The Crystal Bracelet

Birthday Gifts

            Lily smiled at the group of people surrounding her bed. Gavin stood next to her, Sue was sitting to her right on the bed, and her father and brothers were near the foot of the bed. She felt incredibly loved as they all fussed over her. Din and Jae argued over who was going to give her a gift first while Sue slipped a small box into Lily's lap. Lily smiled at Sue and pulled the pretty teal blue bow releasing the knot. The lid to the small box was taped shut so Lily used her fingernail to cut the tape. Inside was a beautiful vintage peacock shaped hair comb. Each feather had beautiful teal and green Austrian crystals. The colors were vibrant against the black comb.

"Sue! It's gorgeous!" Lily exclaimed finally catching the attention of her two brothers. "I love it!" Lily pulled her hair back on the side and slid the come into her hair. It truly sparkled against her jet black hair. Gavin's eyes widened in awe as he looked down at Lily. The comb truly accented her beauty and made her appear more precious in his eyes. "I know you have wanted a comb like this for a while now." Sue explained. "I truly love it Sue!" Lily wrapped her arms around her friend's neck. "My turn!" Jae announced as he handed Lily his gift. It was perfectly wrapped in fuchsia colored paper with a white ribbon. "You didn't wrap this yourself!" Lily teased as she took the gift from Jae. "No way!" Jae laughed.

Lily carefully opened the box and found a set of 2 Hermes tea cups and saucers with colorful Macaw birds on each one. "Wow, Jae! These are so beautiful!" Lily was shocked at not only the name brand of the set but the detail of the design. She turned the cup over to see the bottom was stamped with the pattern name "Carnets d' Equateur Birds." "I thought you were a poor college kid!" Din teased. "Hey I used all my food money for her!" Jae laughed. "I love them!" Lily was beaming as she looked over at her brothers. "Thank you Jae!"

Din handed Lily a smaller package wrapped similar to Jae's gift. Lily eyed each of them suspiciously. "You two had these wrapped by the servants here didn't you!" Lily once again teased her brothers. They both looked at one another and laughed. "Duh!" Jae responded. Lily opened her gift from Din which was a small sterling silver trinket box. It was lined with a red silky lining on the inside. The top had the initials "L. W." engraved on it. Lily looked up at her brother Din with a tear in her eye. It was her mother's trinket box. "I had it polished and the inside relined with a new cloth liner. I hope you like it." Din said quietly. "Din, I love it. I will cherish this forever. Thank you." Lily crawled toward the end of her bed to hug her brothers. Din never showed any emotions but his voice cracked ever so slightly as he said "You're welcome."

Gavin watched the emotional exchange between Lily and her brother with respect. He figured that the little box belonged to her mother when he saw the initials on the top of the box. His heart softened toward Din in that moment. Jae cleared his throat. "Way to upstage my gift Din!" Jae announced to bring levity back to the moment. Everyone laughed. "If it is ok with Master Yi, I would like to give you my gift now." Gavin said looking to Seok for approval. "Gavin, I've told you to call me Seok. And yes, it is absolutely ok with me to give your gift." He smiled. Gavin handed Lily a post card sized box. It was beautifully wrapped in pearl white iridescent paper and tied with a red bow. "I take it you didn't wrap your gift either!" Lily smiled at Gavin looking into his eyes. "As observant as always, alas no I did not. That's what the sales staff are for!" Gavin said to her with a wink.

Lily carefully opened the box and found it contained a beautiful blue velvet jewelry box. Inside was a choker length Mikimoto pearl necklace with a marquise shaped white gold clasp. In the center of a gold clasp was a small diamond. Lily's eyes went wide as she gazed at the pearl necklace. It was made of genuine pearls that would cost at least 236,000 yuan. "Do you like it?" Gavin asked. "I love it. I'm humbled by your gift. It's quite exquisite." Lily was not used to being given such expensive gifts. "Thank you." Lily looked into Gavin's eyes and immediately looked down to show her humility in accepting such a gift. Gavin took her hand and kissed the top of it. "You are worth much more to me." Lily returned her gaze to Gavin's eyes and saw the sincerity in his face.

"Lily, Gloria has a gift for you, but I had her wait in your sitting room until she could present her gift." Seok said interrupting the exchange between Lily and Gavin. "Oh my goodness! Dad, she can come in here! I feel bad for excluding her!" Lily was sincerely appalled. "No. It's fine, she is a guest but she isn't familiar with you, so it's ok that she stayed outside. I will have her come in now." Seok left to bring Gloria back in. Din and Jae exchanged silent disapproving looks at one another after the exchange between Gavin and Lily. Sue was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Let me see!" Sue whispered to Lily as she reached to take the velvet box. Gavin stepped to the side as Gloria and Seok entered the room allowing Gloria to approach Lily.

"I am so sorry Gloria." Lily apologized immediately.

"No worries Lily, I know you have been through quite an ordeal lately. You have no reason to apologize to me." Gloria smiled as she spoke. "I have just a small gift for you." She said as she handed Lily a box the size of a candy bar. Inside was beautiful mother of pearl fountain pen. "Thank you, Gloria! It's lovely." Lily said as she held up the pen. "I know one day you will be President of Yi Corporation. You will need this to sign all the documents and contracts." Gloria smiled at Seok as she spoke. Seok returned the smile then looked at his daughter. "I have one last gift for you, my little flower." He said. Seok handed Lily the small wrapped jewelry box. Lily pulled the purple ribbon and opened the silver paper. She recognized it as the signature paper from the jewery store her father liked to shop at. As she opened the small box a pair of crystal tear drop earrings sparkled from the light in the room. "Dad! They are gorgeous! Thank you!" Lily beamed at her father. "They match my crystal bracelet!" She exclaimed. Gavin looked down at the earrings and smiled imagining she would wear the earrings along with the bracelet on the day they married.