When Her "Death" Couldn't Break Him

When Cecilia saw the message from Eloise, she didn't respond. Meanwhile, Eloise waited anxiously, growing more uneasy the longer she heard nothing back. "Why isn't she answering my messages? Is she at work or something?"

Left with no choice, Eloise waited in silence.

From the afternoon until nightfall, not a single word came from Cecilia. Growing desperate, Eloise kept sending more messages. Ten minutes passed, then an hour, and still no reply.

Her anxiety mounting, she finally tried calling Cecilia. When Cecilia saw the incoming call, she set her phone aside and turned to Charlotte. "Lottie, can you head over to the mall and find the store manager?"

Charlotte looked confused. "Boss, didn't you say we weren't going to help her?”

Cecilia smiled. "It's not about helping her. We just need to save face, in case this ends up reflecting on us. Tell the brand's owner that I don't have any kind of close relationship with Eloise, and that he should just handle things professionally."

"Got it." Charlotte understood right away and headed off to carry out the request.

Once Charlotte left, quite some time passed before Cecilia finally returned Eloise's call. When Eloise picked up, she let out a silent sigh of relief. "Ceci, you finally answered."

"Sorry," Cecilia replied, "I've been swamped all day. Just saw your messages and your call."

"Is everything okay? Did you manage to sort out that favor I asked about?" Eloise asked carefully, clearly nervous.

Cecilia paused before replying. "I spoke with the store owner. But he mentioned that once those clothes are returned, they can't be resold. That would be a straight-up loss for them."

“Huh?” Eloise felt like the ground had fallen out from beneath her. She had assumed that as long as Cecilia stepped in, it would all be handled easily. But now...

"Ceci, is there no way to return them?" Eloise pressed on.

Cecilia looked out into the pitch-dark sky. "It's not that you can't return anything at all. Bring the clothes in and let the owner take a look. He did say that some might be returnable."

"Really? That's great. I'll head over right now."

Without so much as a thank-you, Eloise hurried to pack up the pile of clothes she'd bought the day before and rushed off to the mall.

Inside the mall, the cold hit her hard. When she arrived, the store owner looked clearly displeased.

"We did have an agreement, you know. Once these items are sold, there's no return or exchange. You're putting me in a tough spot here."

Eloise's face burned hot with embarrassment. She didn't want to refuse outright, but this wasn't even her money. Her husband and mother-in-law had made it clear that they had no intention of footing the bill.

"Sorry, but these clothes just don't suit me."

"If you'd mentioned that yesterday, we wouldn't have sold them to you. Plus, we checked the store footage You snatched those pieces from Ms. Smith who clearly wanted them.

She let it go without a fuss, but how can you justify causing a loss to us just to save face?" The owner's tone was calm and deliberate. noveldrama

Eloise had no response. She silently cursed Cecilia.

Didn't you say you'd already spoken to the boss? Weren't some of the items

supposed to be returnable? Why is he still giving me a hard time?

"I'm sorry, really am." Eloise could only keep apologizing. Then, trying to shift things, she mentioned Cecilia. "It was my cousin, Ceci, who asked me to return these. She said she'd already talked to you."

She was hoping to use Cecilia's name to gain some leverage. But the boss already knew from Charlotte that their relationship wasn't close at all. If they had a real bond, then why had Eloise snatched a dressCecilia had obviously wanted?