Jia carried a small, delicate paper bag which held the red dress Mingshen chose as they exited the store. The light paper bag felt extremely heavier to carry when she thought of the bill that he just so very casually paid with his shiny black card.
"You really didn’t have to do this..."
He smirked. "I hope you now understand my sincerity."
"Sincerity in what?"
"You know."
What is this guessing game he is playing with me for a while?
She took a peek at the dress and glanced up at him. "But I must say that you have a good choice. Where did you learn to buy women’s clothes?"
Mingshen stopped walking and looked at her as if she made him relive hell.
"Who else could it be but my mom?"
"I see-"
"It can only be mom, right? I mean the spartan training that she made me go through has toughened me up so much that I will be able to shop for women even in my sleep."
"...Got it. So-"
"Mom is the only one who could have drilled into me the many aspects of shopping."
"..."
"What season it is, what colors suit that season, what is that woman’s height and weight and accordingly, what dresses do you recommend to her? You cannot be mindless and just say that everything looks good on her because then, you are not being thoughtful. What you wear defines a lot of a person’s personality and women are very conscious of it."
She tried to smile. "I-I understand so can we-"
"So my mother asks. Why are men such lazy dufusses? A woman can buy what exactly suits her father, brother, husband or son. She is very intelligent in the fashion sense so why aren’t men too? Men can’t even buy decent clothes for themselves, much less women. This is absolutely unacceptable to my mother.
So she made it a point, very clearly and categorically, to my Dad and me that we must know how to buy stuff for women even without their presence. We cannot be lazy and careless about it. We cannot give the reason that we don’t know much about fashion just because we are men. You don’t know? So you damn well learn about it."
Her lips twitched. "Aunt is very passionate. I am sorry for reminding you of your trauma."
Mingshen held a distant gaze. "Those were some days...more painful than a surgery without anaesthesia."
She coughed. "Thanks for your sacrifices and thank you for the dress. I will make it somehow to pay for the-"
"Like I said before multiple times, you don’t have to pay. How do you feel now?"
Translation - Wasn’t my sense of gratitude so grand and luxurious? You are happy, right? You are definitely happy, right?
It didn’t get across Jia. "Very heavy. I have never seen that many digits in a simple piece of paper which is the bill. But thankfully it’s over."
Mingshen blinked. "Over what?"
"Shopping."
"Said who?"
"I mean...I am already carrying the dress?"
"But not the matching jewellery, heels and a clutch. Duh," he rolled his eyes.
Jia stumbled back in horror. "You...you cannot be seriously thinking that I am going to buy all that just for a night’s mission?"
"It can be a make or a break deal, you know? Like, what kind of a woman will wear a dress but not the matching sets with it?"
Jia raised her hand like that kid in a class eager to answer the teacher’s question. "Me! Me!"
Mingshen snorted. "Your answer doesn’t count. You are a noob."
"No way, Mingshen! I will be out on the streets if I buy so much!" She wanted to faint.
Mingshen frowned. "But I won’t be. This wouldn’t even put a teensy tiny dent to my wallet. This is not even a challenge."
"You think I will let you buy the rest of the stuff too?" Her eyes widened in disbelief.
He grinned. "So that you properly understand my feelings."
"What feelings?"
"Besides, Mom won’t ever let me do a half-assed job with shopping otherwise she would cut me into half."
"You are very afraid of Aunt, aren’t you?"
He sneered. "Me? No way."
Jia folded her arms and just looked at him.
He yielded. "I had a revelation one day that mothers are very terrifying creatures. So follow me once again~"
Against her protests yet again, Mingshen dragged her to a jewellery store this time and he knew exactly what he wanted to buy.
"Show me your ruby sets."
The male attendant immediately recognized Mingshen and stared at Jia. The wheels of his brain churned and he shone as he came to a conclusion. "Right away, Sir!"
Jia was dumbfounded. "He is misunderstanding our relationship."
Mingshen sheepishly grinned. "I don’t mind the misunderstanding of our possible romantic association, Spicy. My heart tingles~"
"..."
The attendant lay several breathtaking and dazzling ruby sets on display. The blood red shade of the pendant encased in a silver necklace perfectly rhymed with the blood red dress. The ruby glistened in the soft yellow light, shimmering with its spellbounding reflection of red shade.
Mingshen eyed every single of them and picked the third set from the left. He hung the pendant between his fingers and made Jia stand in front of a mirror.
"Stand still."
He raised his arms forward and slowly slid the pendant across her slender neck. He clipped it shut and lifted her hair to let the necklace slide down naturally to its position.
"Once again. Perfection," he smiled.
The ruby stone scintillated in its full glory. Jia could very well imagine how perfectly it would go with the red dress.
"Mingshen, this ruby necklace is really beautiful."
He smirked. "My choice can never fail."
She turned around. "But I cannot have it. Really. I will just wear the normal set I have. I cannot suck your money dry like some leeching parasite. You might not think much of it, but I do. Thank you for your gesture, but I really can’t..."
Mingshen frowned and grew slightly annoyed. "That’s not fair. How come I accept all your thank yous so easily but you have such a problem with my gratitude! Hmph!"
Jia gave him a blank look. "Okay, I need to understand this. I think we are not on the same page here. What is this gratitude you are talking about?"