Chapter 2: One Month Before.
"Molly, get up."
"Molly!"
"MOLLLY HOOPER, GET OUT OF YOUR BED THIS VERY INSTANT!" Molly's colleague, Jane said, throwing the curtains open and pulling her friend up.
"Why? There's nothing for me to live for out there." Molly grumbled.
"You seriously need to get a grip on yourself, woman. Sherlock never even looked twice at you. And now you're moping just because of his death. I've never seen anything like it before." Jane said.
That's because you don't know the full story. Molly thought darkly.
"So, I've got two tickets to that fancy nightclub that the royal family go to all the time. What's it called..? Oh yeah. The Mahiki or something other. And I've set you up on a blind date." Jane said gleefully.
"what?" Molly yelled, falling out of bed. She twisted Sherlock's ring nervously around her finger.
"Yes, I'm serious. Now go and take a nice, hot bath, it's already five. Out date is at 7." Jane said, shoving Molly into the bathroom.
1 hour later, and Jane had done her magic so well that Molly could hardly recognize herself.
"Whoa. Is that me?" Molly giggled at her reflection.
"You look great! I bet that you're going to knock your blind date senseless. You are gorgeous! " Jane complimented.
"Thanks Jane. I haven't had so much fun in... in... ages." Molly said.
"That's what friends do." Jane winked, and they linked arms, and went out.
"How do I look?" a man said, twirling around in front of a mirror.
"Wonderful, my lord." another woman said, leaning back in her chair.
"That's what you always say, Vanessa." The man said, turning arounf=d to face her.
"Well, it is what you are." She smiled.
"Very well then. I'm out to catch my prey and avenge my family. So long..." the man said, turning to the door.
"Goodbye...Chris Smallwood. " Vanessa said.
The atmosphere in the club was electric. You could hardly go in without feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline.
Molly felt the same electric, and she grew perfectly reckless, downing drink after drink and flirting shamelessly.
"Hello." She heard someone say. Then she turned around to see an extremely handsome man standing directly behind her.
"Helloo..." she purred, having absolutely no inhibitions today.
"Have a drink..." Jane slurred, already drunk.
"Nah. Hi Jane. This must be the lovely girl you were telling me about. Hello. I'm Chris Smallwood."
"Molly Hooper." Molly said, already under the spell of his voice.
"Why don't we go have some dinner?" Chris suggested.
"Sure...but what about Jane?" Molly said, already miraculously sober.
"I've seen her stoned worse. She'll be fine." Chris winked. Then he took Molly by the hand out and they went.
Dinner was spectacular. Chris was kind, charming, handsome... Everything that Molly looked for in a guy.
But there was someone she couldn't stop thinking of.
Sherlock.
She pushed him to the back of her mind impatiently. He wasn't here anymore, and she had to move on.
So, when Chris spotted her ring...
"Molly, are you engaged?" he asked, apprehensively.
"No, why?" Molly asked.
"You have a ring."
"Oh... This old thing? It's nothing." Molly looked at it. The flawless sapphire, Sherlock and her initials cut into the band of metal...
And she took it off.
"There. Does that make you feel better?" Molly teased. She slipped the ring into her pocket, felling a pang of hurt. She ignored it and continued flirting.
But she didn't know the full story.