Lords of the Rings

So Sean and I went ring hunting today. We'd always wanted to get a pair of rings for some time now but had been putting it off for a while for a variety of reasons ranging from plain inertia to our ever-present financial woes. And as we wanted the rings to be something that we'd wear and would last, those tacky cheap stainless-steel couple rings you see on sale at your average small booth were out of the question.

Naturally, the added mental obstacle of two guys stepping into the branch of a branded jewellery chain and asking to see and try on the various men's' rings from the wedding rings collection was already a little daunting to me. To Sean, the usually more thin-skinned (regarding such matters) of the two of us, the prospect must be well nigh terrifying. Though he'd never admit that fact.

Anyhow, we decided to do some real shopping today, since the horrendous queues at the various food outlets at AMK Hub around eight at night promised to make dinner a tiresome affair. SK jewellery got firmly ruled out (don't ask why-I'm clueless); Citigems had one miserable crummy booth, right smack in the middle of the teeming mass of human traffic, a definite no -no. We settled on Lee-Hwa, which looked nice and presentable sans the bevvy of sales attendants that plague the entrances of other chains, most notably Taka Jewellery. Shudders.

So steeling ourselves, we walked in and when approached by the sales attendant asked to see the men's' rings upon which she immediately directed us to the wedding rings collections. She was chatty, showing off the various rings and explaining the difference between the styles and different precious metals used. Sean remained awfully quiet for the longest period of time so I was basically just talking to her and pointing out the various rings which I thought he might like.

The poor girl must have thought Sean was totally uninterested cause he remained relatively mute even after she'd taken out about 4-5 different rings from various shelves, that she kept asking ," So how? Any style you prefer?" I got a little worried too because frankly the prices of $600 and above were a little startling and the combined sum of my current bank accounts couldn't even pay for one ring let alone two; plus I had no idea if he was just window shopping first- he had that bloody mask on his face again.

It was only after the girl left for a short while to get yet another design when he suddenly turned to me and asked, "So which one do you like? Hurry up decide, how about this? (the ring we settled for)" that I knew he was serious about buying the rings. It's strange but throughout the entire course of 1.5 hours from when we first walked in to when we left the shop after making the purchases, the sales attendant never figured out that we were a gay couple.

One would have thought otherwise and indeed I thought she knew and was simply conducting business on a 'I know, you know, who cares' basis. I mean I would think it's pretty obvious when two guys walk into a jewellery shop, ask to see men's rings from the wedding rings section, want the same ring, try it on the same finger of the same hand and pay for the rings together; that they're not your average buddy/pals simply looking for the same ring.

It was only when she was going through the discounts and other payment details that I realised she remained utterly clueless as to our status even going as far to mention that "...you can decide to give the free wedding ring pillow to your girlfriend or female friends.." So anyway, because my ring finger is apparently just one size above the largest female size (sad but true... his ring finger size is my middle finger size, about 4 sizes bigger ^^), mine needs to be custom made which means a 3 month waiting period.

3 months before we officially seal our commitment to each other and this eventful relationship. In the meanwhile, we're really broke, Sean for footing the close to $1300 bill for the rings while I'll need to find half that sum to pay for his. Else it won't make much sense, would it? Or maybe not. Grins. I'm kidding, I'll pay for yours dear. Now, along with the astronomical prices I've been spending on food at work thus far and the upcoming PLC, all I need to do is to eat grass for a few more months than originally planned.