Next One Is a Babe novel Chapter 192

Sophia went on a trip in the mall out of boredom despite not having anything in mind that she wanted to buy, as she merely wanted to be in a crowd. There weren’t a lot of people in the mall since it was office hours, which meant a lot of people were at work. She headed to a jewelry shop after some thought, as she figured she needed a ring around her finger.

There were even lesser people in the shop when Sophia made her way into it. She told the attendant who came up to her with much enthusiasm in a blunt manner that she needed a ring, so the attendant motioned for her to follow her into the shop. “Over here please, Madam.”

They just arrived at the display counter for rings when her phone rang with a call from Ian, which she picked up immediately. “Aren’t you busy? Why’d you have time for me?”

“It’s almost noon now, so I’d like to know where you are, and if you would like to have lunch with me.” Ian was chuckling over the call.

When Sophia checked the time, it was exactly like what he said, for it was indeed noon time, so she grunted in assent before telling him her location. “I seem to be around where your office is, so do you want to come over here?”

What she said was true, so Ian agreed to it while telling her to wait for him. She checked out the ring she had after hanging up, only to decide that she would prefer a plain one rather than a flamboyant one since she needed to do her own cooking and cleaning. After that, she tried out a few rings, but she still had a hard time coming to a final decision, as the more she looked, the more indecisive she was getting. It was fortunate for her that the shop attendant was extremely patient as she allowed her to try on almost every single ring in the shop.

Ian arrived before she could decide on one. Upon pushing the door open, he scanned his surroundings to see Sophia at the innermost section of the shop, then he approached her while asking, “Are you planning to buy some jewelry?”

Sophia nodded after glancing at him. “Yeah, as someone noted that I wasn’t wearing a ring a few days ago, so I figured I needed one.”

Being privy of her situation, Ian understood why she would need to do so. He glanced at the counter while asking, “Did you not see one that you like?”

A sigh escaped her. “There are a lot that I like, so I’m getting indecisive.”

“How about we give this a try?” He wore a smile as he glanced at the rings displayed in the counter before pointing at one of them. As if turned out, she had already tried that on, which sported a moderate design that was not too plain nor flamboyant, with a surface covered in tiny diamonds.

She tried it on again before lifting her hand to check on it. “It does look pretty, and the size is just right. What do you think?” She looked at Ian.

“It looks great.” Ian gave her a nod before fishing for his wallet to retrieve a card from within that he handed to the attendant. “We’ll have this one. This looks great at first glance.”

“Hold on, I can buy it myself!” The suddenness of his gesture shocked her as she quickly took out her own card from her wallet.

Regardless of her request, Ian handed his card to the attendant before turning to meet Sophia’s gaze. “Nobody buys rings for themselves. Take this as a token of my appreciation for helping me out at my family’s company. Thanks to you, nobody had the guts to talk behind my back during the past few days.”

Something felt off nonetheless when Sophia observed the ring on her finger. “We're friends, so it's normal that I helped you, but buying me a ring isn't.”

Ian disregarded her concern while telling the attendant to pay using that card, and that Sophia would be wearing the ring right away. The attendant seemed to have misunderstood their relationship as she took his card before she headed to the register.

“Ian, I don't think this is right. You can always buy me a meal if you would like to thank me,” Sophia said with pursed lips.

“It's nothing. Just take it as a thank you gift. It won't amount to anything if we don't feed it thoughts.” While Ian seemed relaxed, he noticed the frown Sophia wore, thus he gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I presented it as a gift to someone else as well, so it's not a problem. I think nothing of it, so it would be best if you would think the same.”

While lowering her gaze to observe the ring once again, she said hesitantly, “Let me buy you a meal later if that's the case.”

However, she knew a meal would never compare to a diamond ring. What Ian did was unexpected, which made her wonder if people of the upper class society never cared about things like that, or if a ring was just another common commodity to them.