His words made Hank look annoyed. “I’ve passed TEF. How dare you criticize my pronunciation! Think you can speak French fluently?”
“Exactly!” Snowy echoed, “You are just a beggar. How dare you criticize my fiance. I’m afraid you even didn’t understand what he said earlier.”
Ignoring her, Robin looked at the waitress and ordered several dishes in fluent French. Hank was startled. Snowy mocked, “Why are you talking nonsense to the waitress? Can she understand it?”
“Mister, are you from Paris?” the waitress suddenly asked in surprise. “I seldom heard anyone speaking such fluent French in Kisia. I wonder if you were born in France.”
All the waiters and waitresses could speak English to interact with the diners better. However, they greeted the diners in French to enhance the restaurant’s environment.
“No, I’m not.”
Robin slightly shook his head.
Snowy and Hank gaped at them in disbelief. They heard what Robin said and the waitress’ words. Snowy didn’t understand French, but Hank did.
It turned out Robin spoke standard French, even fluenter than Hank’s French teacher.
In anger, Snowy held her arms across her chest in silence.
The waitress left, and the dishes were served shortly. While munching, Snowy showed off her engagement ring. “Elise, how do you like my ring? Hank gave it to me at our engagement ceremony. It’s from a series of LV & Co., two carats, more than 60, 000 dollars. You must have never seen such a big diamond, huh? After all, Robin Bailey is too poor.”
The crystal clear diamond sparkled on her ring finger.
Elise subconsciously wanted to hide her Carmen red. After all, the ring was from Robin. Once Snowy recognized it was artificial, she would embarrass Robin on the scene. However, Snowy was watching her, so she noticed it.
“Elise, what’s that?”
She grabbed Elise’s hand, looking up at her ring curiously. “This ring should be the unique treasure of LV & Co., named Heart of Passion. It stands for a man’s forever love for his woman. The size and color match that one. 12 carats. I heard this would cost at least two million dollars. You lucky girl, Elise!”
Then she asked in implication, “Who gave this ring to you? It’s a wedding ring. Your husband is sitting next to you, isn’t he?”
She implied the ring was from another man to Elise to drive a wedge between her and Robin.
However, Elise took Robin’s hand and answered, “It’s from him. I’ll never wear a ring from another man.”
“From Robin Bailey?”
Snowy darted at Robin and was intrigued. “Elise, this ring isn’t for sale in LV & Co. How did he get this ring? An artificial one?”
“I…” Elise didn’t know how to answer.
She thought it was artificial and knew it was not good for her health. After Robin gave it to her, she accepted it and never put it away. However, she couldn’t admit it was artificial in public.
“An artificial ring costs only 10 bucks in the market. This one is artificial Carmen red, and it’s harmful to your health. You’d better toss such junk away. By the way, you can also dump the man who gave it to you. He must have aimed at your money and wanted to harm you,” Hank chimed in, full of implication, although he didn’t mention Robin’s name.
He had suffered a loss while showing off his French, so he wanted to embarrass Robin.
Stroking the ring, Elise didn’t take it off.
“Elise, why are you still wearing it? It’s fake and harmful to your health. Look at my diamond. Isn’t it extremely crystal and shiny? Hurry! Take it off!”
Snowy raised her hand to show off her ring.
“How do you know it’s fake?” Elise asked, gritting her teeth.
As long as Snowy didn’t have evidence, Elise could insist the ring was real. Then Robin wouldn’t be embarrassed.
“Well, there’s a jewelry appraiser in this restaurant.”
Hank chuckled as if he was waiting for Elise to ask. Then he flicked his hand to a waiter and exchanged a few words with him. Shortly after, a man with gray hair in a tuxedo walked to them elegantly. “Good day, misters and misses. I’m a professional jewelry appraiser specializing in identifying diamonds. At your service.”
French was known as a romantic country, and LV & Co. was one of the most famous companies in this country. Therefore, each French restaurant hired a jewelry appraiser.
“Can you tell me how much my ring costs?”
Snowy immediately reached her hand to him, the diamond sparkling.
“Please allow me to take a closer look.”
The jewelry appraiser took off the ring and studied it carefully. Half a minute later, he returned it to Snowy and answered, “Ma’am, your ring is a product from LV & Co. It costs around 60, 000 dollars.”
“Exactly. Ehn. You are indeed professional.”
Snowy took over her ring joyfully. Hank spent 60, 000 dollars on this ring. They didn’t know this jewelry appraiser earlier, which meant he was a professional one.
“Also, please help us identify this Carmen red.”
Snowy hinted at Elise and emphasized the words “Carmen red.”
“No, thanks.”
Elise tossed her hair stiffly. She was unwilling to admit it was fake earlier to avoid embarrassing Robin. However, if the jewelry appraiser confirmed it was artificial, Robin would be disgraced indeed.
He bought an artificial ring to propose to her, which would be a laughingstock in Stillwater.
“Don’t be shy, Elise. We know this is real. Why don’t you let the jewelry appraiser give us a price estimation? We’ve never seen such a huge Carmen red before.”
Since Snowy insisted aggressively, Elise had to take off the ring.
Unlike Snowy’s ring, the jewelry appraiser studied it for five minutes from different angles. He even pulled out a magnifier.
“Look. Only a fake one will take him such a long time. My ring is real, so he can tell it shortly after a few seconds,” Snowy nudged Elise and chuckled.
She could imagine how embarrassed Elise was after the result was announced.
The jewelry appraiser happened to finish identifying the ring and put down the magnifier. Snowy looked over at him and asked, “Sir, is this an artificial one? Is it worth five bucks?”
The jewelry appraiser shook his head.
Snowy burst into laughter. “This ring isn’t even worth five bucks. Haha… How hilarious! Elise, look what kind of ring your husband has bought you…”
Elise clenched her fists under the table.
However, before Snowy finished mocking, the jewelry appraiser interrupted her, “This ring isn’t worth five bucks but 10 million dollars.”