Not Pretty At All

Su Yin packed her stuff and rushed out of the office to meet Sera. She arrived at the Lu mansion on time, Sera was waiting for her at the garden.

"Yinyin..", Sera waved her hand when she saw Su Yin approaching her, she was dressed in a formal skirt suit.

"Did you come straight from your office?", she questioned looking at her attire.

"Well, yeah.. Come on let's go now!", Su Yin grabbed her shoulders and dragged her to the white Porsche Cayenne in the driveway.

"Let me get my purse..", she stopped in her tracks and ran inside like a little bunny, Su Yin laughed merrily at her cute behavior.

"Here, buckle up your seatbelt..", Su Yin revved up when Sera sat snugly in the copilot seat.

The pair arrived at the high standing M Mall, it was one of the very high-profile shopping malls which specialized in traditional rather than modern style clothes and accessories stores.

"Wow.. I never knew there was a place like this in B city, it's so extravagant..", Sera was amazed as she looked around the large skyscraper.

"Yes, this is a very high-profile mall. It's under the prominent Chang Holdings, it is rumored that they are associated with the underworld..", Su Yin rattled on and on like her usual self when she was around Sera.

"Underworld?", Sera's mind clouded as soon as she heard the word escape from Su Yin's lips.

"Uh-huh.. anyway what are you going to get as a present for Xia Ruo Lan?", Su Yin tactfully changed the topic after seeing Sera's uneasiness.

"Oh! You know her?", Sera questioned with a hint of interest, which was unexpected to Su Yin.

"Uh-huh.. She's a client", Su Yin honestly replied, she had no other relationship with Xia Ruo Lan except their work relationship.

"Ooh!", Sera was quiet sad to know that and dropped her shoulders much to Su Yin's surprise.

"Are you okay?", she asked seeing her unenthusiastic reaction.

"Yes!", Sera couldn't say that she was jealous of Xia Ruo Lan because of Lucifer's words.

They stopped in front of a showroom that was renowned for it's tasteful and intricately designed qipao's, also a variety of delicate jade jewelry.

"Look at this.. it's so pretty!", Su Yin exclaimed holding a bright and pretty pink colored qipao with silver and gold embroidery.

"This? Not pretty at all..", Sera felt her blood boil at the sight of a qipao, even hearing that word was frustrating for her. Sera harrumphed with an annoyed face and walked away.

"Uh!", Su Yin looked at her receding back with a confounded expression, shrugging she followed after her.

"I think this is nice..", Sera pointed at a delicate turquoise jade bracelet with molten gold designs.

"Wow, you sure have a good eye for stuff like this!", Su Yin genuinely praised Sera, it was really a very exquisite design.

"You sure about this thing?", Sera pointed her slender fingers at the pink qipao with an indignant smile, even refusing to acknowledge it's name.

"Yes, I think it's really pretty! Also I heard that she really likes qipao's..", Sera didn't wish to hear anymore about Xia Ruo Lan's preferences, she power walked towards the billing counter.

"What's wrong with this one!", Su Yin looked at her with a dumb look, sighing she went ahead and stood behind her.

After their present shopping Su Yin and Sera had a simple lunch at a Sichuan Chinese restaurant, after they exited the restaurant Su Yin excused herself and went to the washroom leaving a sulking Sera alone.

Sera was feeling rather sad, she wasn't the type to get jealous easily however today Lucifer's words had pushed the wrong buttons making her mindful and defensive.

Wandering around she stood in front of a unique jewelry showroom, with no name except for a big capital 'M' engraved in a metallic plate. It intrigued Sera who found herself inside the store in the moment.

It was very quiet and tranquil unlike the usual jewelry stores with clamorous atmosphere, she was looking around the store stunned by the unique jewelry akin to art pieces.

"Woahh.. It is so appealing, the designs are bewitching..", she was mumbling to herself walking through the showcased jewelry pieces.

"This..", Sera was shocked to see a pair of cufflinks with a design matching her crystal pendant, she bent to look at her pendant then the showcased cufflinks, awestruck.

"Excuse me miss, may I help you?", an attendant with a smile approached Sera.

"Oh! Yes, I want these.. cufflinks", she pointed to the pair of cufflinks kept under a glass showcase.

"Sure miss, just wait a moment I'll pack them for you..", with great care the attendant took out the red rose cufflinks with a stalk, a leaf and a thorn resting on a black silk cushion.

Sera then walked towards the billing counter, she was shocked to learn the price of the cufflinks.

They amounted to a whopping 5 million, she gulped and thought about the price of the pendant dangling around her neck, it gave her goosebumps.

"Thank you miss, please visit again!", the attendant was more than happy to have sold the pair of cufflinks, she was glowing under the white lights of the showroom as she smiled widely at Sera.

Since the jewelry showroom looked rather plain, not many people visited it and the business was very poor as well.

However the staff were having the time of their lives working here, there were no delays in their salaries albeit the poor business.

Sera who was unaware of the jewelry showroom's circumstances pledged in her head not to visit this place again.

It wasn't creepy, the store had a peaceful atmosphere and the jewelry was pretty stylish too but they were practically stealing in daylight with their huge price tags.

"Sera? Where were you? I was looking for you everywhere..", Su Yin was panting while looking at a lost Sera.

"I was looking around..", she nervously replied, it was a secret that Sera and Lucifer were in a close relationship thus she couldn't tell Su Yin about it.

"Okay, come on let's go..", Su Yin hooked their arms together and walked ahead. Sera surreptitiously tried to hide the cufflinks box and smiled awkwardly before walking out of the mall.