vivian always dress him up because he doesn’t have any fashion sense.
Vivian chuckled so hard that she almost cried. While John’s face turned sour his teasing backfired on him, he tried to think of a comeback but couldn't think of anything.
Unbeknownst to him Lucian is jealous of the gifts he received.
Ever since his relationship with Malena started he always gives her gifts but never receives anything in return. She always says that he already has everything and can't think of anything to give him. Which he brushes off since their financial status is miles apart.
He glanced away when the couple started feeding each other pasta. He then saw a familiar figure, walking while a man followed her.
But he let the idea go since she's not from the city. "She's probably having dinner this time too," he thought to himself.
It's been two weeks since he last saw and texted her. During that time she didn't text him. "She might have forgotten me by now," he says to himself.
John's voice brought him back to reality, he then noticed that Vivian disappeared from her seat.
John explained that she went out to buy an iced coffee at her favorite coffee shop and left them to have a private talk with each other. She'll text them to meet up outside once she’s done ordering.
He then asks Lucian about the girl he calls a ‘Stress Reliever’. "Is she still around?"
Lucian sneered at him and drank some water. This made John want to know more about the girl.
"So she’s still around," he assumes.
"You look tired and stressed right now, are you going to meet her soon?" He added.
"Stop asking me stupid questions."
"You know this is the first time you kept something from me, your best friend. You always share even though I told you to stop but why stop now?"
He paused then added
"Is she ugly? Too old or underage?"
Being bombarded with questions Lucian gave him a bit of details about her.
"She’s in her 20’s, and she’s cute." He says with a faint smile on his face.
"Cute? Like a dog?" He asks with eyes full of eagerness.
His phone then rang. It was Viv telling him she was done ordering and to meet them at the fountain.
He stares at him in dismay. He needs more time to know more about this girl but they need to go to Viv.