Sophie’s eyes froze for a moment as she studied my expression.
She realized I was serious this time. But even so, she refused to apologize in front of everyone.
Her tone turned cold as she gritted her teeth.
“Fine. It’s just 300,000. I’ll transfer it.”
She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times, pretending to complete the transaction.
“I’ve sent it. Don’t ever talk to me again!”
Despite her performance, no transfer notification came through.
Ethan, unaware she was faking it, reached over excitedly to check her phone so he could withdraw the money.
But after scanning for a while, confusion crept over his face.
“Wait… Sophie, I don’t see any transfer record. Which app did you use? Which bank? Tell me–I’ll get the money out.”
I nearly laughed out loud. Sophie’s face flushed crimson. She snapped at him in a panic: “Shut up!”
She tried to drag him away, but I stepped forward and blocked them.
“If you really wanted to transfer the money, just do it honestly. Why the show? I haven’t received anything. So what are you trying to pull here?”
“You look down on my money, but still enjoy eating soft rice? Hypocrisy much?”
Just to be clear, I held up my phone and opened all the major payment apps, showing everyone there were no incoming transfers.
Sophie hadn’t expected me to completely strip her dignity like this in public. Her expression stiffened.
Then she forced a smile.
“It’s probably a network delay. The money didn’t go through. I’ll send it again.”
This time, the payment notification chimed loudly.
[You have received 42,000 dollars]
She looked like she’d just swallowed poison, but still tried to keep her pride:
“See? I don’t care about your money. I can buy whatever I want with or without you.”
I smiled as I checked the balance.
“Good. The money’s in. Now we’re done. Clean break. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other.”
I turned to leave with Liam.
Chanter 3
But Sophie grabbed my arm.
“Wait! You haven’t apologized to Ethan yet! You still owe him an explanation for isolating
him!”
Her voice rang out in front of the whole class.
Ah, right–Ethan hadn’t finished smearing my name yet.
Thankfully, I used to dine in private rooms at my family’s restaurant, and there were always surveillance cameras running.
I made a quick call and soon after, posted a video clip to the class group chat. It showed all four of us dining together–no one left out.
“If you’re wondering whether we excluded him, just check the video in the group.”
With that, I walked out with my roommates.
By the time we arrived at the salon, the class group chat was already exploding: [Seriously? He’s been crying poor this whole time while freeloading off others? Gross.] [Forget Julian Reed–if I saw someone like Ethan coming, I’d cross the street.]
Ethan, seeing the backlash, sent a crying emoji and claimed I faked the video out of spite.
But no one was buying it.
His act had collapsed.
He started spamming my phone with messages, begging me to explain and “clear things up.”
Not long after, Sophie messaged me too:
[Júlian, I’m so disappointed in you. Just a little misunderstanding, and you had to slander Ethan like that?]
[He’s emotionally devastated. You need to apologize, return the 300,000, and transfer 100,000 more as compensation–or I’ll never forgive you. We’re over for good.]
Her righteous tone while asking for money was so ridiculous, I actually laughed.
Did she really think I was her personal ATM?
That’s when a memory suddenly resurfaced.
In my previous life, after Ethan started changing his hairstyle, hiring a personal trainer, and buying luxury brands, people had asked him how he could afford it all.
He always answered smugly, “From part–time work.”
I believed him–until I overheard him and Sophie whispering about how they’d milked me dry.
How he mocked me for being born lucky, all while sucking me dry without guilt.
Thinking about it again now ruined my good mood.
I typed a final reply and hit send:
“Get lost.”
