I jumped from my spot on the couch when the door opened. A customer. That's a first.
It's not often that people want to go to a jewelry shop in the middle of nowhere when there are 50 million jewelry stores downtown.
It's also not often that the customer looks like a literal angel.
She had pink lipstick on, borderline bright red, but not quite. A black turtleneck paired with regular jeans. Her hair was wavy, a warm brown color. The hazy sun through the windows hit her highlights and made them sparkle. She was tall, taller than me by at least a few inches. And she was the most beautiful being to ever walk this earth.
I let my lips curl into a smile. "Hi, welcome to Shining IZ."
Her cheeks tinted a little pink, and she awkwardly smiled back. "Hi."
She turned away as a pair of pearl earrings caught her eye. She looked at them, cocked her head, and then shook it, moving on to the next piece. Usually this would irritate me, but I was just curious. She didn't mean it with disapproval or malice - the earrings just weren't for her. And for some reason, I totally got it. She moved from red, gold-highlighted cat-shaped earrings to strings of opalescent diamonds strung with silver to platinum set circular diamonds linked together, hanging on a thin, platinum chain. Piece to piece, taking interest in the ones with pearls, she wandered around the shop for about ten minutes.
"Do you need any help? Pearls happen to be a favorite of my friend Wonyoung."
She looked at me, a curious glint in her eye. It paired strangely with her awkward smile.
"Er, yes actually. Thank you. Do you think you could find something simple, but on the larger side?"
We walked around the whole shop, until I found her a pair of circular earrings, rings of pearls followed by clear quartz with a single, tiny stone shaped like a star in the middle.
I had to admire the way she beamed at me.
It was only one piece of jewelry, right? Couldn't be for anyone... important? There's still a chance she isn't dating.
A minuscule chance, going by her beauty.
She thanked me, paid, and was on her way.
I thought I wouldn't see her again.
How wrong I was.
The next time she came, she looked like she could be at the beach. She had a flowy, really really light blue tee-shirt and a two toned white and grey skirt. Her white converse matched a single white pin on one side of her hair.
We exchanged only bright smiles before she went back to looking. This time, she was looking for the clear gems. She took a fleeting glance at the platinum and diamond necklace, before catching sight of a rose quartz teardrop, set in gold with a gold chain and a delicate, gold vine sticking out over the top. She spent a lot of time looking back at that one, even after passing a diamond and silver necklace, tiny flowers forming the choker like structure. She held clear butterfly earrings up to her ears, but she put them back.
Bringing the quartz teardrop necklace, she smiled her smile and said "Hi."
I smiled back, carefully wrapping her necklace. "Hi."
"You have a cute shop out here."
"Thanks." I half-smiled, looking up at her. "Isn't it more convenient just to go downtown though?"
"Not when there are treasures like these right here."
Her calculating eyes flitted over my every move.
"What's your name?"
"I-I'm Hyewon."
"Nice to meet you, Hyewon. I'm Eunbi."
"Pretty name for a pretty girl, Eunbi."
My smile grew. Come on, two jewelry pieces couldn't mean she had a significant other.
"Thanks, Eunbi. See you!"
"Bye." I gave her an eye smile.
You'd think that after two visits, she wouldn't come back here.
But she did.
She came with three elegant (but adorable) Japanese girls once. The shorter two exchanged pecks on the cheek and ended up buying things for one another while the tallest complained about being lonely without her "Jjae" or something. Hyewon also brought a hamster girl here on the day that my friend Yena had the same shift as me. And then Hyewon would come in on her own every other week, buying a new ring or something.
I loved seeing her, and I hated the fact that she probably had a girlfriend that she was giving the necklaces and earrings to.
Even so, we became good friends. We introduced the duck and the hamster, which was really fun to speak about when they got married, like, half a year later. I figured out that she liked the simple jewelry more than the more complex ones. She figured out my favorite piece was the platinum set diamond necklace. She once found me blasting "To Reach You" and we bonded over I. O. I. and The Memory Fabricators. And of course, she wore something new every single time she came in.
She brought me things I hadn't had before - business and actual friends. Sometimes she'd stay chatting with me for a few hours before leaving because one of her Japanese friends called her demanding bread and throwing death threats to the cute girl Nako who ate it all. Or when a cute girl called Minami ran in the store with a huge smile and ranted on and on about how pretty these earrings are. Or when Hyewon's friends the Kims wanted to know who was prettier. She'd always answer "I am" to that one.
All her friends came to visit often and I found myself actually needing to make MORE jewelry now.
Then one day, Hyewon brought someone new.
"Hey Eunbi!"
"Hi! How's life been?" I shouted from the back.
"I want you to meet someone!"
"Okay, one minute! Gotta place this last pearl..." I licked my bottom lip and gently set it in the gold vines holding it, and then I ran out to see another one of Hyewon's many friends.
Except this was an older woman.
I gave a shy wave, slightly surprised, and smiled. "Hi!"
She smiled back at me. "Hello, you must be Ms. Kwon. I've heard so much about you."
"Moooooom-"
"Oh come on, that wasn't even that embarrassing Hyewon."
My eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Oh, you're Mrs. Kang! It's so nice to meet you!"
We shook hands, and I took notice of her earrings. Her pearl, quartz, and yellow star earrings. And then I saw her teardrop necklace. And her sapphire studded ring.
"Ms. Kwon, I must say, your craftsmanship is fantastic. I was wondering where all of these gifts were coming from, and to learn that they were handmade by a kind, hardworking woman made me so happy. Thank you for making these wonderful pieces."
"Wow, thank you so much for buying them." I glanced a Hyewon for a split second while saying this. She was smiling.
Hyewon and her mother made their way around the shop, and after picking a pair of earrings - a rose gold sun and a silver moon, both encased in their own circular cage of dark blue glass - she left, looking content with her choice. I turned to Hyewon the moment her mom was out the door.
"All that jewelry was for your MOM?"
"Yep. Why?"
I quickly filtered through my bank of excuses before saying something along the lines of, "We have coupons for people buying things for other people in their family!"
Hyewon raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
I sighed. "I thought you were buying jewelry for your significant other, but apparently you're just really nice to to your mom."
She giggled, and then snorted, and then threw her head back and laughed. Eventually, I started cracking up too.
Wiping tears from her eyes, she said "Oh man, that is the most hilarious thing I've heard in my life."
"So glad I could take that position."
She stuck out her tongue and went to look at some of the jewelry.
To my surprise, she picked out the necklace with platinum set diamonds.
I gently wrapped this one, making sure I didn't destroy anything, seeing that this was by far my favorite of my pieces.
Handing it to her as she paid, I said "Treat this one well."
She just smirked.
Right after taking the box, she handed it right back.
I looked at her questioningly.
She smiled.
"Will you be my girlfriend, Kwon Eunbi?"
*
This one is ALSO from a writing prompt, but it sort of has a story line this time. Although I literally know nothing about jewelry. I don't wear it, my parents don't wear it. Idk, I had to look up all these random things just to get a relative idea of the shape of an earring.
Depressing, I know.
Requests?
Thx for reading this, er, stupidnessssssssss (I wanted to write something else there instead of stupidnesssssss, trust me)