SHOPPING WITH AN EX

Lois pov 

It had been two days since the dinner at the Grant's mansion, and I suppose I heard Oliver say 'please be there by 3:00pm', over the phone when we spoke yesterday.

 We were to meet at Belle for the ring shopping, as agreed two days ago over dinner. But it seems Oliver would take pleasure in wasting my time today. 

I was already seated on one of the chairs at Belle's reception. One thing that I loved about shopping there. A place to sit and relax. For God's sake it's already 3:25pm, and he is not here yet. 

So much for promptness! I subconsciously rolled my eyes. I ditched Dr Reynolds at the theater and left him to carry out the operation on the young girl with hynea, alone with the two new interns. So bad of me, and now Oliver is wasting my precious time.

"I'm not usually so late" I looked up, of course it was Oliver. I gave him a needle piercing look. "I'm sorry, please forgive my manners" He smiled uneasily.

"We are cool" I replied, accepting his apology. Atleast he was kind enough to apologize.

"Really? Thank you" He said in a tone which relayed that he was suprised, that I simply let him off the hook.

He actually thought I didn't hear him when he muttered to himself 'wow so fast'. It took all the control in me, not to shout 'Yes so fast!!' in his face.

"So, what's next?" he asked.

"To pick the rings, of course"

"Oookay, let's go in then" I stood up, we walked into the 'Rings and Bangles unit' as written in bold letters on the top of the entrance. 'Hmmm not bad at all' I thought as I took in as much of the large room as I could.

"Good day ma'am, sir. What would you like to have?" A tall lady with straight blonde hair asked.

She was definitely a worker here, because she had on a Navy blue uniform with her name tag on it. 'Beulah' Nice name.

"We came for rings, pretty Beulah" Oliver said to which she immediately broke into a smile. "Alright, come this way." We followed her to a large show glass that displayed different kinds of rings, definitely ranging from the cheaper to the more expensive ones. They were really nice, I must say.

"Wow! They all look nice. It would be a difficult task to choose one." Oliver said with a smile directed at Beulah.

"Well I think your sister can help with that. It shouldn't be a problem" Beulah replied as she neatly tucked her hair behind her ear. 

What did she just say? 'sister?'

Oliver broke into a fit of laughter. 

"Oh my...I'm sorry" He said in between laughs, trying to muffle the sound of his laughter. Finally he stopped and looked at Beulah. 

"Sweetheart, she is my lovely Fiancee, not my sister"

'Sweetheart' What a lovely endearment for someone you met not up to five minutes ago. Why wouldn't she think I'm your sister. Scum bag.

"Oh!" she covered her mouth, feeling embarrassed. "I'm so sorry ma'am"  

"It's okay".

I replied with a simple smile. It's really not her fault.

"Let's see those rings." I pointed at a set of gold rings with silver stripes. She took it out and put it on the show glass. Damn the rings were beautiful.

"It's beautiful" 

"Yes it is" she quickly replied 

"You like it?" Oliver asked, and I nodded. "It actually looks good. I like it too" he replied. 

"Those are amongst the most expensive of our rings here. It definitely worths the price" Beulah stated to which I nodded satisfactorily.

"Alright then, package the rings. We'll take'em." Oliver said.

  "Yes sir. Go over to the counter you saw when you walked in, and pay to the lady there"  "Alright" he replied as he walked out. 

*************

We were about leaving when we heard someone call Oliver.

"Oh my gosh! Olly is that you?" We turned at the same time to who it was.

Lo and behold, it was Eva!!! 

"E..Eva, Hey" Oliver stuttered as he spoke to Eva, his Ex girlfriend from way back in high school. I never liked her for anything at all. 

"Hi! and what are you doing here? With Lois nonetheless" She spatted with obvious disgust. 

"Hello to you too, Eva" I said sarcastically. I and Eva were like fire and ice. We never saw eye to eye, and it grew worse when she started dating Oliver. 

"Oh! Hi Lois. Sorry I didn't notice you." She was an empty brain, no argument. She wasn't even smart enough to lie.

"No worries" I assured her. "I particularly don't like being noticed by you. So we are good" I said with a smirk. I could see Oliver from my side view, and he was smiling. 

