Chapter 288: Theft
I stood under that tree, totally zoned out for like ten minutes, just staring at that pic. When my phone screen went dark, I kept tapping it to light up again, just to keep looking at the pic over and over.
When the screen went dark again, I snapped out of it and bolted without a second thought.
I had to know what was up.
I couldn't let some mystery mess with my life and love, so I had to get to the bottom of it.
I hopped in a cab and headed to that store. An old dude was just opening the door when I got there. Inside, two rows of gorgeous women greeted me with a cheerful "Welcome."
I made a beeline for the counter, and the saleswoman recognized me right away. She blurted out, sounding all surprised and bummed, "You're the lady from yesterday. But too bad, that bracelet got snatched up by some guy. Said it was for his girlfriend."
Maybe she wanted to brag about her sales skills; I hadn't even said a word, and she spilled everything except the buyer's name.
She said the guy who bought the bracelet was tall and handsome. He didn't even blink at the three or four grand price tag, said it was a gift for his girlfriend, and asked for the fanciest wrapping.
"I used the most luxurious packaging we have. I told you that bracelet was hot stuff. You would've rocked it, but now it's another girl's. It's a limited edition, only two in the whole Regalia. The other one was gone before it even hit the shelf."
The saleswoman kept glancing at my wrist, shaking her head like she was super sorry. "When that handsome guy talked about his girlfriend, his eyes were all lovey-dovey. So jealous."
I was kinda speechless looking at this self-absorbed saleswoman, but inside, I was fuming.
I was seriously considering how doable it would be to chain Brad up.
But, there was only one bracelet, and only one Brad. I was Brad's girlfriend, no doubt about that. The real issue was the bracelet. Why hadn't I seen it? Where did the one on Jenny's wrist come from?
Could Brad have bought it for her?
No way.
Or maybe Brad was just too wiped out yesterday and forgot to give it to me.
Then it hit me, that moment at dinner when Brad reached into his pocket but pulled out nothing, and his face got all weird for a sec.
Was he trying to give me the bracelet? Why did he freeze up? How did it end up on Jenny's wrist?
I put the pieces together and got a rough idea.
Brad bought the bracelet for me, but when he wanted to give it to me at dinner, it was gone.
As for the bracelet on Jenny's wrist, no way Brad gave it to her.
So, two options: either Jenny snagged it before it hit the counter, or Brad met up with Jenny behind my back, and she swiped it then.
I'm leaning towards the first option.
The bracelet wasn't crazy expensive, but it wasn't exactly cheap either. Snagging something without permission? Yeah, that's called "theft."
Theft's a big no-no and can lead to serious legal trouble.
But why would she flaunt it when Brad bought it for me and hadn't given it to me yet, and even throw in that caption? Was she just trying to mess with me and stir up drama between Brad and me?
Knowing Jenny, that's totally her style.
I couldn't wrap my head around it, so I decided to stop playing detective and just call Brad.
After that night, Brad and I made a pact: no matter what, we'd always be straight with each other and not let any misunderstandings mess us up.
We weren't gonna be one of those couples in books who break up over some silly misunderstanding.
I dialed his number, and it rang for what felt like forever. Just when I was about to give up, someone finally picked up.
But it wasn't Brad. It was his project buddy. The guy knew about me and said Brad had rushed out about half an hour ago, so fast he forgot his phone. No clue where he went.
Where could Brad have gone? He must've gone to find Jenny.
Obviously, he saw Jenny's new post too and went to confront her.
To avoid any drama from Brad and Jenny meeting alone, and to get to the bottom of this ASAP, I grabbed a cab and headed straight to the rehab hospital.
Panting in front of Jenny's hospital room door, I peeked through the slightly open door and saw what was going down inside.
Jenny was in a wheelchair, and from my angle, I could only see one of her legs and half of the wheelchair's wheel.
A short dude stood next to her, and an older woman was on the floor picking up broken glass. From the water stains, it looked like the glass came from a cup.
"Brad, I bought the bracelet myself. I posted it online just to share my feelings, nothing more. Did Jane say something to you again? How can she be so mean, always picking on me?" Jenny whined, acting all innocent.
I wanted to slap her so bad.
She felt wronged? I was the one being wronged!
Before she posted it, I didn't even know about the bracelet, let alone say anything to Brad.
What was up with these women? First Zoe, now Jenny, always making me the bad guy.
"This has nothing to do with Jane. I just want to know how the bracelet ended up with you? And why did you post it online? Lastly, you graduated from the Northern Institute of the Arts, so you should know what theft is and what kind of trouble it can get you into."
I nodded, feeling pretty satisfied.
Jenny cried, "Brad, don't say that. I really bought the bracelet myself. Not long ago, after finishing rehab, my leg hurt so much that I asked Luna Patel to push me out for some fresh air. We saw that store with new stuff, and I really liked that bracelet, so I bought it right away."
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