Shanghai.
Two Years Later............
Stephanie was on a vacation in Shanghai, with her bestie Ibunkuayo Ajirotutu, her ex's step sister.
Unlike Toke Ajirotutu Makinwa, who's known for classy elegance, her glitz and glamours image, fashion sense, fundraising events, regal lifestyle with an enormous fortune in her name, unexplainably dotted.
Stephanie Wellington stood out in her own kind of way, well-known for her beauty and wealthy background. Beautiful, smart, intelligent, confident, very exquisite, yet sassy. This girl's presence always made heads turn with curiousity.
Unlike her older brothers; Obinna and Fedrick who bagged a B.A & M.B.A in Harvard University, Stéphanie studied Industrial Design at Oxford and was meant to continue her master's there, but after she and Mide broke up she then moved on to do her master's degree in Paris.
At 25, accomplished, proud and well to do. Stephanie got whatever she wanted at the snap of her fingers.
Having worked with international fashion labels & brands like Vogue, Marie Claire, Dior, Channel, Fendi, Versace, Louis Vuitton, YSL, Hermès and famous celebrities like Viola Davis, Wizkid, Naomi Campbell, Stefflon Don, Gigi Hadid, Bonang, Boity, Davido, Lori Harvey, Tems and the rest, Stephanie sees herself as a go getter, ambitious and daring.
A darling of the family, a fashion icon, just like Toke Ajirotutu, however not like Toke, the trend setter. The goddess.
Currently in Shanghai enjoying her break from work, Stephanie and Ibunkuayo were enjoying their vacation. That evening they both decided to go shopping again and then visit a famous jeweler in Shanghai.
Both young ladies walk into Luxe HIgh-End Boutique, strikingly beautiful, the private room was intended for wealthy female customers.
And the moment Stephanie and Ibunkuayo walked in, every head seems to turn towards them. They all admired the beautiful women with their rich clothings and fine jewelry. The two exhibits, elegance, grace, and poise. Expected for their social status in society.
Stephanie wore a nude coloured Dior shoes, patterned with a light purple dress, and sunglasses that were from Valentino and a simple but expensive Dior bag.
Ibunkuayo wore a pink and white cotton tweed Channel dress, her favorite Channel block heels and her white leather birkin bag from Hermès. Stephanie wore her knotless braids down neatly, while Shalewa decided to pack her hair in a ponytail as neatly as possible.
Ibunkuayo's phone rang and she took the call, unknown to her, Stephanie sees a little girl, the daughter of a customer as the counter, holding a tiny stuffed bunny with a yarn bow as she tugs on her mother's sleeve. Wanting to get her mother's attention.
"Mummy? See what I made for bunny......" The little girl tries to gets her mother's attention, but her mother waves her away, busy looking over baubles with her friend.
"No, not now, not now baby." Her mother said. Stephanie felt bad for the little girl. She herself has experienced a handful of times being often dismissed by her parents.
Later on Ibunkuayo hangs up the call and went back to join her bestie.
But the customers, including the Little Girl's mother, soon notice Stephanie and Ibunkuayo, and they sneak looks and whisper to one another about them. Both girls walks by them and goes to the Little Girl, much to her mother's surprise.
Stephanie bends down to the little girl, while Ibunkuayo stood behind quite confused.
Stephanie starts her introduction. "Hi, I'm Stephanie, this is my best friend Ibunkuayo." She introduced as Shalewa follows with a wave and sweet smile, "Hiii."
"What's your name?" Stephanie asks.
The little girl replied, "Mita."
Stephanie went on to question her about the bunny. "And who's this?"
The girl gave them a toothy grin, "Bun-Bun." She replied as Stephanie and Ibunkuayo gave her a warm smile. "Well, I think Bun-Bun looks very dashing with his bow. You have a good eye." Stephanie compliments Mita touching Bun-Bun's bow.
The little girl replied. "Thank you." She beams, seeming delighted.
The girl's mother lights up, proud. But Ibunkuayo thinks the mother wants their attention, but she hid it anyway. It's never right to judge a book by its cover. But with some exceptions of some books, whose cover seems to be obvious.
The jeweler approaches them, "Ms Ajirotutu and Ms Wellington, right this way." He gestures to a private room being prepared for the two women.
"It's very nice to meet you both." Ibunkuayo says and walks away, while Stephanie rubs the little girl's cheek before standing up to follow the jeweler into the room.
The patrons watch Stephanie and Ibunkuayo and The Jeweler disappear through a hallway into a restricted area and then into a private room reserved for elites.
An assistant brings Stephanie and Ibunkuayo tea in a tiny antique cup, whilst they surveyed a stunning collection of over top jewelry. Ranging from pearl, to different gems, precious stones. All were displayed to attract viewers as they were decorated exquisitely.
Ibunkuayo seemed uninstrested in the collections, she surveys different cases, and her eyes landed on a tiny braclet that catches her eyes.
"These are all brand new from Antwerp. You're the first person I've shown them to." The jeweler explains,
Stephanie is unimpressed as well, the collections were fine but she liking them. Suddenly she sees in another display case an understated pair of pearl drop earrings in a show glass. She looks at them sipping her tea, intrigued.
"What are those?" She asks, dropping the tea cup on saucer gently.
