When Sebastian noticed Natalie had stopped, he peered in the direction of her gaze. The ruby necklace in the window was work of art and eye-catching.
“Do you like it?” he asked, walking up to join her beside the window.
The soft, warm light fell on Natalie’s face, making her smile look even more beautiful than usual. Her eyes were sparkling with admiration. It was quite apparent that she was impressed. She said, “Don’t you think it’s very beautiful? This designer really is nothing short of a genius.”
However, Natalie was just appreciating the designer and this outstanding work. She didn’t want the jewelry as much as she appreciated its design. Besides, she couldn’t afford it anyway.
It was too luxurious for her. Only the exceptionally wealthy could buy it if they took a liking to it.
It occurred to Sebastian that Garrett often gave jewelry as gifts to women, and reasoned that women were probably quite attracted to sparkly, shiny things.
On that basis, he came to the conclusion that Natalie must want it. She didn’t admit it because she probably thought that it was way out of their affordability range. Sebastian kept his poker face on and began to devise a plan to buy the necklace for her without her suspecting him. Natalie didn’t have the foggiest idea about what was going through his mind. She took out her phone and hesitated in taking pictures of the necklace.
After all, most of the stores here didn’t allow others to take photos of their exclusive products.
Just then, a condescending voice was heard coming just inside the store.
“Miss Quinn, you have been standing there for a long time. Do you need me to ask for the manager’s permission for you to take photos?”.
The female voice sounded familiar.
Natalie looked back to see who it was.
Behind her stood Emani, who was wearing a gorgeous navy blue dress and sunglasses. She was standing at the door of the shop. She took off her sunglasses and smiled brightly. Her assistant was standing behind her with a lot of shopping bags in both hands. It seemed like Emani had just finished shopping and was about to leave.
“No, thank you, Miss Gomez.” Natalie shook her head and frowned.
She and Emani hadn’t been on good terms since the party. Hence, she wanted to avoid her more than anything.
At first, Emani hadn’t intended to pick on Natalie. She thought she was out of bounds because Garrett was dating her. But when she found out that Garrett was dating someone else, she felt that he had dumped Natalie.
It was common knowledge that Garrett never dated more than one woman at a time even though he was a playboy.
This was why Emani had concluded that Natalie had gotten dumped and she could trample on her now. She sneered and flipped her hair back when she saw the frown on Natalie’s face. It was then her eyes inadvertently fell on the man standing beside Natalie.
Emani stared at him, goggle-eyed. The man wasn’t girlish handsome like some of the men she usually met. This one was masculine and his face was excellently sculpted. He looked cold and distant, but she could see that he was a reserved man from the glint in his eyes.
“Wow! Who would have thought that such a plain Natalie could have such great taste in men? Garrett and this man are both hunks. I wonder how she managed to get them. Humph! Someone like her doesn’t deserve such a prince charming!” Emani was bedazzled by the man’s handsomeness, but that didn’t stop her from noticing that he was poorly dressed. To her, this meant that he wasn’t a big shot.
“Wow! Natalie got a handsome man with empty pockets. Serves her right!” Thinking of this, a mocking smile appeared on her face. She felt that bullying Natalie would be easy since no one could stand up to her now.
“Oh, Miss Quinn. Why leave in such a hurry?” Putting on a patronizing expression, she briskly walked up to Natalie in her heels.
How Natalie humiliated her at the ball was still fresh in her memory. Natalie didn’t want to offend Emani because she was an influencer for the Larson Group. She knew that it would be unwise to bring their beef to work.
As a result, she asked calmly, “Is there anything you would like me to do, Miss Gomez?” Feigning good intentions and friendliness, Emani held Natalie’s arm to prevent her from leaving.
“Actually, I don’t need anything from you. I just thought I should be of help to you since you like the jewelry here. Come and have a look at some of them. I’m a VIP customer here, don’t worry. You haven’t visited a store as luxurious as this in your entire life, right? Well, that will change today. I’ll be your guide in this store.”
“Thank you for the kind offer, Miss Gomez. But I have to decline. You know, it’s late now. I’m sure you are tired after your shopping. You need to rest.”
Natalie wasn’t deceived by the smile on Emani’s face. She could deduce the underlying insults in her words. She also didn’t want to have anything to do with her.
“Oh, no! I’m not tired at all. Is your concern for me the only reason for your refusal? Or are you afraid that the attendants here will look down on you? Not to worry. I’m here with you. None of them would dare to say a word about you. Let’s go!” Emani knew that Natalie wanted to escape.
Like the dubious woman that she was, she longed to see the embarrassed expression on her face after getting humiliated.
Throughout the eight years that she had been working in the entertainment industry, she had never been so humiliated as she was at the ball. She still hadn’t gotten over it. Now that she had bumped into Natalie today, she wanted to get her revenge. Emani wanted Natalie to taste the same humiliation in ten folds.
The smile on her face and her words were just means to deceive Natalie. She was already concocting a plan in her head without letting go of Natalie’s hand. Both women argued back and forth until Natalie couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t like arguing with anyone, but she never allowed them to trample on her.
“Okay, you win. Let’s do this, Miss Gomez.” Forcing a smile, she held Emani’s arm and walked into the store.
“What?” Before Emani could figure out what Natalie meant, the latter had already dragged her into the shop.
The shop’s decoration was bedazzling. It was already dark outside, but inside the store, it was bright as day.
When the shop clerks saw them come in, they surrounded the two and greeted them.Natalie let go of Emani’s arm, looking around while holding her phone. She then intentionally raised her voice and said,
“Miss Gomez, now that you’re here, I can take as many photos as I want!” Having said that, she began taking photos of the jewelry inside the store.
The look on the faces of the shop clerks changed. One of them hurried to stop her. She blocked Natalie’s camera phone using her hand and said with a professional smile, “Sorry, ma’am, but taking photos of our products is prohibited. Please put your phone away.”