When Last Night Didn't End: Before Story

14

The sparkle of the gemstones combined with the soft light of the racks stung Rin's eyes. The lack of restful sleep for the past week didn't help. He blinked and shook his head. He needed to hurry. More work awaited him back in the office.

"For your wife, sir?" a bubbly voice spoke from behind the counter. Rin's head snapped up and his gaze landed on a woman with a face painted white and lips, blindingly red.

Her question introduced more than a guilty twinge in Rin's gut. "I wish," he muttered under his breath and lowered his face closer to the glass covering the counter to see the rows of bejeweled accessories better. "I'm just here on an errand."

The saleswoman, to her credit, pretended she didn't hear it. She perked right up and launched into a rehash of what she was told to say to every customer coming by. Rin should know, having worked with people in the same nature of jobs as her. He even formulated some of those pitch scripts himself.

"This is part of our Winter Collection last season," the saleslady gestured to a row of pearly bracelets and necklaces that all look to the same to him. "And these are appraised by a well-known jeweler from the Continental Union so their market price just surged up. We're honored to be the place to be chosen to sell them."

Rin raised a finger when the woman took a breath in preparation to launch to a different script in her sales guidebook. He tapped Ashley's name on his contacts list and sent it straight into a call. She picked up after three rings. "What do you want?" her annoyingly shrill voice crackled over the other line.

He ducked his head at the saleslady, hoping it's enough placation for being rude. Time was of the essense and he couldn't afford to be hung back by one of Ashley Tasks. If he couldn't put it into his resume, what's the point of wasting more time than he already had on this?

"What gemstone do you want with your jewelry?" Rin asked, not bothering to keep his vexation in check. "What about the design? Which collection?"

The line frizzled with Ashley's tongue-click. "Pick anything that has a price tag on it," she said. "I don't care as long as I get to wear something to the conference. Use your brain, dimwit."

Rin opened his mouth to reply when the call cut with a final click. He lowered his phone from his ear and stared at the disconnected call displayed on his screen for a few seconds. Then, he squared his shoulders and faced the saleslady again. "I'll take that," he said, pointing to a random piece resting on a blue velvet cushion.

"What method of payment would you like to use?" the saleslady's smile was beaming knowing she had just scored a deal. Good for her. Perhaps, Rin would somehow be of use to her getting some sort of commission. The little good he did in the world. "We have wire transfers, credit and debit cards, checks, or cash. The last option is encouraged. Checks will need to be written by the end of the day and deposited by the end of the week."

He dug his wallet from his pocket and flipped it open. With a heavy heart, he drew his credit card and handed it to the saleslady. "Credit account, please," he said.

Soon, he ducked out of the shop and hopped into the first cab he found. He stomped his way through the office and came to his desk. He opened his drawer and started sticking Ashley's jewelry inside. He paused, taking a quick look around him, at the business people in power suits and sharp air around them. It's not like he's judging them to be thieves, but close. He didn't know these people nor did he trust them to be in the same room with something that razed half his life savings unsupervised.

Nope. He'd have to keep it close. Which meant bringing it home.

The house was dark when he came in at dawn. Ashley, despite being in a business trip with the management team, had managed to keep him in the office with additional tasks. Again. He took measured steps towards the room he shared with Hye-jin. He opened the door, making sure to keep the noise of whining hinges and the brush of his slippers against the floor to a minimum.