I sold the ring gifted by my ex. When the jeweler saw it, he said, 'This can't be true.'

After a heart-wrenching breakup, Melissa decided it was time to let go of the past, including the exquisite ring her ex had given her. With a heavy heart, she walked into a renowned jeweler's shop, hoping to part with the ring and maybe get some money in return.

As the jeweler took a closer look, his eyes widened in disbelief...

The man, Mr. Harris, gasped as he looked back up at Melissa. “Wait here, I’ll be right back,” he said, as he disappeared into a back room, taking the ring with him. Melissa was left alone at the counter, and she was a bit confused by the jeweler’s reaction.

She had owned this ring for a couple of years now, and she never noticed anything very special about it. I mean, it was a beautiful ring, for sure, but that was all there was to say about it – at least, that’s what Melissa thought. She would soon find out the truth…

She looked around the shop as she listened to the sounds coming from the back office, where Mr. Harris appeared to be rummaging through some drawers. She heard him muttering something and she assumed that he was just talking to himself, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“Is everything alright?”, she asked him, wondering if she should have gone to a different shop instead. Mr. Harries replied, “Yes, yes, I’ll be right there. Just checking something!” He was doing his best to hide the fact that he was stressed, but Melissa could clearly hear it in his voice.

She sighed and stayed at the counter, waiting for him to return. She still had no idea of the shocking discovery she was about to make. This day was going to end a lot differently than she had thought it would… And not in a good way, let me tell you.

Minutes later, she heard Mr. Harris say, “Aha! There it is,” and soon after, she heard footsteps coming closer and closer until he finally reappeared on the doorstep again. She thought that she could sell him the ring now and go home, but nothing was further from the truth.

He was holding something in his hands: a piece of paper. Melissa assumed that that was what he had been looking for, but she didn’t understand what it had to do with her ring… She tried to get a better look at it, but Mr. Harris had folded the paper in half, so she couldn’t see what was on it, and put it in his pocket.

“Miss Melissa, I hope you don’t mind, but I have to ask you a personal question,” he told her. She nodded, and he asked, “Where did you get this ring?” He looked her right in the eyes, and he had a very serious look on his face, almost strict, even.

Melissa blushed, but she didn’t know if that was because of the memory of her ex or the accusing tone in Mr. Harris’s voice. “My ex-boyfriend gave it to me a few years ago,” she replied. She explained that they weren’t together anymore and she thought it was time to get rid of this ring.

“Very well, I see…”, Mr. Harris replied, as he scratched his head. “Do you happen to know… where he got this ring?”, he asked, carefully formulating his question. Melissa shook her head and told him she had always assumed he had bought it at a jewelry store.

She never thought to ask him where he had bought her present, “That would be very odd,” she thought to herself. “Well, I actually need to discuss this with a colleague before I can buy it from you. They are on their way here right now, it shouldn’t take long until they get here. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea while you wait?”

Melissa was a little bit caught off guard because of this, but she replied, “Uhmm, yeah, sure! Why not.” She thought it probably wasn’t that weird for jewelers to ask for a second opinion in these situations, and she thought he surely wouldn’t do that if he didn’t think the ring was worth a lot of money!

She became excited at this thought, and suddenly, she didn’t mind staying a bit longer in the shop at all. She enjoyed her tea while dreaming about ways to spend the money, thinking that she was waiting for Mr. Harris’s colleague. However, she had no idea that it was not a colleague he had called… 

In the following ten minutes, not much happened. It was like the calm before the storm… A couple of other people came into the shop and looked around or even bought something before leaving again. There was not one sign of the chaos that was about to ensue.

Melissa was lost in thought when she heard the bell ring again, signaling that another customer had entered the shop. She didn’t look up to see who had walked in this time, and that was why she hadn’t seen that it was a police officer.