Chapter 1055: A Pair Of Rings (part five)

"Excuse me, Miss. I'm here for the pair of rings that I ordered yesterday. Would you please check and see if they are ready now?" Without answering Kevin's question, Shannon turned to the saleslady behind the counter. She took out a receipt from her handbag and handed it to her politely as she asked the query.

"Sure, Mrs. Gu. We've prepared the pair of rings for you already. We were waiting for you to come and receive them. Please wait a second. I'll take them out for you right away," the saleslady replied, throwing Shannon a professional smile. She turned to face the others and nodded to them, before bending down to take the rings out from a locker.

"Mom, what are the rings for? And why a pair of them?" Claire asked in confusion. Her questions drew the attention of the rest of them onto Shannon. As they gazed at her curiously, each one of them wanted to know the answer too.

"There is no 'why'. I bought the rings because I like them. Do I need a reason to buy something I like?" Shannon said as she gave Claire a hard look. Claire hadn't talked a lot on their way here, so Shannon thought she had finally decided to stop being so hostile to Leena. It was so hard and rare to maintain an easiness between them. However, Claire had begun with her questions once again, so Shannon knew that the hard-kept easiness would soon break. She didn't know how, but it wouldn't take long.

"But this is not like you! You never bought this kind of things before. Like Kevin said, you never liked these luxuries before. Why are you suddenly so enthusiastic about them now? Have you changed your mind?" Claire asked eagerly. After all, she, like Kevin, knew about their mother's attitude toward jewelry. As far as she could recall, she had never seen her mother pursue these material desires, especially jewelry. She was deeply surprised at Shannon's unusual behavior today.

"Mrs. Gu, please take a look at these. These are the pair of rings you selected yesterday. We have modified them a bit according to your requirements," the saleslady said, as she placed the rings on the counter, in front of Shannon. Her words timely interrupted Claire's upcoming questions.

"Okay, let me see. Well, they look so nice - simple enough but still the glamour is kept intact. I think they are quite suitable for these young children. Leena, Kevin, come and try them on. Let's see if the rings fit you," Shannon addressed happily, a beautiful smile on her face. It was obvious that she was very satisfied with the matching pair of rings.

"What? Mom, these rings are for us? Why would you buy them?" Kevin asked in astonishment. At the same time, he felt a bit of regret in his heart. How did he never think of this before? He should have known what his Mom was up to, earlier.

"Mom, we can't take these rings from you. If we need the rings, we can buy them ourselves," Leena said hurriedly. Truthfully, Leena was deeply touched by Shannon's thoughtfulness. She had not expected her mother-in-law to be so considerate. She apparently noticed that Leena was not wearing a wedding ring. Being grateful to Shannon was one thing. However, the ring was not being given to her by Kevin. What she really wished for was a ring from Kevin, her husband. To be more precise, she wanted a promise of lifetime happiness symbolized by a wedding ring from a husband to his wife. Kevin still hadn't given her any kind of real promises, to show his faith and love to her and their marriage. Leena was a little upset about that.

That's different. Whether you buy your rings or not, it's your own business. I have nothing to do with it. But these rings are a wedding gift to you both, from me. I thought about arranging a great fancy wedding for you, but you insisted on making the event as simple as possible. I respect your choice, so this pair of rings is the only thing I can get for you. They carry my best wishes to you. Take them and accept my wishes for you, my children. But there's one more thing: even though you don't want a big wedding, some traditions should not be overlooked. Since you've been together for a while, I think it will be better if our two families take some time out to meet and have dinner together, so that we could get to know each other. You two have come together to make a new family, and to connect two different households together. And as parents, we care and are concerned about you. It must be the same with Leena's family. So, help us meet and settle our worries, children," Shannon explained. She felt a bit upset as she mentioned their wedding. For a long time, she had been attending the weddings of her friends' children. She dreamt about a fantastic wedding of her own children, every time she saw those happy couples. Finally, her chance came. She had wanted to invite all of her friends to their wedding and let them grant their best wishes to Kevin and Leena. However, her children had completely different ideas about their wedding. They said it was too much trouble arranging for a big one. Maybe it was the generation gap between them. She couldn't understand their choice of avoiding celebrating their marriage with a grandeur wedding ceremony, where a lot of people would be able to witness their precious moments. Shannon could only respect their choice.

"I know, Mom. Don't worry about that. We will arrange it as soon as possible," Kevin replied quickly, assuring her. An affirmative smile spread across his face. He turned to look at Leena and made eye contact with her. After all, he had wished to give her a wonderful wedding too. Getting married to a wife as good to him as Leena without an official ceremony to be witnessed by others, was not something he wanted to do as a responsible and loving husband. Plus, the situation was not the same as it had been in the beginning, when they had gotten married for their own personal reasons, without harboring any love for each other. But now they were in love, and Kevin regretted their past. He kept trying to bring up the idea of such a wedding to Leena. But to his surprise, every time he mentioned it, Leena gave him a clear cut 'no'. The reason for it, from her point of view, was simple. She said that a wedding ceremony was just a ceremony, like some kind of a show, a performance for others. Her life had nothing to do with these people. The most important thing for her was to live a happy life. She did not want to live it for others. So why bother to invite trouble arranging such a fancy wedding? That would be exhausting.