Chapter 5

After dinner, my brother drove me back to school.

I hadn’t walked more than a few steps when a bank text came in. My brother had transferred seventy-five thousand dollars to me.

[Hazel, bro sent you some spending money. Spending makes you happy~]

My smile hadn’t even fully formed when I heard a loud shout from behind me. “Hazel! I never thought you’d be such a gold-digger!”

It was Justin. I didn’t have a good look on my face when I saw him. I just wanted to walk away quickly. But he wouldn’t let up, grabbing my arm. “I saw you get out of that Maybach! Who were you out with today?!”

The pot calling the kettle black? Fine, I’ll clear things up with him.

“You weren’t tutoring anyone today at all!”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, I was out with Scarlett. I thought if I made her happy, she wouldn’t pursue the watch thing.”

It was astounding he could even come up with such a ridiculous excuse. Of all days, why Valentine’s Day? Didn’t he know what day Valentine’s Day was? Did he really think I was an idiot?

He softened his voice. “Hazel, I did it for you.”

I sneered.

“What does that have to do with me? Did I force you to pay her back? Did I force you to go to the amusement park with her? Did I force you to play the claw game with her?”

My sudden outburst left him speechless.

“Justin, next time you try to pass the blame, could you at least come up with a better excuse?”

I stepped back, creating distance between us. But he closed in again, took my hand, and looked at me with a sickly sweet look.

“Hazel, I like you.”

I felt a little sick.

“This was really unavoidable, you know. I’m a senior, about to enter the professional world. I just wanted to find a good internship.”

“Scarlett’s family owns a company. I thought maybe she could…”

I understood everything.

“Hazel, love without material things is like a pile of loose sand; it’ll scatter without a breeze. I just wanted to give you a better life.”

Great, quoting clichés now. He’d really mastered that line. I laughed, but it was out of anger.

“Justin, stop lying to yourself. You just wanted to take a shortcut. Using ‘giving me a better life’ as an excuse is just to cover up your guilty conscience and despicable actions.”

“We’re done. I can’t accept your Wish ‘grand gift.’ I’ll return it tomorrow.” My parents had given me the best since I was little.

I wasn’t going to degrade myself like this. That stuff would probably give me a rash, right?

“I sent you the screenshot! Who said it was bought on Wish? Was it your roommate? She’s just jealous!”

He suddenly raised his voice, glaring angrily, completely different from his usual gentle, amiable self.

As the saying goes, the louder they get, the emptier their words sound.

He just assumed I didn’t know much about brands and thought I’d be easy to fool. Laughable. What was Chloe jealous of, a hundred-dollar item? She was swamped with gifts from brands all the time. What would she be jealous of?

“You gave the authentic official store gift set to Scarlett, didn’t you? Buying fakes and then using the official store’s screenshot to trick me—only you could think of that.”

One authentic gift set to charm two people. How ‘resourceful.’ Justin panicked. “You can’t take back a gift once it’s given!”

I shrugged. “Oh, then I’ll throw it in the trash.”

“Transfer me the money! Nineteen dollars!”

What a cheapskate! How could he even say that?! It was just nineteen dollars. Normally, I wouldn’t bother arguing with anyone over that. But I couldn’t stand this insult!

I sneered. “Did you forget to buy shipping insurance, perhaps?”

His expression froze. Damn! I hit the nail on the head!

“I’ll have your roommate return it to you tomorrow. As for me transferring money, no way.” He pointed at my nose and yelled, spit flying in my face.

“Hazel, you really are a gold-digger! And you’re cheap and poor!”

“You want me to buy you something from an official store? Look at yourself, do you even deserve it?!”

So, it wasn’t that he didn’t have money. He just thought I only deserved a nineteen-dollar gift? I looked down at myself.

A custom-made bag worth over thirty thousand dollars, shoes worth eight or nine thousand…

Everything I was wearing probably added up to a nice condo in a major city. How did I not deserve it?

“Scarlett wouldn’t even let you carry her shoes, she’d be too embarrassed!”

My eyes stung. I never thought he’d see me as cheap goods, not even a fraction as good as Scarlett.

If I kept arguing with him, I’d just burst into tears. I turned and walked away. He continued to babble behind me.

“Hazel! No one will ever treat you better than me! They’re just playing with you! Do you really think anyone will genuinely like you?!”

“Don’t expect me to beg you to get back together this time! Scarlett has already agreed to be with me! You’ll regret missing out on me, you’ll see!”

“So what if you rode in a Maybach? I’ll just wait for you to be abandoned!”

I sped up my pace. If he wasn’t ashamed, I certainly was.