The young man sized up Stella with a look of obvious surprise first, then spoke slowly, "Miss, as far as I know, this crystal figurine doesn't belong to you."
She gave a calm, easy smile, her face open and unguarded as she replied, "You're right, it's not mine. I accidentally broke it, so I came to ask if the store counter can fix it."
Her answer clearly left him even more stunned.
Just as he was about to speak again, the salesclerk who had gone to make a phone call earlier walked back.
She addressed Stella with a deeply apologetic look, "I'm sorry, but based on my description, headquarters says they can't provide repair services right now. But if you'd like to buy a new figurine, we can offer you our exclusive VIP discount."
Long story short, they couldn't fix the old one, but they'd
