Chapter 118
Veronica let out a hiss.
“Oh dear, what is it?” Elizabeth asked in concern.
In order not to worry Elizabeth, Veronica lied and said that she had slipped earlier and her arm was sliced open on a sharp rock.
Elizabeth’s heart ached terribly for her. She pulled Veronica over to the couch to sit down and chat with her.
“As a lady, you should be more mindful. You won’t be as pretty if it leaves a scar,” Elizabeth said solemnly as she patted Veronica’s hand.
“Don’t worry, Grandma. I’m fine.” Veronica smiled.
..
Elizabeth and Veronica chatted as usual about their daily happenings easily.
“In a few more days, I’ll be taking you to see someone,” Elizabeth said. ”
“Who is it?”
“Matthew’s Uncle Conrad. He’ll be returning from overseas in a few days’ time. You’ll be able to acquaint yourselves with each other. After all, he is your uncle as well.” Having brought him up, Elizabeth elaborated, “Conrad is only a few years older than Matthew, but he has a mind for business. I’m considering letting you learn from him.”
“Huh? Learn… Learn from… Uncle Conrad?” Veronica couldn’t understand. Thirsty, she picked up the glass of water from the table and took a sip.
Elizabeth’s voice rang out again by her ear. “Conrad is a reliable man with dashing good looks. He’s a bachelor too. You might not be able to be with Matthew, but I want to introduce you to Conrad.”
“Cough... Cough...” Startled by Elizabeth’s words, Veronica ended up spitting out the water she had been drinking and choked.
Elizabeth promptly pulled a few wads of tissue paper and muttered, “How old are you to still be choking while drinking some water?”
“Cough... … urk… I’m okay, really.” Veronica wiped her mouth with the tissue while
repeatedly waving her hand, “I’m fine. Grandma, what did you just say?”
“I just told you that I’ll be introducing you to a good prospect. Conrad is coming home, so it’ll be a good time to introduce you both,” Elizabeth repeated herself.
This time, Veronica understood Elizabeth at last. From the looks of things, Elizabeth liked her better than Matthew. While she couldn’t marry Matthew when he already had a fiancée, that didn’t mean that Elizabeth couldn’t “introduce” her to Conrad Kings!
If the matchmaking went through, would Veronica end up being… Matthew’s aunt? By marriage?
Oh gosh, isn‘t this just hasty though?
“Grandma, no way. How am I worthy of him? Forget about it.” Veronica declined the offer.
“What do you mean, forget it? If I say that you can meet him, then you will. That’s settled for now.” Elizabeth did not give Veronica any room to refuse and straightaway sealed the meeting.
Veronica was a little exasperated, but she didn’t say anything else after that. She kept Elizabeth company the entire day. However, Matthew never once showed up. It wasn’t until after dinner that Veronica was returned to the Twilight Club by Thomas. After getting out of the car, Veronica called her adoptive parents from where she was in the parking basement to ask after them. She relaxed once she was sure they were fine and safe.
Matthew wasn’t in the apartment either when she returned. He didn’t come home that night.
Veronica went to bed late again. The next day, she woke up early. After brushing her teeth and washing up, she changed her clothes and went downstairs to eat. Later that morning at ten, she went to a pawn shop.
“Hello there, I’d like to pawn this off.” Veronica handed a ring over to the staff member there.
The man took the ring and inspected it. “Do you have the receipt for this?” he asked as he checked the ring.
“Nope”
“It looks pretty new. Why do you want to pawn the ring off?”
“Of course it’s because I… am broke.” Veronica thought that the pawn shop worker was spouting garbage. She looked at the man. “How much can this ring go for?” she asked.
“How did you get this?”
“A friend gave it to me.”
“How much did it cost?” the man asked again.
Veronica knew their tricks. She knew that they would immediately haggle down once she named a price, so she thought of an excuse. “The ring was a gift, so how would I know? But look at it closely-my name is engraved on it.”
The man held up a magnifying glass to the ring. Veronica saw him frown. “Hold on a sec. I’ll get my boss to take a look at this.” He then went into the back of the shop.
Shortly after, the owner of the pawn shop emerged for another round of questions for her. “You sure this ring is yours, miss
“Aren’t you just wasting your breath?” She smacked her ID card down on the counter and pointed at the name printed there. “You see this? Veronica Murphy, as stated on my ID! You gonna take it or not? If you won’t, then fine.”
“Hehehe, I’ll take it, all right.” The man checked the ring again. Having confirmed that it was hers, the owner grinned as he raised his right hand and splayed his fingers. “I’ll give you this much.”
Five thousand?
“Just that paltry sum? You trying to fleece me, mister? Don’t take me for a fool!”
“Well… hehe, how much do you want then?” the owner asked.
Veronica gave it some thought. “At least a nice, large number.”
“Well, that’s… haha, all right then. A nice number, it is. You’re quite straightforward there, lady. Hey Murray, bring a hundred thousand bucks here.”
“What? A hundred thou–“A hundred thousand? Veronica froze on the spot. When she said a nice, large number, she was thinking ten thousand. Yet, the owner of the pawn shop offered her a hundred thousand.
Veronica suddenly felt that something was not right. Could the ring be an expensive one? Both of these men had seen plenty of rings before in the pawn shop business; there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with their assessment.
In the end, Veronica said, “Never mind. I’m not selling this anymore. Return it to me.”
After getting her ring back, Veronica brought it with her to Xavier’s company, Konig. She caught sight of Xavier, buried in work, the moment she opened the door to the CEO’s office. “Hey bro, I’m back,” she shouted as she rapped on the door.
Xavier lifted his head and stood up when he noticed her. “Roni, when did you get back?”
“Uh… today. Yeah, I just got back here today.” Veronica was worried that Xavier would ask her why she hadn’t given him a phone call if she said that she returned yesterday.
“And here I was thinking of picking you up from the hospital after I was done with this one last task. Didn’t think that you would come back before then.” Xavier walked over to her and held her right arm up. “How does it feel?” he asked.
“I’m good. It just hurts a little.” Veronica smiled before she pulled out the ring from her pocket. “Here, I’m giving this back.”
Seeing the ring in her hand, Xavier’s brows furrowed. “I thought you said that you were going to sell it? Why are you giving it back to me?”
Veronica lowered her head to look at the gleaming ring. A moment of hesitation later, she threw out an excuse. “Because it’s unsellable? My name is engraved on it. I went to a pawn shop earlier and they didn’t want it.”
Veronica didn’t want to accept an expensive gift, so she shoved the ring into Xavier’s hand.
Xavier looked down at the ring. A moment of thought later, he closed his hand around it. “Since the pawn shop didn’t want it, I’ll just hold onto it then.” He pulled open a drawer and casually tossed the ring inside, all while pretending to be nonchalant about it.
