“This is our Serpent collection, the only remaining set of Serpent couple watch that we have currently available in Asia.” The manager was a middle-aged woman with a sleek French bun. Her perfectly shaped scarlet red lips lifted into a smile. “And this is the pocket watch – it’s simple yet elegant, made with pure gold. This pair of couple watches is also our most expensive set in our Serpent collection.”
After examining the pocket watch briefly, Zhuo Jingren and Lily both took a closer look at the wrist watch for the woman. The strap of the watch was designed to look like a snake clinging onto the owner’s wrist. It was embellished with various stones that sparkled – some of which even Lily couldn’t recognize.
Lily was familiar with the Serpent collection as it was the most expensive collection of watches that Bulgari offered its most prominent customers. However, she did not expect that the manager would so easily lead them into the VIP room to see the Serpent collection. While Lily was close with the owner of LV and Bulgari in Europe, she wasn’t familiar with the manager here.
Managers like these would not usually allow just about anyone to see their collection because one, it was an exclusive collection that was worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars and two, only the VIP members could see it. Lily was a VIP but she hadn’t introduced herself as one. Was Zhuo Jingren a VIP member as well? Or….could it be that the manager already knew who he was?
“Miss Luo,” another attendant came into the VIP room and approached the manager. “Please excuse me.” She made a slight bow towards Lily and Zhuo Jingren then whispered something into the manager’s ears.
“Please tell them that I am attending an important client, right now,” Miss Luo, the manager said softly. In response, the attendant nodded and left. Then Miss Luo stared at both Lily and Zhuo Jingren, “Please pardon the disturbance.” She smiled apologetically.
“I will be taking this, please get this packed,” Zhuo Jingren answered before he handed his black sleek card.
“…” Lily was honestly speechless. How could this man just buy a couple of watches that cost half a million US dollars so easily just because he was hungry?
“Hey… do you like this?” he asked when Miss Luo left them to process the payment.
“I thought you liked it?”
“Who told you that I liked it?” Lily instantly countered before she nodded. “Alright, I liked it but… half a million? Really?”
“You think it’s cheap? No problem, I’ll buy you something even more expensive than that… But the really expensive ones can only be bought when it’s custom-made or you buy it through an auction. Nonetheless, I have heard there will be an auction soon…”
“Hold on,” Lily interrupted him. “Ah…. Never mind.” She shook her head and made a mental note not to take Zhuo Jingren shopping when he was hungry again. “Do you want to go to the restaurant, upstairs?”
In the end, they decided to dine at the restaurant upstairs before they continued their shopping. Or who knows if Zhuo Jingren would decide to buy everything in the whole store just because he couldn’t wait and wanted Lily to finish her purchasing, a little faster?
…..
“What do you mean it’s already taken?” A tall man with broad shoulders had raised his voice, prompting Lily and Zhuo Jingren as well as everyone on the ground floor to look at him.
The man was around Zhuo Jingren’s height and was wearing a dark blue suit. To his left was a woman who was wearing a yellow knee-length dress with a pastel blue silk scarf. She was also wearing what looked like a pair of five inches’ wedge heels, making her look much taller.
“I had already reserved it! I had even personally called Manager Kenzo this morning to have it ready for me! Why did you sell it someone else?” the man said in a deep voice, and he was even louder this time.
“Let’s go?” Lily turned her attention back to Zhuo Jingren as she gestured towards the elevator. In response, Zhuo Jingren held her hand and walked towards the elevator. However, as the couple were about to reach the elevator, they heard the man yell behind them once again.
“Hey you!” the man’s voice boomed inside the first floor. “You two!”
Lily and Zhuo Jingren turned around to look at the man who was approaching them. The man had a dark look on his face, his jaws clenched. Lily only lifted an eyebrow at the man. Most people would consider this man handsome with this chiseled face, a high nose and beautiful brown eyes, but compared to her husband he was nothing.
Lily smiled inwardly at how childish she was acting for comparing Zhuo Jingren to every man she encountered. At first, it was merely to convince herself that she had a good catch but over time, it had become a habit of hers to compare her husband’s good looks with other men. It just made her so proud.
“Adrian, let’s not make a scene here. Let’s go. We can buy it in another store anyway.” The woman in yellow tried to stop the man from approaching Lily and Zhuo Jingren.
“But that’s the last Serpent collection available in Asia and maybe in Europe. We have to wait for another year for them to make one.” The man named Adrian shook the woman’s hands from his shoulder as he continued to walk towards them. In response, Lily and Zhuo Jingren eyed each other, a tinge of understanding flashed in their eyes before they shifted their gaze back to the man approaching them.
“I hear that you are the ones who have bought the last set of couple watches from the Serpent collection.” Adrian smiled as he eyed Lily and Zhuo Jingren’s casual clothing. His tone was light, however Lily was still able to sense the disrespect in his voice. It was as if… he was talking to someone inferior than him. “I am Dr. Adrian Lee and this is my fiancé Samantha Chen.” Seeing the curious look that Lily and Zhuo Jingren were giving him, he added, “We are from Singapore.”
Lily and Zhuo Jingren raised an eyebrow at the man. What was he doing? Was he waiting for Lily or Zhuo Jingren to recognize them?
“I am sure… that’s Miss Sam, the number one actress in Singapore,” one staff remarked, loud enough to reach Lily’s ears, earning a small smile from her. An actress, huh…
“Then that must be her fiancé, the son of the CEO of the Lee Group? Isn’t he a very well-known doctor? Wow… I was not expecting for him to be this young,” another voice echoed.
This conversation continued as Samantha came and stood next to Adrian Lee. She was wearing a pair of big shades that covered almost all of her face but it was pretty obvious that she was very beautiful. And tall too, Lily noted.
“Well? Is there a reason why I should recognize you?” Zhuo Jingren answered, his voice cold as he stared back at the man, named Adrian Lee. While the previous conversations of the attendants were not that loud, it was still loud enough for Zhuo Jingren to hear.
Lee Group… that name caught his attention.
The smile on Adrian’s face instantly cracked when he heard Zhuo Jingren’s words. “Well then… now that you are aware of who I am, I want to talk to you about the watches that you just purchased a while ago.” He was now facing Zhuo Jingren, the smile that he gave them earlier was gone. “I want to buy them back. I will give you an extra twenty percent for the trouble as well. How does that sound?”
“No,” Zhuo Jingren answered curtly before shifting his gaze towards Lily, his hand was holding onto Lily’s waist. “Shall we go?” he asked.
