Bangled

It was Sunday night when Jenneth got the chance to talk to Sharon again via Skype.

"What's with the S.O.S.?" Sharon asked her.

She smiled at Sharon's joke. "I just called to tell you that Mom's will is okay now. Your inheritance is already settled. I signed the final papers yesterday."

"Oh, just that?" Sharon asked. "It's fine, you know. Just take care of everything. I trust you completely about that."

"Of course, I also want you to be informed all the time, even though you gave me a special power of attorney," Jenneth said.

"Jhing, your mother doesn't need to leave me anything. She already paid for my education," Sharon said to her.

"Still, the properties are yours. Whenever you need them, you can get them," Jenneth insisted.

In the end, Sharon just conceded. "Okay, if you insist."

"You seem to be very busy. I left you a message yesterday, and you just called me now."

"I had a sudden photo shoot. In Hollywood. I was so busy, and my cell phone's battery got drained. I was so tired I slept without charging it. I just plugged it in this morning."

"You're overworking yourself again. Take a rest when you have time."

"My agency seems to make me work for those times I was on a vacation. They now give me just any project they can think of."

"You don't look so stressed, though. You're still pretty."

"Of course! I'm very good at pretending, you know."

Jenneth smiled. She was telling the truth. Her cousin looks flawless as always. She looks so fresh even though according to her, she was so haggard yesterday.

"Wait! How about your Saturdate-with-yourself? How was it?"

Jenneth giggled. "You can't think of a more pathetic name for that, huh?"

Sharon smiled. "Does it sting?"

That made Jenneth laugh. "Whatever!"

"It's okay, Cuz. There will come a time when it will be just a Saturdate."

"Fine, whatever..." Jenneth said. "Well, about that. I didn't do much. I just went to the mall. Did a little window shopping. I didn't buy anything because my closet is already full of random stuff."

"Hey! Those are all designer stuff. That's so mean of you." Sharon pretended to get offended as she scowled at her.

"You gave me a lot of stuff. My closet could not accommodate everything already."

"Well, you know I can't keep those here in New York. You can't have a big closet here because every inch of space is so precious."

"Then stop receiving stuff from your sponsors."

"How could I? It comes with the profession. They'll send me stuff and I'll wear them and put them in my blog. They just keep piling up and I don't know what to do with them."

"You have a very complicated job, really," she said sarcastically.

"Good thing I have the same size as you, though just a little taller. You could also be a model, you know."

"It's something I would not dare doing."

"Why not?" Sharon smirked.

"Well, I don't have the guts." She's a very timid person.

"That's easy. It could be honed."

"Don't insist the impossible. I'm already 31, and no agency will hire me as a model anymore."

Sharon shrugged. "It's really not meant to be, I guess."

Jenneth nodded. "It's enough that you give me a lot of stuff. Just like this one." She picked her white Coach handbag.

Sharon smiled. "You really love that bag, huh?"

"Of course. Aside from the fact that it's pretty, it's also made in the Philippines." She looked at the bag.

"It's so hard not to feel pride about that. It's made in the Philippines, but it's being sold by an expensive brand. Filipinos are really very talented."

"I wonder if this is one of those bags made here in Tarlac. It just says, 'Made in the Philippines'."

Jenneth looked inside of the bag to see the label once again, and in the process, she saw something at the bottom. She took it out to have a good look at it.

"What's that?" Sharon asked as she saw the thing she took out from inside the bag.

"It's… a bangle." It was a silver bangle with a heart on either side. Its straps are thin, and one of the hearts is pinkish. Probably it's made of rose gold.

"It's nice. Where did you buy it?" Sharon asked her.

"I-I… don't know." She frowned.

"What?" Sharon asked. She looked so amused like she's about to giggle.

"It's not mine!" Jenneth said to her cousin, amused as well by the discovery. She looked at the bracelet again. It's a Tiffany bracelet.

"Then why is it in your bag?"

There is an engraving on one side of the bracelet. 𝘛𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳… 03May13

"I don't know…" Jenneth said. But if feels like there's something on that engraving she just saw on the bracelet. She just could not work it out on her mind.

"So you're saying it just appeared inside your bag? The last time I checked, a bangle is a non-living thing. It could not move on itself. So, it's either you put in on your bag, or someone put it there… Maybe someone dropped it in your bag?"

"The only time that I've been out before I saw this thing was yesterday. This morning at the church, I didn't use this bag. So, I guess this came from UrbanShop. I can't remember mingling with someone there since I immediately left. I just went to the furniture shop… Well, I might have bumped into some customers, but it's impossible for someone to drop this bangle in my bag. It's a Tiffany bracelet and you could not be careless with this kind of things."

The only time she spoke to someone that can be considered a long conversation is in The Coffee Club. It's with Ryan and Kenneth's daughter, Darlene. She talked with the two for a couple of minutes…

Wait! Ryan is Darlene's goddaughter, right? She looked at the bracelet again. 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳…

"I think I know whose bracelet is this." And she also knows who might have given the bracelet to Darlene. Her heart suddenly pounded with the thought.

"So, whose bracelet is it?"

"Well… I think it belongs to an old friend's daughter. I saw them last Saturday in The Coffee Club. We chatted and then maybe, the kid accidentally dropped this at my bag."

"Oh… maybe… Kids should not be given such expensive jewelry. They might just lose it. Just like what happened to that bracelet. Good thing it fell in your bag. If someone else saw that, they might just sell it and not return it to the owner."

Is it really good that the bangle fell in her bag, or is it the opposite? Jenneth doesn't know what to think as she might potentially meet Ryan again if she will bring back the bracelet.

But there's also a chance she might not meet him. She has no choice but to bring back the bangle. She put it back inside her bag.

"I guess I have to visit their shop tomorrow."

"Shop?" Sharon asked.

"Furniture shop. They make and sell furniture."

"Really? Oh, then ask them to make you a new closet for all the stuff I gave you."

Isn't that what she was thinking yesterday? To commission Furniture.com for a new closet. Until she found out who the contact person is.

"Maybe they can give you a discount. They're an old friend, right? At least, they are still friends even though it's 'old'."

Jenneth feared that the conversation may lead to something she does not want to revisit. Sharon might ask who that friend is, and she might discover whom she is talking about. She thought of a way to divert the conversation.

"Let's see tomorrow... So, how's your photoshoot?"

"Well, just like the others."

"It's in Hollywood, right? Did you see some Hollywood stars?"

Sharon laughed at what she said. "Because it's Hollywood so I'm expected to meet celebrities?"

"Sorry, I'm just a fan, you know," Jenneth said. "So, how was it? What was the shoot all about?"

Sharon started telling her about her modeling stint in Hollywood, and with that, her attention completely shifted. Until their Skype session ended, she did not ask about that 'old friend' who owns a furniture shop again.

Jenneth thought that the encounter in The Coffee Club will be the first and last time she will see him. That she won't be seeing that guy that she tried so hard to forget in the past nine years. But it turns out it isn't. She looked at her bag where he put Darlene's bracelet. Why does it seem like Destiny is pulling her and Ryan together?

Or, is she the only one thinking as such? That Darlene really just accidentally dropped the bracelet inside her bag? Maybe. Maybe it really has nothing to do with her and Ryan. That's what she made herself think as she lay herself to sleep.