The atmosphere was warm with the new day’s rise. Jun slowly rolled from his bed, putting himself together as he awoke. He hadn’t really planned the day out much the night prior. He had a list of chores for himself to get done before school began, but he hadn’t put much energy into accomplishing them. But he did have one goal in mind. Buying that bracelet from the store Leia had been caught in a trance by. He wasn’t sure if he had enough cash on hand, but he wasn’t leaving that day without jewelry in hand.

He finished getting dressed, grabbed his keys and wallet, and made his way back to Seattle. The drive was longer than usual. Sunday morning meant everyone was trying to get to the city early, thinking that they could avoid the traffic if they hit the road sooner. Unfortunately for them all, that was not an original line of thinking.

No one gets the worm if everyone is an early bird. It was a bit of a drudge to get anywhere. But Jun was able to find his way through it. He pulled off onto the exit and made his way to the same parking garage from before. He couldn’t remember the name of the store, but he was good at retracing his steps.

He made his way down the way he and Leia did the days prior. Walking street to street, corner to corner, until he finally came upon the boutique they found themselves in.

He walked in with a gentle kind of vigor. He didn’t want to disturb the shop, but he was on a mission, and he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of accomplishing it. He looked around the shop, trying to find the piece Leia had been fixated on. But something seemed off.

“Everything is…in different places” he said under his breath.

The store wasn’t very large, but it had many a piece. From dresses to handbags to antique silverware, strewn about neatly on little displays. Finding one piece of jewelry in this kerfuffle was going to be a task, but Jun was up for it.

He perused the store's selection, as if he was looking for anything else. He thought he had found it a few times before, but it wasn’t the same one. He still had the picture of it he took on his phone. He kept looking with great effort, but with no luck. He was beginning to lose hope, thinking someone had bought it before him. But right as he was about to give up, a comforting voice chimed in.

“Young man, are you looking for something?”.

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Jun looked to his left. It was an older lady in a cardigan, walking up to him.

“Um, yeah actually” he responded. “You wouldn’t still happen to have this, would you?” he asked, pulling up the image on his phone. The old shopkeeper looked at the photo inquisitively.

“Hmm…” she pondered. “Oh yes! Hold one moment, I recently re-organized the shop, so I had some things moved to the back until I had a better place for them.”.

The lady shuffled to the counter, past the curtained doorway behind it.

“Just one moment young man, I'll be right back!” she exclaimed.

“No need to rush ma’am, I'm just glad you still have it!”.

It was a few moments before she returned. But once she did, a smile was strewn across Jun’s face.

“You’ve got a good eye young man. This piece has been sitting in my shop for a while now. I couldn't tell you why, I think it’s quite a beautiful piece.” said the shopkeeper.

“I’m one to agree” responded Jun. “Now, to the fun part,” said Jun sarcastically. “How deep in the hole is this going to put me?”.

The shopkeeper chuckled at his witty question. “Well, I saw you come in the other day with a beautiful young woman. Your girlfriend I assume?” asked the lady.

Jun paused for a second, partly wishing he could say yes.

“Eh…not exactly, not…not yet.” Spoke Jun shyly.

“Aww, well point is, I see what you’re trying to do. And for that, I’ll cut you a deal.” said the shopkeeper.

“175 and it’s all yours. Now that may seem like a lot, but that’s quite a deal when it comes to pearls.” exclaimed the lady.

That number caused a deep feeling in the pit of Jun’s stomach. He could afford it, but it was a lot more than he could justify. Especially for a girl he had only just met recently. Even so, he pulled out his wallet and asked the lady behind the counter

“Do you take card?”.

With that, he was now 175 dollars poorer, but had the apple of Leia’s eye in his possession. As he walked out the door, the sun shone through the thick cloud cover of the Seattle skyline, and those pearls glistened in the light like a halo atop an angel in Jun’s hand.

With his main objective accomplished, Jun grabbed a coffee before heading back to his car to get the rest of his self allotted chores out of the way for the day. As he made his way back to his dorm, he thought of how he would present Leia with the bracelet. He went through several scenarios in his head, each one more theatrical than the next.

He made himself cringe with every iteration of the scenario. He eventually gave up on the idea, and just decided to figure it out when he got to that point. “I haven’t even properly asked her out on a date yet.” he thought to himself. With that, he ignored the idea and focused on the road ahead of him.

After a while waiting in what felt like unending traffic, he made his way back to the dormitory after squeezing into his parking spot. He grabbed the small bag the bracelet was in delicately, then walked back to his room. He thought about where he could put the piece in the meantime, wanting to keep it safe and away from any danger. He eventually decided on a small empty box he had with him. He put it in and stowed it away in his drawers. With that, he began going down the list of menial tasks he needed to get done before school started the next day.