@clandestinare asked: “Bet ye thought I’d forget, huh?”
With a grin, Corentin presented to Alice a neatly-wrapped box with a ribbon on top. Inside it, a collection of gourmet chocolates he had personally arranged. All in all, it cost a few hundred. Made sense, since most of the things were imported, but still.
And attached to the ribbon was a gold necklace he’d made himself. Simple in design, the little diamond pendant was meant to compliment her features, rather than distract.
“Happy White Day, Alice.”
She never expected people to remember about white day outside of Japan, so getting something back did come as a pleasant surprise. And getting a gift from Corey was more than enough to keep her happy for the rest of the upcoming week. “You know you didn’t have to, right? But thank you!” Accepting the box with a bright smile, she was going to start unwrapping it immediately, but caught sight of something shiny in the ribbon.
Her eyes widened when she realized what it was. Setting the box down, she carefully removed the ribbon instead, and pulled the gorgeous necklace free from where it’d been attached. “Corey...” His name fell from her lips in an awed breath as she held the stunning piece preciously in her hand. The box of chocolates alone had already looked far too expensive. But a gold necklace with a diamond pendant? And then the most important question of all: “Did you make it..?” If it’d been bought in a jewelry store, she would insist on returning it, but if this was something he’d made specially for her? She couldn’t part with it even if he wanted it back.
Taking a moment to try and calm her racing heart, Alice looked up at her childhood friend - all grown up and exceedingly charming, giving her a gift straight out of a fairy tale book - and she couldn’t do anything other than wrap her arms around him and hug him tight, burying her face in his chest so he couldn’t see how touched she was. “This is so not an equivalent exchange.” Her voice was muffled by the fine fabric of his coat until she pulled away enough to be able to tilt her head up so she could stare at him. “I love it so much. But I just made you some sweets, silly. You didn’t have to go this hard.”