Riches in Disguise

I could not believe it-of all the places in this huge restaurant, I had to run into

her.

"Didn't you hear me? What are you doing here?" she pressed.

Annoyed, I shot back, "What do you think people do in restrooms? We're not here to eat out of the toilet, are we?"

Lina frowned. "You're so crude!"

I scoffed. "We're nothing to each other anymore, so why do you care how I talk?"

"William..." Lina put on her usual damsel-in-distress act. "Don't be like this. Even if we can't be together, I still want us to be friends. I'm sorry if I was harsh the other day. Please don't hold it against me."

If I had not learned about her true nature from Felicia earlier today, I might have fallen for it. Her helpless, innocent act could melt any guy's heart, but thankfully, I was now immune.

"Drop the act. I'm not buying it anymore, and I definitely don't want to be friends with someone like you."

Lina froze, her expression changing instantly. "What do you mean, someone like me?"

"Fake," I said bluntly.

"I'm fake? Look who's talking, William! You pretended to be rich in front of me... Wait, why are you at Black Dragon anyway? Are you working here part-time?"

She was getting worked up, talking faster. "What's the hourly rate here? 30, 50 dollars? Sure, it's a Michelin restaurant, so it probably pays better than regular places, but do you really think you fit in here? The servers are all so elegant and polite—you'd just drag down their image!"

Lina was finally showing her true colors and going full mean girl. I found her pathetic and started walking toward the men's room, not wanting to waste any more time on her.

However, I ran into Ryan coming out. He recognized me immediately and blurted out, "William?"

Immediately after, his eyes darted to Lina accusingly. "What's going on here? Are you talking to him again?"

"No! Don't misunderstand. We just happened to run into each other. He's working here part-time. We're completely over," Lina rushed to explain.

Wait, who said anything about a part-time job? Lina was saying whatever she could to clear her name. The habitual liar seemed to not know when to stop.

Ryan still looked tense as he wrapped his arm around Lina's waist possessively, glaring at me like I was trying to steal her. I thought they deserved each other and hoped they would stay together forever rather than hurt other people.

Suddenly, Ryan looked me up and down. "William, I thought you actually had some money. You were so generous with Lina, buying her whatever she wanted. Turns out you were just working odd jobs in secret. Why live such a fake life?"

I had been heading to the restroom, but hearing that stopped me in my tracks. I turned to Ryan and said coldly, "At least I could afford to buy her things. You've been pursuing her for a year, but did you even spend a tenth of what I spent on her?"noveldrama

Ryan froze and looked at Lina for confirmation. Clearly, he had spent quite a bit on her too.

Lina sensed an opportunity to squeeze more money out of Ryan, and she put on her manipulative smile. "Ryan, he only bought me things to show off. He never really loved me like you do. Don't compare yourself to him. Sure, he bought me many things, like this whole outfit I'm wearing today."

"What!" Ryan immediately pulled out his wallet and handed Lina all three of his credit cards. "Use all my money! Tonight, we'll throw out everything he bought you. We don't need his things!"

I shook my head, finally encountering someone who was even more foolish than I

was.