A bored Katherine went to the mall. She wasn’t in the mood for buying anything. She simply wanted to
be in a crowd. But there wasn’t much of a crowd inside the mall, either. After all, it was a workday, and
most people were in work mode.
Katherine decided to go to a jewelry store, as she still needed something to decorate her finger.
There were even fewer people in the store. As soon as Katherine waltzed in, she was warmly greeted
by an eager shop assistant.
“I’m looking for a ring,” Katherine simply said.
“This way, ma’am,” said the assistant, raising a hand to guide her inside.
The moment Katherine stopped at the ring counter, her phone rang. It was Hector Bennett.
She picked up instantly. “Aren’t you supposed to be busy? How the hell do you have time for me?”
At the other side of the line, she could hear Hector smile. “It’s almost lunchtime, and I was thinking
about asking you to lunch. Where are you?”
Katherine checked the time – it was lunchtime indeed.
She hummed lightly and told him the address. Then she said, “Looks like I’m pretty close to where you
are. Do you want to come over then?”
And close to him she was. So Hector agreed, and asked Katherine to wait for him.
Katherine resumed looking through the rings after she hang up.
She usually cooked and cleaned herself, so an extravagant ring certainly wouldn’t do. It’d be better to
go for an understated style.
Katherine tried a couple of rings on and couldn’t make up her mind. She was overwhelmed by the
options. Fortunately, the shop assistant was patient enough to bring almost all the rings in the shop for
her to try on.
Hector arrived before Katherine could decide. He pushed the door open and looked around, only to find
Katherine in the inner most corner of the shop.
Hector made his way over. “Shopping for jewelry?”
Katherine glanced at him and nodded. “Yup. Didn’t wear one the other day and I got noticed. That’s
why I wanna get one on my finger.”
Hector, knowing all about Katherine and Marshall’s history, understood why she would do this. Taking a
look inside the counter, he asked, “Not seeing anything you like?”
“There are too many styles, actually,” Katherine sighed, “I’m overwhelmed.”
Smiling, Hector scanned through the rings and pointed at one. “Try this on.”
Katherine had tried that one on. It was a circle encrusted with small, loose diamonds. Nothing too
fancy, but not exactly plain either.
Katherine put it on again and examined her raised hand. “Looks pretty good.” And the size was a good
fit, too.
“What do you think?” she asked Hector.
“Beautiful.” Hector commented, nodding. Then he reached straight for his wallet, from which he picked
out a credit card and handed it to the shop assistant. “Go with this one then. I knew it’d look good on
you as soon as I laid eyes on it.”
Shocked, Katherine said hastily, “No, don’t! I’ll buy it myself. I can afford it, you know,” as she took out
her own wallet and card.
Hector proceeded to offer his card to the shop assistant anyway. “Does anyone ever buy a ring for
themselves?” he said, turning over to look at Katherine. “This is a gift and nothing more. Take it as a
token of my gratitude, as I want to thank you for accompanying me to Bennett & Co. and boosting my
image. I haven’t had anyone picking on me these past few days.”
Taking a glance at the piece of jewelry around her finger, Katherine still felt weird. “Of course I will help
you. We are friends! But this – you really shouldn’t have done this.”
“It’s fine, really.” Hector smiled, as he turned to the shop assistant. “Use my card. We’ll take this one,
and she will walk out of here with it on her finger.”
The shop assistant seemed to have misunderstood their relationship, for he took Hector’s card and
headed straight for the checkout counter.
Katherine bit her lips. “Hector, I honestly don’t think this is appropriate. You can simply buy me a lunch
if you want to thank me, you know.”
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it.” Hector looked much at ease. “It’s just a thank-you gift. There
will be no additional meaning to it if we don’t give it one.”
Seeing Katherine still frowning, Hector patted her gently on the shoulder. “I’ve gifted rings to other
people before. It’s totally fine! I’m not making a big deal out of this, and neither should you.”
Katherine gazed at her bejeweled finger for a long time before she spoke hesitantly. “Well, let me treat
you to lunch then.”
But still, Katherine knew that a lunch couldn’t compare to a diamond ring in any way. She just never
could have dreamed that Hector would do this. Or was it possible that upper-class people genuinely
didn’t mind? That for them, a ring was just another ordinary object?
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