Riches in Disguise

It was just as Ryan expected. He felt himself tremble when he heard the sales

associate announce the numbers after Lina brought a towering amount of clothes to the counter. The bill was about 28 thousand dollars.

"Ryan, get over here!"noveldrama

Sadly for him, Lina was so riled up that she wasn't about to cease her one-sided competition with me.

Therefore, Lina would definitely block him if Ryan couldn't pay the bill today. When that happened, no amount of pandering would get him back into her good graces.

His knees wobbled as he reluctantly trudged toward the counter. Then, he slowly flipped his wallet open and took his credit card out. "Ahem, 2,800 for this card."

Then, he took out another card. "900 for this one."

In the end, he used three cards just to settle the 28 thousand dollar bill.

I shook my head at him in sympathy. Why bother putting a bold front in the first place?

He would go this far just to satisfy Lina's pride and gain her temporary favor. In exchange, he would have to budget his spending drastically for a few months. Once Lina noticed that, there was no way she would give him the time of day.

Ryan immediately tugged Lina away from us after settling the bill. "Lina, I suddenly remember I have something to attend to. Let's take care of that before anything else. Come along." Then, he dashed toward the entrance with her in tow.

"Hey, wait a second! William, just you wait! You too, Felicia! You-"

It seemed that Lina still had plenty of things to hurl at Felicia and I. Alas, Ryan wasn't about to give her that chance to finish her tirade. He was probably terrified I would buy another 10 outfits.

Once they were gone, Felicia turned to me with a resigned look on her face. "You spent so much money just to spite them. Is it worth it?"

I grinned. "My mother has earned almost 30 thousand dollars today. How is it not worth it?" Still, she probably didn't care for such spare change.

Felicia's worries didn't lessen during our journey back to our university. "William, you claim your mother owns that establishment. Were you being honest?"

"I was." Since it had gotten this far, I didn't see a point in keeping secrets.

"To be honest, my family's quite well off. I didn't say anything about it because no one would believe me and I don't like the attention.

"I also don't want to end up like Joshua. He's surrounded by sycophants who are only out for his money. He doesn't even have a friend to call his own. Felicia, do you believe me?"

Felicia nodded solemnly. "I do. You bought so many subs for me on my stream. You even got me so many outfits. You couldn't possibly afford all that with your prize money.

"Besides, I've long noticed that whatever you're wearing is the real deal. So, I trust you."

I smiled and patted her head. "It's fine if you don't believe me. Still, you have to believe me when I say I sincerely think of you as a friend."

"Just friends?" Felicia lowered her head as her cheeks flushed crimson. "Can't we go a step further?"

What? I froze in my tracks. Did she just say "go a step further"?

"Felicia, what are you saying?"

I had just asked her the question when she abruptly closed the distance between

us and gave me a peck on the cheek.

Then, she bashfully tugged at her hem and murmured, "I want to be your girlfriend."

Did... did she misunderstand me because of the words I said back at the store? I felt myself starting to panic.

I genuinely didn't like her that way. However, it wouldn't be appropriate to turn her down right now since I did just buy her a bunch of clothes. If she wasn't my friend, wouldn't that mean I was her sugar daddy?

I wracked my brain over it for a good while before finally saying, "I just ended things with Lina and it wasn't a good breakup. I'm not ready to get into another romantic relationship. You'll only suffer if you date me now."

"I don't mind."