Dahlia was genuinely curious
about Dustin's past. After getting to know him better these days, she fou
nd that he was indeed a mystery.
"It's along story." Dustin shook his head.
"Alright, I'll be here whenever
you feel like talking about it." Dahlia gave him a warm smile.
"Sure." Dustin nodded.
"It's getting colder these days. Let's go to the mall to get some new
clothes for winter," Dahlia suggested.
"Sure, we can get some new clothes, but I'll have you know, I'm broke!" D
ustin shrugged.
"Ugh! What a miser!" Dahlia rolled her eyes. "I'll pay for everything tod
ay. Will that do?"
"Why, thank you, Ms. Nicholson!" Without another word, Dustin hurried off
to bring the
car over. It's been three years since they got married, but they rarely w
ent out shopping together.
The moment they left, Florence immediately took out the sapphire and had
a good look at it. "Oh, my precious honeybunch of a sapphire! What luck I
'm in today!"
The more she studied it, the more she loved it.
"Aunt Florence, what are you looking at?" Right then, Julie walked in.
"Julie! You've come at just the right time! Come have a look at this!" Fl
orence showed off the sapphire to Julie and handed it to her.
"A sapphire?" When Julie had a good look at it, her voice raised a pitch
and she sounded so excited. "Aunt Florence, where did you get such an eno
rmous sapphire? It must be worth a fortune!
"Haha! You might not believe this, but it was Dustin's father who gave th
is to me." Florence beamed proudly.
"What? Dustin's father?" Julie was shocked and could not believe her ears
. "Aunt Florence, didn't you say
that Dustin's as broke as can be? How can his father afford to give you s
omething so precious?"
"I find it strange too." Florence rubbed her chin. "I was wondering if Du
stin secretly came from a wealthy family. Maybe he's just kept a low prof
ile all this while so we never noticed."
"Him? The son of a wealthy family? Does he look like one?" Julie wondered
out loud.
"If he isn't, then how can his father afford to give me such a huge sapph
ire just like that?" Florence continued to expound on the situation.
"Aunt Florence, let's put that aside for now. The matter of utmost import
ance now is whether you've found someone to verify if the sapphire's genu
ine?" Julie piped up.
"But it's so pretty! It can't be
a fake gem, can it? Besides, Dustin's father said this is a family heirlo
om!" Florence refused to believe that the gem could be a fake.
"Aunt Florence, how can you
believe everything he says? You're too gullible! For safety's sake, it's
best if you get it appraised! You never know if it's a sham!" Julie insti
gated.
"You're right." Florence nodded. "But where should I get it appraised?"
"Don't you worry, Aunt Florence. I know just
the right person to get it appraised. Just let me have the sapphire for a
while, and we'll soon have our answer," Julie affirmed confidently.
"Alright, then. I'll be waiting." Florence did not doubt Julie even for a
moment, and passed the sapphire along with the box it came with to her.
Half an hour later, in the gemological laboratory.
"What? This is a genuine sapphire worth billions? You–
you're not mistaken, are you?" Julie was dumbfounded when she heard the r
esults.
"We've run multiple tests on it. It can't be wrong. In fact, this is an e
xtremely rare variety of sapphire. If it were to be auctioned, the
starting bid would be one billion, at the very least," the expert apprais
er told her.
"Great! This is just great! We've struck gold this time!" Julie burst
out laughing. A sapphire worth billions! How did they run into such luck?
Just then, Julie's phone rang. She answered the call. It was Florence.
"Hello, Julie. How did the appraisal go? Is it a genuine sapphire?"
"O–
of course it's… It's a fake one!" An idea came to Julie. She feigned disa
ppointment. "Aunt Florence, you've been
deceived by Dustin and his father! I just had the sapphire appraised. The
y confirmed that it's just a synthetic gemstone. It'll just cost you mayb
e 20 or 30 dollars to get your hands on one. It's
trash. I've thrown it away!"
"What? It's synthetic? Those darned
loafers! How dare they trick me! I'll make them pay!" She let out a curse
and cut the call.