"Hi, Frieda."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, nearly destroying his fort of courage built throughout the last 16 years.

They were only 13 when he first saw her.

"Have a seat. I'll get you tea. It must have been 3 years since we last bumped into each other," she added.

"Came for a ring," his now 28-year-old self said with a smile, and his eyes lowered to see the content of the long glass case that stood between them.

She almost missed the cup she was aiming to pour tea into.

"You came to the right place then. Congrats, you must have found the right woman," she remarked.

"I found her a long time ago," he revealed.

"She sounds special."

"Oh she's a catch," he couldn't help answering.

She nodded as she drew a tray filled with diamond rings from the counter that separated them.

"What is she like? I mean, what does she like?" she quickly corrected her slip.

She didn't mean to came out sounding jealous.

After all, they, Frieda and Iskandar, were never friends.

At best, they were former rivals. They competed for the best student trophy since Form 1, all the way to Form 5.

"She is like you, talented and smart. Kind and helpful," he noted.

"Sounds wonderful." She pushed the cup of tea nearer to him.

He sipped a bit, then grinned.

He glanced at the tray, uninterested in any of the designs. "But..."

She selected a few rings and placed them in front of him.

"No buts. I bet you're going to say she is not perfect but remember, you're not even close. These three rings are classic cuts. They are not too showy, but highly visible."

"But she doesn't have your special talent," he refused to close the subject.

She tried to remember that Iskandar is now a friend. In fact their mothers are best friends. Most importantly, she tried to remind herself that she can't let him egg her on like he did throughout high school.

"Doesn't matter. She might also love these," she muttered, bringing forth two more rings, both offering modern designs.

He took them from her hands before she could line them up with her earlier selections.

"Catching. She doesn't know how to catch."

She blinked. "OK. You just have to slip this one on her finger. No need to throw this bauble like a curved ball hoping she'd catch."

He smiled at the jeweler.

His smile evoked a series of memories.

She remembered pushing him to the ground. He had bumped into her and made her dropped her favourite book into a drain just before that.

At another occasion, she poured detergent into his shoes, after he gave her a box of roaches. That was back when they were 15 and both had been chosen to attend a state-sponsored summer camp for gifted students.

"In fact I designed these rings with a slanting profile so that they won't slip out of a finger easily," she pressed on, slightly exuding the impatient sales woman attitude.

"She doesn't know how to catch a rooster like you did that time one flew into our class and you trapped it by dunking a waste paper bin over its head. Remember that day?"

She remembered that incident but pretended the opposite.

"Or that time a baby monitor lizard crawled into the workshop and you trapped it using a wooden planter box?"

"Hmmph. So which one will it be?" she insisted by pointing at the five rings.

He smirked. "None of these. Don't you have something more like... this?"

She followed his finger and saw a man's ring.

"For a woman? That's... Unsuitable."

"Ah, enlightened already. You're always so smart. So hard to beat," he deliberately referenced their old rivalry.

"You can't give that to someone you want to marry. It's going to get ugly. What are you trying to do, tie a knot..."

He pulled a face.

"... or break up?" she threw a guess.

And to that, he grinned.

"Seriously? Who on earth buys a break-up ring?"

His smile widen.

"You're kidding."

He simply raised a brow. "You're going to help me," he stated.

"No. I'm not going to let you buy a ring for something as foolish," she calmly refused. Internally, she was already halfway debating his sanity.

"It's business. Shouldn't you want make some money?" he countered, playing the role of the customer who knows that he is always right.

Yet she did not budge. "No. I will not be part of this. You're going to hurt a woman's heart and I'm not going to let you do this."

He always knew her heart was made of gold, but he didn't expect this. Still, this was an opportunity he must not miss.

"Then design me a new one. Ugly, pretty, whatever..."

She didn't have a response for that.

"Or I'll just find a bad ring elsewhere."

She was almost jealous of the girl a few minutes ago, but she could not bear the thought of someone getting an ugly ring and her heart broken.

The woman who is about to be ditched should at least end up with a beautiful momento, thought Frieda.

"I'll design one," she agreed.

He nearly jumped. "Great! This means I get to see you again soon, right? Give me your number."

Reluctantly, she passed the seven figures to him.

He was almost out of the goldsmith when he turned to say, "I'll call you tonight."

She knew that was the start of something dreadful.

P/s: Wrote this cause I missed #EdanDalamLoka. This is the English version of #FriedaEdayuXFairulIskandar

12:53 AM · Jan 21, 2020