The coin hit the cobbled street with a metallic clunk!
The woman halted, turning her head at the sound. Her gaze fell to the glittering gold on the ground.
"Oh?" she murmured, bending to pick it up. Her brows pinched together. "Is this, perhaps, mine?"
Jade nervously grasped the woman's hand holding the coin and remarked, "Milady, pray, do not sully such fair and delicate hands by stooping to the filth of the earth. Allow my calloused hands to carry this sullied object."
He delivered those words perfectly, with the right emotions and eloquence, yet inside him, he was cursing his missing companion. He pulled the coin from the woman instead of helping the woman stand.
Jade thought it would be settled by that, but then, the woman frowned and said, "But that's mine, isn't it? Let me check it."
Jade sweated profusely. Cold beads of sweat formed and trickled down his forehead. He gulped nervously as he furtively distanced himself from the woman.
