I was busy since it was Monday. I had forgotten about the flower and the gift from Constantine. Yet, at 5 p.m, Stacy called me again to come to the front table while I was in the side of the library, returning the books to the shelves. After finishing my work, I finally walked to the front table.
“Hey, guess what?”
“What?”
“You have more presents coming.”
“Oh?”
Stacy pointed at two boxes on the table. “Open them! I’m curious to see what the gifts and the senders are.”
I took the cards from two boxes. After flipping it, I smiled. One of them was from Ethan. The note said, ‘My darling, I ordered this for you. I hope the bracelet will remind you of me. Take care. Ethan.’
I immediately opened the box and grinned as I saw a beautiful bracelet.
Stacy took a peek and smiled. “Constantine again?”
“Not this time. It’s from Ethan! Oh, I’m so happy!”
“Wow, let me see!”
I showed the box to Stacy while wondering if the second box was from Ethan too.
“Whoa, what an expensive bracelet! Try it! I want to see it on your hand.”
I took the box from Stacy and wore the bracelet. The gold bracelet decorated with blue aquamarine stones around the bracelet looked perfect on my white hand. The gold matched my hair, and the aquamarine fitted my eyes’ color. It might be the reason why Ethan bought it for me.
“Did Ethan send you the second gift?”
I just remembered about the second present. So, I read the card first. It said, ‘I haven’t received a call from you. Oh, you hurt my feelings. My beautiful Helena, please meet me. I promise I will be a great dinner mate for tonight. I don’t take a no as your answer. I will wait for you in front of your library. Constantine.’
“So?”
“It’s from Constantine.”
“Oh? What did he send you?”
I shrugged. When I opened the box, the present was the red high heels. The shoes matched the red silk dress perfectly.
“Whoa! He truly wants you, I.” Stacy then glanced at me. “Maybe you should go. Well, you can still choose, you know. If your relationship goes wrong with Ethan, you have already had Constantine as a backup.”
“I can’t, and I don’t want to treat Ethan like that. Besides, it’ll be unfair for Constantine too.”
“So, what will you do with the gifts?”
“I’ll return both to him.” I glanced at my wrist. “I love Ethan, and I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“You’ll only go to dinner, not marry another man.”
“It’s true. But still, I don’t feel it’s the right thing to do.”
Stacy nodded. “I see. You are such a good girlfriend. I hope Ethan truly understands how he is lucky to have you.”
“I’m also lucky to have him. It’s not because he gave me this.” I touched my bracelet. “But because he cares for me.”
“Has he said that he loves you?”
“No, but I’m sure he does.”
“Well, if you’re sure, then it’s good.”
Since we had another hour to work, I put the two boxes from Constantine and placed both in a shopping bag. I intended to return the presents to him. But then, fifteen minutes before six, a girl around ten or eleven walked to the front table.
“Excuse me, but I need to see Ms. Helena.”
“Oh, I am Helena. What is it, sweetheart?”
“Ms. Helena, an uncle told me that I need to send you the message and wait for your answer. If you don’t answer, he won’t pay me.”
I frowned upon hearing that. “What’s the message?”
The girl smiled. “The uncle told me that you had known already. He wanted to know if you wanted to go to dinner with him. His name is Constantine.”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to go with Constantine but pitied the girl. “What do you need the money for? How much did the uncle say he would pay you?”
“I need it to pay my tuition fee. My parents are poor. The uncle said he would give me five hundred Moon dollars.” Her round eyes stared at me, pleading. “Please, help me, Ms. Helena.”
I took a deep breath. If I refused to go to dinner with Constantine, the girl wouldn’t get her payment while she needed it the most. Constantine was cunning. I couldn’t do that to this little girl. Besides, it was just dinner.
So, finally, I nodded. “Please tell the uncle that I will go to dinner with him, but I’ll determine the place.”
The girl smiled from ear to ear and nodded. “Thank you so much, Ms. Helena.” She ran outside the library.
“What is it?” Stacy asked. She just walked to the front table.
“Constantine blackmailed me using a girl.” I shook my head. “I can’t say no.”
“What happened?”
“He asked a girl to send his message. If I refused his offer, the girl wouldn’t get the payment while she needed it for paying her school tuition.”
“Wow! How much did he promise to pay the girl?”
“Five hundred.”
Stacy whistled. “Only for sending a message? He is genuinely wealthy.”
“But I don’t like his method.”
“Well, it’s only dinner. After that, you can go home.”
“True, but ….”
“But what?”
I moved forward and whispered, “The last time I got dinner with him, Ethan said Constantine drugged me.”
“What?!”
Then a few visitors who hadn’t left the library shushed her. Stacy immediately showed her hands in front of her chest, apologizing for her gesture.
“How did he know?”
“Well, we have a special connection. When I felt uncomfortable and dizzy, Ethan contacted me. Then he asked me to wait at the restaurant, and he would fetch me.”
“Oh, okay, it should be like you two are soulmates.”
I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t know about that, but I feel that Ethan truly cares about me. So, when he fetched me, later I felt weird.”
“What happened?”
“I was hot, and suddenly, I wanted Ethan more than ever.” My face was hot. “Well, I want Ethan, for sure, but that night, it was different. I felt like I might die if I weren’t with him.”
“So, both of you did it?”
“Well, close enough. But Ethan helped me to release the lust inside me. He told me Constantine drugged me and asked me to stay away from the man.”
“I see. But did you see something weird?”