Chapter 41 - Liar
With Luna and Ryder both present, and neither of them giving her the time of day, Chloe curved her lips into a smile and said, "Can you step outside with me for a minute?"
Leo hadn't reacted yet when Luna lazily propped her chin on her hand. "Sorry, he's eating right now. Whatever you need, you can say it here."
Chloe's smile slowly froze.
Her fingers twisted together. Head down, voice quavering, sounding wounded, she said, "Leo, I just wanted to tell you privately. Is that so wrong?"
Luna's brow twitched involuntarily. She shot Leo a discreet glance.
The kid was softening inside, all right.
Total lovesick fool.
She sighed inwardly.
Leo seemed a little guilty. He put down his chopsticks and looked at her.
Luna didn't really want to watch. She lowered her head and pretended to scroll through her phone.
Leo followed Chloe out to the private room next door.
After the two left, Ryder blinked and glanced at Luna. Luna caught his look and pursed her lips. "See that? Keep your eyes open when you pick a partner."
Ryder nodded. "Master, I got it."
-
Leo followed Chloe into the private room. The table was covered in leftover food, the room carrying the lonely chill of a party already gone.
"Leo."
Chloe turned around and looked up at him. She blinked her long fake lashes and said, "Are you mad?"
"No." Leo looked down at her, perfectly serious.
Not mad. Just lost.
He'd always known Chloe liked money. That was normal. And he had money, so he'd been generous with it.
Trading money for attention seemed like a fair deal to him.
But now he was realizing that attention meant nothing.
So no, not mad.
Chloe had no idea what he was thinking. She kept smiling, convinced Leo was devoted to her, that no matter what she did or said, he'd be like the devoted second lead in a romance novel, impossible to shake off.
"Leo." She smiled. It was phrased as a question, but her tone was certain. "I need your help today. You'll help me, right?"
"Tell me what you need first." Leo's eyes weren't pure black. They had a blue-gray tint. His grandmother was foreign.
Chloe said, "I didn't bring enough money today. Could you cover it for me?"
"How much?" Leo asked.
Chloe's eyes lit up. "Not much. Just ninety thousand."
"..."
Leo was quiet for a moment. "I have seven thousand to my name."
"How is that possible?!" Chloe's eyes went wide. "If you don't want to help, just say so."
Leo frowned, irritated. "My monthly allowance is decent, but I have things I need to buy. Plus all the stuff I bought you before. I don't have any money left."
Chloe bossed him around. "Then ask your parents for it."
Leo stared at her. "Chloe."
His expression was serious. It was something Chloe had never seen from him before.
She felt a jolt of guilt. "What?"
Leo said, "This was your boyfriend's dinner party to begin with. If you didn't bring enough money, you should be asking your boyfriend right now, not me."
He used to be willing to spend money on Chloe. But that money was his. His New Year's red envelopes and his monthly allowance.
His parents shouldn't be dragged into it.
Chloe's face darkened. "I can't reach him right now."
"Then I don't have money." Leo said.
Chloe flipped her hair, impatient. "I only need ninety thousand. I'll pay you back."
Leo looked at her coldly. "If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."
-
Meanwhile, Mia, waiting by the door, suddenly heard a commotion.
She startled and turned her head. Around the corner of the hallway came a crowd of people, all classmates who'd just left.
Ethan was at the front.
Mia's eyes went wide. She hurried over. "Class president, why are you back?"
Ethan adjusted his glasses and said gently, "We talked it over. We couldn't just take advantage of her for free. So we pooled together at the mall next door and bought Chloe a necklace. Nothing too expensive. Just a token of appreciation."
Mia gasped. "Wow, so thoughtful."
Ethan smiled. "It's the least we could do."
A girl next to them asked, "Where's Chloe?"
"She's inside." Mia pointed at the private room door.
"Oh." The girl nodded and, without thinking, pushed the door open.
Mia's eyes flickered. She wanted to know what Chloe and Leo were talking about alone. She deliberately didn't stop her.
The girl had barely opened the door when a purse came flying at her.
She shrieked.
Chloe had her back to the door. She assumed it was Mia and didn't turn around. Her voice was shrill. "Leo, I misjudged you. You're clearly just bitter because I got a boyfriend, so you're pretending you're broke, aren't you?"
Leo let out a laugh that wasn't a laugh.
Without a word, he pulled up his banking app and showed her the balance. "See for yourself."
The classmates at the door froze.
Chloe still hadn't noticed. She was too furious, all her attention fixed on Leo's phone.
The balance showed seven thousand.
Chloe was about to lose her mind over the ninety thousand. If it had all been spent on her, she could've accepted it. But this money had gone to feeding a bunch of people she couldn't care less about.
"Leo." Chloe softened her tone. "I'm really out of money right now. Those classmates had no restraint, just kept ordering dishes. It blew past my budget. I genuinely don't know what to do. Can you help me?"
Every word landed squarely in the ears of the seven or eight people standing behind them.
"Chloe."
One of the girls, who'd already had issues with her, called out, displeased.
Chloe stiffened. She turned around. A whole group was staring at her, faces dark.
Even Ethan looked disappointed. "Chloe, we might not be able to afford a restaurant like this, but we can fill our stomachs at a street cart. This dinner was your idea in the first place. What did you mean by that?"
"I..." Chloe's mind went blank. She faced a wall of stares.
Anger. Pity. Confusion. And gloating.
Chloe stood frozen, her hands trembling faintly.
In her entire life, she'd never felt this helpless. She didn't even know how to explain.
"Chloe." The girl with the gloating eyes stared at her and said, "Our families might not be as well off as yours, but being poor doesn't mean we have no pride. You don't get to insult us like that."
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