[This chapter is dedicated to RajaEl. Thank you for always bestowing our story with your power stones.]

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"Good afternoon."

A woman wearing a black pencil skirt and a crisp white blouse, greeted them as they entered the shop.

"We are here to pick up some jewelry," she returned the polite smile of the store assistant.

"May we ask for their names?" She gave Luke a glance over, and her eyes sparkled.

"Jessica Joy Zimmerman. We are picking up something from Mr. Tiefenbacher, I suppose."

"Miss Zimmerman, of course! We are waiting for you. This way please," she hastily led them to the inner part of the store where they disappeared to one of the doors that led to a small parlor.

The sitting room has sofas all in spotless white. A crystal chandelier was hanging from the ceiling and soft jazz enfolds the room into a very calming ambiance.

"Mr. Winston, Miss Zimmerman has arrived."

"Thank you, Lily."

The woman who welcomed them to the store gave them a polite bow and disappeared to the same door they came from.

"Jess, it's been a while."

"Hello, Frederick. I never expected to see you here." She accepted the hand that he offered, then, he cupped her face on his palm and kissed both of her cheeks.

"Who is this gentleman with you?" He asked looking over her shoulder to where Luke was standing, mesmerized with the painting, hanging on the wall.

"This is my friend, Mr. Ravenport."

"Luke. Please, call me Luke," he extended his hand for a handshake. "Forgive me for asking, but, is that a Manet?" he was pointing to the painting that he was looking at.

"Ah, yes. My mother loves them." he shook his hand. "Please take a seat, Luke."

He turned to Jess, and asked, "Would you like some Ruinart Rosé, Jess?"

"Frederick, do you really have to ask?" she chuckled, lightly. "The answer is always yes."

Frederick signaled the man wearing a black tuxedo. He slightly nodded and disappeared behind the thick curtains.

"How was your aunt Joy?" He asked as the three of them sat down on the white couches.

She and Luke were sitting next to each other, while Frederick sat on a square ottoman.

"The last time I heard she was in New York."

She glanced up and saw the same man wearing a black tuxedo entered the room, pushing a silver trolley. A chilled bottle of the familiar Ruinart Rosé in a gold ice bucket, three thin-stemmed crystal glasses, and a platter of cheese, that Jess recognized as most of her favorites.

"Really, Frederick, you don't have to do all of this," she chuckled softly, but extremely pleased.

But at the back of her mind, she thought, it would be perfect if Noah was the one sitting next to her instead of Luke.

"Jess, you know that with you three, you are my favorite," he winked. "Miss Dana is too formal, Ellise is … never mind," he rolled his eyes before he poured them a glass of rosé.

Jess watched the drink colored the crystal glass. She picked up her glass of wine, leaned against the backrest of the sofa, then crossed her legs.

She leaned over to Luke's shoulders and whispered, "Noah will be paying for all of this shit. Let's enjoy it."

"Uh-hmm," was all Luke could muster under his breath. When they entered the store, he thought he was going to have some nice fun, looking at sparkly diamonds. But when the store attendant whisked them away to this private parlor where they were offered expensive wine and cheese, he suddenly felt out of place.

Luke has a feeling that this man, Frederick, whose family name matches the store's, isn't just an ordinary employee. Also, seeing Jess act in this extravagant environment as if this was just second nature to her still feels surreal.

He finds it difficult to relate the Jess he knew to the Jess that could change her demeanor in the blink of an eye. She is like a chameleon, quickly adjusting to her environment.

He took a small sip of his drink and decided to just be one of the expensive ornaments in this sitting area. He didn't bother to follow the conversation between Jess and Frederick since he has no idea what they were talking about anyway.

He was just here for the bling, and this delicious drink was just a plus.

"Well, Ellise will always be Ellise —"

She and Frederick laughed heartily.

When their laughter died down, Frederick gave her a knowing look, "Jessica is there something that I should know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well —" he shrugged nonchalantly but his eyes were saying otherwise.

