Amused, Luke inserted another memory card into the camera and showed Elsa one of the pictures. “Does this look like a picture that was taken secretly?”.
Elsa was surprised to see the picture. “Did you hire a professional photographer?”
She wasn’t suspicious anymore, because Elena was naked in the picture, but her intimate parts weren’t exposed. It was clearly a carefully staged shot.
Luke chuckled. “This is her own work. All I needed to do was press the button. She’s very good with photos. As for me, check this one out.”
He put the first memory card back into the camera and showed Elsa a picture.
Elsa was rendered speechless when she saw it.
Luke shook his head with a smile. “No, you don’t understand my marvelous photo-taking skills. That’s why you think that I took them secretly. But look at them…” He showed her a few more pictures.
Elsa laughed out loud. “Haha… you… haha. Fine. I’ll never ever let you take a photo of me.”
Luke shrugged. “You know that everybody has flaws. It seems that mine is a lack of talent in photography.”
Elsa couldn’t agree more.
In the pictures that Luke showed her, the girl either looked like a ghost in a white cloak or had her eyes closed.
When she grimaced, it distorted her features; Elsa wouldn’t have recognized her if it wasn’t for her clothes.
Compared with that, the pictures of the girl when she was drowsy or blurry were Luke’s best work.
Luke and Elsa fell into an easy camaraderie once more after making fun of each other.
When Luke’s plane left Paris, Elena woke up in her apartment.
She called out to Luke subconsciously, and suddenly remembered that he had left.
The heater in the apartment was on, making her feel a little hot.
Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, Elena was at a loss. “In any case, he’s gone.”
After a long daze, she finally got up.
Naked, Elena made coffee in the kitchen.
Luke had bought dozens of the best coffee bean varieties with the illegal money in his personal space as he traveled around Paris; he claimed that he liked coffee, and especially the coffee which Elena made.
Now, a hundred bags or so of coffee beans worth two thousand euros were piled up in Luke’s apartment.
Elena felt that they might last her for the next two years.
She could drink the coffee to remind her of Luke.
After the coffee was done, Elena returned to her room to take another look at the two contrasting sketches she had done of Luke.
Placing the sketches on her easel, she lowered her head to pour the coffee.
Just now, she had put the coffee pot on the table without looking at it.
But when she lowered her head now, she noticed a box, a note and a key on the table.
Had Luke left them there?
The key was for Luke’s apartment, which she had given to him earlier on.
But the box and the note were unfamiliar. After reading the note, Elena knew that it was definitely Luke.
The note said: For the warmest sunshine in cold Paris!
That was something Luke had said to her before. He said that it wasn’t freezing for him on the cold streets of Paris because she warmed him up like sunshine.
Elena thought that Luke was referring to her helping him find a place to stay, although Luke didn’t really seem to need it.
But she cherished Luke’s words to her.
Women always had a remarkable memory for the compliments that men gave them.
She looked at the note for a long time before she finally put it down.
Then, she slowly opened the box that was the size of her palm.
Elena was immediately shocked by the resplendent necklace that lay inside.
She murmured, “Is this glass or crystal?” A folded piece of paper then fell out of the box.
She unfolded it in confusion, only to discover that it was a legitimate invoice with the amount €148,000 listed on it.
Elena was stunned for a long while. “Diamond?”
She searched the box and found a folded certificate in it that proved the authenticity and value of the diamond necklace.
Was she dreaming?
Elena knew that she was pretty, but only in an average way. Born into an ordinary family, she wasn’t as eye-catching as girls from the upper-class families.
She had approached Luke only because she had been attracted to the conflicting vibe that he gave off.
How could a man who was willing to live in an illegally-constructed apartment be rich?
However, Elena knew that Luke wouldn’t fake a certificate and an invoice to make fun of her.
What was the point of fooling her now, when he was returning to Los Angeles? Chances were that they would never meet again.
Elena was even more confused at this thought.
Had he left such an expensive gift for her because he really liked her?
Sitting at the table naked, Elena held the necklace in one hand and the certificate in the other.
A long time later, she took a deep breath. “It’s decided, then. I’ll try to graduate in two years, then go to Los Angeles. It’ll be easier to make money there.”
The necklace would probably be enough for her to cover the tuition fees for an Ivy League school.
Luke was already asleep on the plane, without the faintest idea that his generosity before his departure had changed a girl’s future.
He had bought the expensive necklace in a jewelry store in Chinatown after his return for Marseilles.
He bought the necklace as a farewell present for Elena, not wholly because she was beautiful, but because of what he said in the note, although Elena didn’t quite understand
what he meant.
On this trip to Paris, Luke had earned more than ten thousand experience and credit points from a few major purges. It was a major harvest.
He had also activated his inventory and expanded it to one cubic meter, which was an important achievement.
In the meantime, however, his mental state had deteriorated after his killing spree.