"Whatever. So, what are you doing here Oliver? Is Lois your girlfriend now? Certainly didn't hear about it" She said with a mischievous smile on her face. And I knew the meaning. she knew that the answer to her question was 'No'. 

Oliver frowned.

"No Eva, she is not my girlfriend." He replied. Of course, he would embarrass me. They had both always done that in high school anyways.

I could see Eva's smile grow wider, but it disappeared when Oliver completed the sentence

"She is actually my Fiancee" With a smile, he drew me closer to his side. I didn't even know when I started smiling. I would always smile seeing Eva defeated, even if it was with the help of her former partner in 'stupidity'. It's nice to know that he's graduated early enough from foolishness.

I heard they had a rough break up. Harrieth hadn't told me in details. I was out of the country, when they broke up in college. Good riddance to bad rubbish. 

 "Really? Why don't I see a ring on your finger then?" Eva was so annoyingly persistent. That was as true as hell! I had no engagement ring on my finger. The last thing I wanted was for her to know that this marriage was arranged. That would be the worst embarrassment. 

Every girl deserves a fairytale wedding, not being persuaded to marry someone she doesn't even love. I was really thinking of a perfect lie, but none was forthcoming. Lord!

*******************

OLIVER'S POV

I really didn't know the right way to do this. I mean, this is a different kind of situation, where I have to propose to a lady, who was already my fiancee.

Holy balls!

I was contemplating whether or not to just take her hand and slip on the ring. I had already brought out the ring, and was about getting hold of her hand, when, I was interrupted by someone, who turned out to be Eva! What the hell was she doing here?

She was the last person I wanted to see right now. After our break up three years ago, which was solely her fault, I really didn't wish to see her in a very long while.

 So why did she have to show up now. She and Lois were on each other's necks in no time, they were indirectly insulting each other. Goodness me. I couldn't help but smile the moment Lois told her, she particularly didn't like to be noticed by her.

Now Eva was asking if Lois was my girl friend. Why was she asking? was it to mock me or Lois. I gave my answer as she smiled at lois.

"She's not my girlfriend" I could see Lois was already looking pissed. And Eva smiled wider. she really wanted to get on Lois' nerves. "She's actually my Fiancee" I completed. Her smile disappeared, and one appeared on Lois' face. 

"Really, then why don't I see a ring on your finger then?" she asked Lois. Lois clearly didn't have good enough comeback, so I spoke up instead.  "Honey, I was right when I said that you'd forget to put your ring back on. I took her hand and finally slipped on the little thing that had been giving me a hard time.

"Remember you took it off, when you wanted to try on the new wedding band we got?" I looked into her eyes hoping that she would get the idea. "O..oh, yeah" She replied as she smiled and then looked at Eva triumphantly.

"Sweetheart, I think we should leave now" She said as she pulled me along, leaving shocked Eva behind. I didn't miss the look on Eva's face when Lois turned back to say

"Oh yeah I almost forgot, you are invited to our wedding. It's on the 23rd of this month. It's actually on a Saturday. I have specify, Just incase your calendar malfunctions" she finished with a smile as she turned and we walked out of Belle. 

 Once we were outside, she asked the exact question I was expecting.

"What the hell is she doing here?" 

"Well, just like you, I don't have an idea"

"Great!" She seemed pissed. 

"Are you angry"

"Should I smile when I meet your girlfriend that I don't particularly like?"

"Ex." I corrected. "Like I said, I don't know what she's doing here?"

"Please drop me off at home already" she replied angrily. 

"I thought we would also buy your clothes today?" 

"I would do that over the weekend with Harrieth. Just take me home" She looked really irritated.

"Alright" I raised my hands in surrender.

The ride to her house was somewhat long and very silent. As soon as I stopped in front of the gate of her family mansion, She came out of the car and picked up the little bag where the ring was packaged.

"Thanks for 'proposing' to me. Atleast something good came out of it all" she mumbled like a child which made me smile.

"That wasn't really the way I planned to, but you are welcome all the same. Goodnight Lois"

"Yeah, goodnight Oliver" She said as she closed the car door and I zoomed off. What a day.