As soon as her mother handed her the card, Vivian asked her friend to contact the designer.
As luck would have it, the designer was about to launch a new line of jewelry. Before the day of its release, Vivian bought a necklace at twice its price without even blinking.
On the day after she got the necklace, she met up with Jessica for afternoon tea.
Jessica appeared in front of Vivian in a fetching spring-colored dress, but the expression on her face was not pleasant at all. After all, Julie blackmailed John into marrying Vivian before she agreed to save Sam. Jessica was both grateful and angry at her.
"Is there something wrong? It's too cold to go out in this kind of weather."
Jessica's lukewarm attitude made Vivian feel uncomfortable, but she still greeted Jessica with a smile.
"Jessica, the designer you like is releasing a new collection. It's not on sale yet." Vivian took out a square box from her bag and pushed it in front of Jessica. "However, I bought one of the pieces in advance. I want to give it to you."
"Really?" Jessica reached out to pull the box toward her. As soon as she saw the sparkling necklace nestled inside, she couldn't help but love it, and her attitude toward Vivian completely thawed. "It's really his design! Vivi, you're so considerate."
"I saw it, and I thought how well this necklace would suit you. Here, let me put it on for you." Vivian stood up, intending to unclasp the necklace that Jessica usually wore and put the new one on for her.
Jessica gave her back the necklace with a smile. "Thank you, Vivi."
"It was nothing!" Vivian walked behind Jessica and reached out to lift her hair.
"Chester loosened the clasp of my necklace by accident. He told me that he would find a master jeweler to have it fixed and then give it back to me. It has been several days, but I haven't received an update from him yet." Jessica raised a hand to help Vivian fix her own hair, unaware that she had just dropped a bomb on her companion.
There was no necklace around Jessica's snow-white neck.
Vivian stared at Jessica's nape, stunned. "You mean the necklace was taken away?"
"It was taken to be repaired." Jessica gathered up her hair in the circle made by her thumb and index finger and then twisted it up off her neck so that Vivian could place the necklace around her neck.
"Now, it doesn't really matter if I have it fixed or not because I already have a new one. I can finally retire the old necklace."
Vivian's hand hovered unmoving for a long time.
'Chester took the necklace away?
Did he find out about the bug?
Chester is not an ordinary child. Some say that he will become the next John, while others say he will achieve more.
He's mature for his age, and has a bearing that is more elegant and sedate than that of most adults. How would break Jessica's necklace?
He and Jessica are not particularly close that he could just play with her, right?'
Vivian began to worry.
"Vivi, what are you thinking about?" Jessica turned to look at her.
"Huh? Ah, nothing." Vivian put the necklace on Jessica's neck. "Jessica, do you think the size is okay?"
"Well, it's neither too long nor too short—it just falls right on my collarbones. It's beautiful." Jessica clasped Vivian's hands into her own, a smile on her face as she warmly thanked her for the gift. "Thank you, Vivi."
Vivian smiled back. "You're welcome. A beauty deserves nothing less than beautiful things." Then, she sat down opposite Jessica again.
Jessica fiddled with the necklace, which emphasized the milky-white skin of her throat and framed her delicate collarbones charmingly.
The sight was both dazzling and painful for Vivian. After all, she had spent a lot of money only to fail at achieving her goal.
For now, the most important thing was to find that necklace.
"Jessica, where did Chester get the necklace fixed?" Vivian asked casually. "Were they able to fix it? You really should let me take it back and show it to the designer. No other person would know how to repair it without damaging the masterpiece."
"Chester said he could handle it, so I let him take care of it." Jessica's belongings were usually off-limits to anyone, or else she would throw a fit.
Now, she didn't seem mad when she mentioned it. Instead, the smile on her face as she mentioned the child was positively indulgent.
Vivian could understand Jessica's longing for a child at her age.
"What?" Vivian blinked at Jessica, unable to tell whether Jessica's words were meant to be caring or mocking.
Either way, Vivian wouldn't allow herself to lose her pawn, Jessica. "I cannot exactly say that I am unhappy. You know that I have always liked John."
"Did you know beforehand what your mother was going to make a bargain with John?" Jessica gave Vivian a searching look.
Vivian sighed, her eyes wide and innocent. "I didn't find out about it until later. I know that other people say that my mother was despicable, but I could never think that of my own mother. After all, she did it for my sake. Now that it's done, I..."
Vivian's voice trailed off, seemingly in anguish. "I also wanted to call off the wedding. On one hand, my mom didn't agree; on the other hand, I could not ignore my own heart. I've liked John since I was a child.
I really want to marry him. I know that he loves no one but Nina, but I am willing to stay with him and take good care of him for the rest of my life."
Jessica had always known how much Vivian loved John, and her heart wasn't immune to such heartfelt words.
"Everyone has a selfish motive when in a relationship. You have to remember what you told me today. Take good care of John. He has lost a lot of weight in the last six months. "
"Yes, I saw that for myself when I went to try on the wedding dresses two days ago," Vivian agreed, concern plainly written on her face. "These days, I've been learning how to cook for John."
"You cook?" There was note of pleased incredulity in Jessica's voice. Vivian could tell from her face how surprised and moved the other woman was by the gesture. "You use your hands almost exclusively to play the piano. How can you cook?"
"It's okay, I can wear gloves. Besides, it's always a pleasure to cook for the person I love." Vivian's face glowed with happiness.
"Well, that's true. You need to take care of your hands," Jessica reminded her.
"Okay," Vivian replied with a nod.
The two of them chatted for a while, and then Jessica stood up and left.
Vivian watched her departing back with a smile. As soon as Jessica disappeared, the smile vanished, leaving a dark expression.
Vivian took out her phone and dialed a number. "Get me the details of Chester Shi's flight from B City to Lexingport City."
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