The Jeweler smiles, approving of Stephanie's taste. He signals his assistant takes the earrings out so she can get a closer look.
"Those. Those are very special. Burmese pearl drop earrings. Set with emeralds, and rare pigeonblood-red rubies. They were worn by Queen Supayalat at her self anointed coronation in 1878." Jeweler explained as his assistant brings the earrings to Stephanie.
She picks them up to look closer, intrigued.
"How much?" Stephanie asks.
"Having you wear one of my pieces is better publicity than I can buy. I'll let them go at cost." He pauses for a moment, "One point two million." Stephanie gives a subtle nod. Loving the piece she just acquired. She noticed Ibunkuayo looking at the a bracelet, interested but has a hint of a doubt whether to buy it or not.
"Would you like me to get that bracelet for you Ms Ajirotutu?" The jeweler asks, Ibunkuayo tore her gaze and looked back at him. She gives him a subtle nod as the jeweler signals his assistant to pack up the gems exquisitely. Both women plan to go shopping for a new Fendi collection at it's nearby store.
Stephanie had already paid for her item, so it was Ibunkuayo's turn, she fished out her back card and gave it to the jeweler. Also she picked another piece of earrings in the shape of a sea shell, an ancient piece from a royal family in Thailand, decorated with some diamonds and emerald green stones with a little bit of gold, it also came with a necklace and two bracelets, worth two million.
Ibunkuayo liked what she had purchased, and she is so wearing it to Odunayo's wedding for certain. As for Stephanie, the caramel goddess, continues to sip her tea elegantly, flipping through magazines with different shapes and colors of jewelry, while the jeweler and his assistant packs up their purchases carefully.
While they were at it, a buzz beeped on her iPhone 14. Immediately a buzz also beeped on Ibunkuayo's phone but she didn't bother. The buzz came again and Stephanie was wondering who could be messaging her back to back. She fishes her phone and sees gazillion messages flooding her iPhone.
The intense conversation all over social media. Facebook, Instagram, iMessage, WhatsApp especially the Nigerian Twitter universe.
Thousands of people were tagging her to pictures and comments.
TWEET #: Geez, the girl is pretty, look at her curves. Sexy as fuck.
TEXT#1: Did you see her latest pictures on Instagram, babe is verified and is hitting million likes.
TEXT#: OMFG! which one is her official handle?
TEXT#2: Check mihilai_n?
TEXT #3: Yikes she's a beauty. Her contents are Mad!!!!🤯
TEXT #4: please tag me to her page 🥺
Puzzled by this Stephanie, continues scrolling. Wondering what the heck, could be the problem.
TEXT #1: Found her! She seems fake to me though, BBL chick🙄💀
TEXT #2: Abeg commot jhor, hater oshi! no go church go pray God when for your matter, dey there they envy your fellow woman..... mtchew.
TEXT #3: women supporting women in the mud. Lol! The girl is pretty Abeg.
TEXT #3: Did you see there a ring? It's a rose gold diamond curt....
TEXT #4: OMG i saw the ring..... Mide did it perfectly💍. That man has my Ovaries ....💦👅🍑
Seeing this tweet, Stephanie furrowed her brows. What is going on the internet. Who are they dragging and at the same time celebrating? Which Mide is this person tweeting about? It can't be Ayomide Ajirotutu Her ex-boyfriend? It can't be him. She swore as messages and notifications continues to pop up on her phone screen.
Goosebumps started evading Stephanie's body, her chest was getting heavy. her temples were getting hot, even though the room was air conditioned. She continued to scroll and it seems like a dream, after two years of breakup, reality was beginning to shock her back to back.
It's been two years now and not a call nor text from him. She started thinking asdifferent thoughts began crowding her mind as she continues scrolling through the tweets.
TEXT #4 : Yes, he proposed to her in Dubai.
TEXT #5: WTF! This is beautiful 😍😍😍😍
TEXT #6: NEVER🤧🤧. I want this type of proposal.
TEXT #7 : Wawu, you must be joking?
OMG, Stephanie isn't taking it any longer, she closes the bird app and opened Facebook and started reading comments on the News feed.
TEXT #8 : Check out Mide's Ajirotutus fiancée, she's beautiful and curvy.😜
TEXT #9: Hate her!!!!. She stole my man.😤
TEXT #10 : You can't be serious, Mide is engaged.😵
TEXT #11: My sister, Na so we see am o, He's no more a bachelor.
TEXT #12: Jesus, this girl don jam money. She's rich for life.
TEXT #13: KPK.
TEXT #14: E choke.....this video is breathtaking.
Stephanie scrolls further till she came across Linda Ikeji's blog. Clicking the video, she couldn't believe what she saw. Ayomide Ajirotutu was on his knees to proposing! When did he get a girlfriend? Who is she? How long have they been together? Why does he look so happy? I thought his stepmom said he wasn't seeing anyone? Omg he even kissed the girl after proposing! Oh no, this can't be happening!
Here she was thinking would come back for her, but after watching this video over and over again, it dawned Stephanie that he finally replaced her with someone else and there she was wearing her engagement ring.
"Oh my God!" Stephanie's body froze, her hands were starting to shake, mistakenly she spilled the tea on the magazine, unconsciously pushing the antique teapot as it shatters on the mable floor.
*******
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