[Moscow] Diamonds are a girl's best friend [Valda]

Lev was nervous, and that was half of the reason that he had invited Valda with him. Yes, it was mostly under the guise of wanting female eyes for his ring search, but that was only a small portion of what he needed. Truly, he just wanted some backup. He was so sure this was what he wanted with Mihaela. He knew he wanted to marry her, but this, looking at rings, made him feel like it was real. Would she reject him? He doubted that heavily, he knew that she loved him too… but maybe it wasn’t time? Or maybe he was rushing, or reading the signs wrong or something. Maybe, heaven forbid, her father would say no.

He had spent enough time with Valda, goofing off. He had taken her to a nice lunch, had went into a few clothing and athletic shops just to waste time, but he was finally pulling her into the jewelry store, his hand on her wrist as he tugged.

“Okay, okay, I can do this.” There was something overwhelming about the selection of gleaming diamonds in front of him.  He took in a deep breath, then started to browse. He shooed away an eager attendant, telling him he would call for them when he was ready.

“God, Val, there’s so many to pick from. I dunno where to start.”

@Valda Pavlycheva

Of course she accepted his invitation to spend the day together when she heard Lev was back home. It had been some time since they'd last seen each other. Finally back home on Russian soil, she reminisced about what she had missed the most -- her friends. It had been such an adventure when she and Konrad went to Canada a month ago but she was grateful for the short break of traveling far distances. Valda planned to still visit @Mihaela  in Scoarta and then go back west to have Christmas with @Konrad and @Anders.

They'd had their fun. Valda made it a point to tell Lev all about her travels travels over lunch. She got him to talk about his new career onthe broom. While she was excited to see him succeed, she was relieved that no one ever came to her during her senior year and offered her a position on a team. That lifestyle was not for her. Lev was moving up in the world though and was preparing to take steps towards marriage. It was near impossible for her to contain her muffled squeals of excitement at the dinner.

When they got to the ring shop, a huge smile had spread across her face. Lev may have pulled her in, but she eagerly followed him. Lev had dismissed the attendant with such shortness that she felt obligated to mouth an apology and offered a shrug of her shoulders.

"I know there's a lot, but you've got to take it one rig at a time." Her big chocolate brown eyes bounced from ring to ring with lightning speed as she looked for a style that would match Miha's personality. They'd already discussed some ideas as to what Lev was considering and what his budget was. All of the glistening diamonds and shiny bands were mesmerising. Occasionally, she'd start to daydream about what would look good on her. Being here made her start to question if she would ever meet a guy who would love her the way Lev loved Miha. Those two were perfect for each other.

On more than one occasion she had to remind herself that the ring was not for her and she would continue looking through the display cases. There were probably a few thousand rings here. Any fear or worry Lev may have had about not finding the ring were going to be soothed by Valda as they surfaced. She knew they would find the right one. "How are you planning to propose?"