"When I saw your name on our list, I thought, my flight to New York could wait," he crossed his legs, "...we haven't seen each other for a while. Your aunt would just proudly say, "the reason why your presence was missing to some events was that you are busy with school — but then, seeing the name of the youngest Tiefenbacher…"

"I am busy with school," she uncrossed her legs and poured herself another glass. "With regards to the youngest Tiefenbacher — is Noah really the youngest Tiefenbacher?" she cocked her head to her right.

Frederick chuckled lightly, he knew when a topic was off-limits. He gave Jess a - I know what you did - smile.

"The youngest Tiefenbacher because he was right on the top of his family hierarchy with his grandfather and father...you know how it works."

"Hmm, I'm not really interested in family politics of the who's who —"

"So am I. I'm already where I want to be but it still came as a surprise that you were dating the youngest Tiefenbacher."

Luke started to listen to Jess and Frederick's conversation when they started talking about Noah. It didn't escape him when Jess visibly flinched when Frederick said that she was dating Noah.

'was dating'

The two words rang loud and made Jess speechless. She tried to hide her bitter smile by sipping her rosé. The once delicious drinks now taste horrid in her mouth.

"Well, I'm quite busy at school - so if you'd please give us what we came for..."

"The generosity of Mr. Tiefenbacher with the ladies was quite well-known, especially after his divorce from his wife. But we haven't got any request from Mr. Tiefenbacher for quite a long time...we thought he got some steady partner or something."

After hearing what Frederick had just said, Jess let out a quick breath. The bad feeling of what this whole picking of gifts was about came back to her mind.

She grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed it tightly. Good thing Frederick stood up to get them the jewelry that they came here for.

"Jess, what is happening?" Luke whispered to Jess who went pale.

She finished the drink from her glass and whispered back to Luke, "I hope I have an idea of what Noah was thinking, but right now, believe me when I say, I am going to kill that motherfucking Tiefenbacher," she gritted her teeth in anger.

"Jess, this is our artisan, Signor Ugolotti."

Frederick came back with an old man, wearing a monocle. The first thing Jess noticed with Signor Ugolotti was not his gold-rimmed monocle, but his shoulder-length silver hair.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Zimmerman."

"Likewise," she curtly answered the old man before she turned to Frederick, and said, "I don't understand why I have to meet your artisan when —" she took a deep breath, "...from what I know, I am here to just pick up a piece of jewelry."

Sensing the agitation of Jess, Frederick waved his hand to dismiss Signor Ugolotti.

"There must be some misunderstanding, the request that we received was not for simply picking up jewelry but, a request that you can have any jewelry you want; design, stones and all -- to your own liking, hence, I brought in one of our top artisans."

She took a deep sigh, "Frederick, other than Mr. Tiefenbacher was known for his generosity with his women — what makes you think that I am dating -- or was dating Tiefenbacher?"

She kept twisting her hands for she needed to do something with them or else she would break something, preferably Noah's face! The bastard —

Frederick darted his eyes from Jess who was pacing the floor and to her friend Luke who was casually drinking and munching cheese as though he wasn't interested in what was happening.

"Jess - darling, how about we call Mr. Tiefenbacher first. We could clear out this misunderstanding…" he chuckled nervously. If Mr. Tiefenbacher was known for his generosity to his women, Jess is known for her temper and petty vengeance. "...Jess, darling...I'm sure there is a valid explanation to all of this."

"What is the message, Frederick?"

He sucked in a deep breath and gave Jess a comforting smile. He is used to dealing with difficult clients and Mr. Tiefenbacher and Jess are two of their clients that he can't afford to offend.

"Frederick," she called him with a tone that made him flinch.

"Thank you for everything. - Noah"

"Huh!" She scoffed and laughed dryly. "He is not dumping me, is he Luke?" she asked Luke who's jaw dropped upon hearing the supposed message of Noah.