Chapter 60: An Orphan Like You Don’t Belong To Our Circle

Gigi smirked at Crystal and said, “I heard that your mother died and left her fortune to a fair-faced gigolo. And you got nothing. I can’t imagine what you are doing in a store like this. Did you have the money to buy an expensive thing here?” She looked at her friend and laughed. “I guess it’s free to look, right, Kendyll. I pity her,”

Kendyll: “Well, if she’s looking for a Bargain Bin, she won’t find one here!”

There were other women their age in the store, and they began to surround Crystal and Serenity. Their eyes were full of mischief, and they barely masked their mirthful laughter behind fingers held in front of their lips.

Crystal was younger than these girls, but because she had skipped two grades, she had ended up in the same classes with them. But, then, because of her youthful appearance and good grades, she had been very popular with the teachers and the boys in the class, including Carlos. She was not popular with the girls, though, and part of that had to do with Joyce’s constant backstabbing.

“You talk as if you were rich,” Crystal said. “Let me see what you bought. I don’t see you carrying a bag. You were bragging about how rich you are. What’s the matter? If you like these bags, you should buy them. Don’t you like these bags? Or is the problem that you can’t afford them?” She can’t let these spoiled girls look down on her.

Gigi: “We are richer than you, and my daddy loves me very much. He gave me a huge monthly allowance, and how about you?”

Crystal wanted to laugh at her, “Your daddy? I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you mean your sugar daddy or your biological daddy?”

Gigi stomped her foot in frustration, and her face turned red. Serenity burst out laughing as Crystal finished her question. Crystal was cynical and brilliant.

Gigi: “What are you talking about? He’s my biological father, of course, the chairman of the Comlink Group. Anyway, forget about it. You are too dumb to understand. An orphan like you don’t belong to our circle,”

Crystal leaned into the woman and sniffed her jacket. “Comlink Group? She said. “Their smugglers! It’s no wonder you smell so bad!”

Gigi: “Shut up!”

“What’s the point of saying you’re rich?” Crystal asked. She pointed to a bag that was locked in the best place on the counter. “This bag is a limited edition, and even popular celebrities need to reserve it in advance. Don’t tell me you don’t like it. If you really have money, buy it. To a rich person, it’s not very expensive. It’s only two million dollars.”

The clerk saw that Crystal was trying to convince Gigi to buy the purse, so she echoed her words, saying, “She’s right. This bag is a status symbol. Many of the top socialites want to have one but cannot have one. You are lucky that we have this one in stock.”

The beautiful women looked at each other.

They were hesitant to buy a two-million-dollar bag.

Gigi shrugged. She was anxious to prove Crystal wrong. “It’s just a bag,” she said as she took out her credit card. “But I’ll take it.”

The clerk took the card and was about to swipe it when someone shouted, “Wait a minute.” Everyone turned to see who had spoken. It was Cecilia, Joyce’s best friend. Cecilia smirked and said, “Buying a bag doesn’t prove anything. I have a better idea: Let’s check the balance on our cards and see who has the most money available to them!”

Crystal froze in place. She only had a few thousand dollars on her card. Thus, she could not compete with any of these women.

“To make this more interesting,” Gigi said, “how about if, the person who has the least amount of money, has to buy the purse for whoever has the most?”

“I like your idea,” one of the other women said. “And if anyone gives up, they have to put the bag around their neck, take a photo, and post it on Instagram. By doing this, they will show everyone that they are willing to sell themself for a bag!”

“Yes!” Cecelia agreed. “And if any of you run away, we will take photos of you, photoshop them to make you look ugly, and put them on all of our Social Medias!”

One by one, each of the ladies said that they were in until Crystal was the only one who hadn’t. Gigi laughed as she turned to Crystal. “Well, are you in or not?”

Fuck Crystal thought. She was trapped.

Finally, she nodded her head and said, “I’m in.”

Gigi was so excited that she almost clapped her hands. She turned to the clerk and said, “You have an ATM, don’t you?”

The clerk nodded and pointed to the front of the store, and as they made their way towards it, Serenity whispered in Crystal’s ear: “Hey, Crystal, you’re not really going to go through with this, are you?”

Crystal: “What other options do I have? I’d rather lose than run away or give up. If I lose, it will be a monetary loss, but if I flee, I will be disgraced.”

When they got to the machine, Cecilia took a gold card from her purse and said, “Since this was my idea, I’ll go first.” She inserted the card, entered the password, and deliberately stepped aside so that everyone could clearly see the balance: $3,950,712.12.

“Wow!” Serenity whispered. “That’s a lot of money...”

Crystal elbowed her friend and told her to hush up.

One by one, the other girls showed their balance, and each one was over four million dollars, which meant that Celia had the lowest account balance among them. Of course, Crystal hadn’t gone yet, and neither had Gigi.

Gigi went before Crystal. She pulled out a black card, and everyone gasped. Gigi smirked and said, “Pay close attention, Crystal. This is the closest you’ll ever come to this kind of money!”