On a Friday afternoon. Estella was joined with her daughter Bailey browsing the mall on their day off. Estella usually worked Tuesday through Thursday and Bailey's class was canceled due to the teacher falling ill, so their schedules seemed perfect aligned for them. Plenty of time for weekend outings, as well as anything else they loved to do. Out of everything though, both women certainly loved to shop. And what more fun was it to shop with your oldest daughter?
As they shopped around, the women stopped in Estella's favorite store to look around and to grab some cute tops, with most of them probably for next season. Bailey did manage to convince Estella to buy more see-through tops as well, finding it a waste to not show off. Bailey did had to admit her mother had a nice body for her age. Estella also needed a new pair of comfortable shoes to wear to work, so that meant that she was going to be making multiple stops during this shopping trip, not that she would mind. As a nurse, she was on her feet a lot, so she needed a comfortable pair of walking shoes that gave her good support and wouldn't leave her back aching after a long days work. However Bailey did convince her to buy a pair of pumps for the occasional office party she had to go to with Antonio.
Estella even managed to get a cute lingerie set she could wear for Antonio, for their intimate times. They had met when she was 19 and he was 23, and married when she was 21 and he was 25. Throughout the years, their sex life had never really diminished, even as their bodies changed with time. She had put on some weight, but mostly in favorable places, as her breasts were as big they had ever been, and her ass remained luscious. Bailey helped her pick something up and Estella bought some lingerie for her. Even though Bailey didn't have a boyfriend (yet), Bailey didn't say no to some nice lingerie (especially if Estella was paying for it, which she did).
After they completed their purchases for the day, the women were cheerfully talking towards the parking garage, going on about their purchases. As they approached the garage, a neon-like sign caught Estella's eye, one that wasn't there when they came in. She could've swore that the shop was a vacant spot earlier, but now it clearly wasn't, as it was stocked with merchandise from what she could see. Estella looked up and read the sign:
"Realm Gifts & Novelties. Hm, interesting. They must've been closed when I got here." she shrugged. Bailey came closer too. "I never noticed this store before."
As both women scanned through the windows of the store, Estella had a bit of an odd feeling inside. She couldn't explain it, but she felt that something was drawing her to the store, almost pulling her. She had this feeling towards most stores, however, so the feeling wasn't something new. Never one to turn down a good deal, Estella grabbed Bailey's hand and happily paraded into the store.
The store was surprisingly dark, despite how well-lit the rest of the mall was. Estella credited it to the store's ambiance, which she attributed it to portraying a Harry Potter type look. Behind an ancient looking counter, stood a middle-aged Korean woman, with pale skin and kind eyes. She smiled at Estella, and welcomed her into the store.
"Hello there dears, what brings you in to my Realm today?" the woman said.
"Oh nothing really! Just looking to browse your wares!" Estella answered with a smile, as her eyes continued to wander the shelves.
"Yeah, this place is amazing! Bailey said as she was looking around as well.
"Just so you know, everything here is up for sell. If you find it, just ask me"
Estella thanked the woman, and really started to look around while Bailey was going into another section. The stores inventory had all sorts of international items that Estella had never heard of before, with most of them luckily coming with English translations. She was curious to see if there any skin care remedies that she could try out, as her time from wearing a mask for 12 hours in the ICU tended to do more harm than good to her skin. She'd come across small jars of foreign liquids with labels that said one thing, but couldn't possibly it. This deterred her from choosing most of the would-be "skin care" options.
While searching, she came a small box that typically would carry a ring, or earrings. Curious to what may be inside, she opened it up and to her surprise, were four of the most fascinating rings that she'd ever seen. They looked like black wedding bands that men would typically wear, but on the band were black crystals that shone even in the dark. The illumination of the rings put Estella in a would-be trance, before she shook herself out of it. Their glow really jumped out to her and she instinctively reached out and grabbed the box. She searched, and looked all over the shelf, but couldn't find a price tag. Still determined to get the rings, she took it over to the worker at the counter.
"Hi! I was wondering how much these rings were?", Estella asked.
The lady looked down at the rings and smiled, and stuck her hand out for the box. "Oh, was there no tag?", she said as she opened the box, and stared at the rings.
"No, not from where I was looking. Should be on the house then huh?", Estella joked. Out of the million times she'd said that to retail workers, it'd failed about a million times. However, the woman's gaze met Estella's and made her think that this may be the turning point for that joke.
"Precisely!" the woman said, sliding the box over towards Estella.
Estella gasped, that had never worked before! "Huh? what? really? that one never works!"
The worker laughed and said, "Those of the Rings of Gyohwan! Very special in our culture. They are said to bring loved ones together like never before imagined, understanding life through their eyes."
The explanation was enough for Estella. She loved her family and those around her and a nice little trinket like this would be a nice gift for one of them. Bailey was already here so she would have one as well. All that mattered was deciding who got to wear the other two rings.
"Say no more ma'am, I'll take it. Are you sure I don't have to pay?"
"Yes, Mrs. Ruiz. Now go enjoy them with your family and those around you."
Estella grabbed the box, thanked the worker, and with Bailey in tow strode out of the store, on their merry way. Now, Estella Ruiz was by no means a stupid woman, but she could be quite oblivious sometimes. Quite oblivious to the point that she didn't catch on to the fact that she never gave the woman her last name, or how the storefront evaporated as she turned her back to it and walked to her car.
At Home
Estella pulled into the driveway, and put her car in park. She had a serious conundrum on her hands. Who was she going to give the ring to?
"Hey mom, who should we give the other two rings to?" Bailey asked her.
"Hmm, I don't know dear. I mean we could give them to your father, your sister or brother. Or we could give it to one of our neighbors or our friends."
"Yeah, I get what you mean.
It was all she could think about on the way home. She had such a deep and emphatic love for each of her family members, and didn't want anybody feeling left out. That was perhaps the reason she thought of giving the other rings to their neighbors or shared friends they had.
"Why does there only have to be 4 rings?" she complained, thinking hard about who should get half of her latest shopping find.
She sighed, "Fine, we'll just give the rings to:"
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