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With the glass box in their possession, the employees made their way to the reception area.
Ava looked around while heading to the reception. He glanced at Ian. He was using his phone for something. With a throat clearing, she uttered,
“You need to get a chain as well. How are you going to wear it?”
Ian looked at her and shook his head. “It will come with it,” he replied.
“Oh.”
When they arrived at the reception area, the receptionist smiled at Ava and handed her the bag. After taking a peek inside the bag, Avà removed the bill to make the payment.
As soon as she looked at the bill, her eyes grew wide in shock.
It was very expensive. It was greater than the amount that her mother earned in a single month.
She scolded herself for coming there. She did not expect the pendent would be this costly.
She glanced at the bag, thinking about what she would say to Ian. It was his birthday present. How could she tell him that she did not have that much money? The thought of having to unpack it embarrassed her.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go,”
Ian said and headed to the door.
Ava stared at his back. She felt her eyes hurt inside. Her eyes began to well with tears.
How would she pay for it now? She blinked her tears away and took a deep breath.
She turned to the receptionist and asked,
“Can I pay for it in installments?”
The receptionist appeared to be shocked. “No, you can’t buy anything in installments in our shop.”
Ava felt her heartbeat slowing and nearly stopping.
However, the receptionist spoke out again.
“But why are you asking for it? Mr. Dawson has already paid for it.”
“Wait what?”
Ava was taken aback. She blinked her eyes a few times and glanced at the packed box inside the bag.
“He paid for it?”
The receptionist nodded her head and smiled at her.
“He enjoys coming here to shop. He is our regular customer. He just paid the bills a few minutes ago.”
“A few minutes ago?”
Ava remembered that Ian was using his phone a while ago.
“Okay, thank you.”
Ava thanked the receptionist and dashed out of the store. She looked around and found Ian leaning against a pillar near the store.
“Why did you pay for it?” she asked, moving toward him.
He shifted his focus away from his phone and toward her.
“What?”
“I asked, why did you pay for it?”
“Because I liked it,” he replied and tried to reach for the bag
Ava moved her hand behind and said,
“I was buying a present for you, right? I know I have not that much money, but I…“.
She paused, losing her words. She handed him the bag and started to walk away from him.
She felt upset but she did not know why. She recalled Gamma Harper had given her his bank card to use. But she never took that card. It was because she was a simple girl, and her choice was simple as well. She never thought of buying something so expensive.
She thought that she should start to earn. She could not depend on her parents anymore.
‘Wait, why am I thinking all of this? Just to buy Ian a present?‘ she thought and stopped her steps.
‘I hate him, right? But he healed my wounds, and my wolf is back to me. Do I really hate him now?‘ She asked herself.
“No, you still love him,” her wolf spoke from inside.
Ava’s breath hitched when she heard her wolf. She shook her head and said to her,
“I can’t trust him. He will get bored and leave me for another girl.”
At that moment, she heard Ian from behind.
“What are you murmuring?”
She turned to him and said,
“You bought it for yourself. Let’s buy something else for you. I want to give you something. That thing can’t be counted as mine.”
He stepped toward her and lowered his head to reach her level.
“Are you that desperate to give me something? Then you can give me something I like. What do you think?”
She looked into his eyes and asked,
“What do you
like?”
His eyes moved from her eyes and shifted to her lips.
“A kiss would be fine.”
She let out a gasp. He smirked at her reaction and then chuckled.
He bit his bottom lip to control his laugh and stood tall. “A good girl is really hard to get, huh?”
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She turned away from him, remembering how he kissed he last night. She got goosebumps just thinking about it. “Don’t worry, I was just kidding. I know you can never allow me to do that. Because you hate me.”
lan’s words caused her to look at him. He had forgotten what had happened last night, so he did not know that she had actually allowed him to kiss her last night.
Ian grinned and pointed to a showroom.
“Let’s go, madam. Buy me something you like.”
Ava went to the showroom, where she bought a watch for him. The price was really reasonable, which stunned her. She questioned whether Ian had brought her here on purpose so she could buy it.
When they came out of the showroom after buying a new watch, Ava glanced at fan’s expensive watch that he was wearing. She wondered if he would ever wear the watch she had just bought for him.
They left the mall and walked over to lan’s bike.
“How about having lunch with me?”
Ava noticed that it was already afternoon. They spent so much time at the shopping mall that they forgot about their meal.
“I want to go back home.”
“Why? Am I so boring?”
She took her eyes away from him and replied,
“Mom and Dad are leaving tonight.”
He got on the bike and said,
“I promise I will take you back before they leave.”
“But-”
“It’s my birthday. Can you please give me your time for today?”
His request shocked her. She almost forgot that she came here with him to get her phone back, not to spend time with him.
She stared at him. Her thoughts turned to the past–how she used to look at him whenever he walked past her. The time reflected in her mind when she always wanted him to give her just a glance. He was so close yet too far from her.
The thought of his ignorance toward her made her heart tighten inside.
As if Ian could read her mind, he said,
“It’s okay if you don’t want to-”
She interrupted him by getting on his bike. She then put her hand on his shoulders and said,
“Okay, just for today since it is your birthday.”
