I was playing basketball with Scarlett, the school’s infamous rich girl, when I accidentally broke her Cartier watch. My boyfriend, Justin, carefully cradled her wrist, then turned to me and snapped, “How could you be so careless?! Can you even afford to pay for that?!” It’s just a Cartier, right? I’ve got a drawer full of Vacheron Constantins and Rolexes at home, and I’ve never seen him look at me with that much concern. The student council organized a women’s basketball game. While trying to steal the ball from Scarlett, my elbow hit something hard. It’s impossible to avoid bumps and scrapes in a game, so I didn’t think much of it. But then she screamed, “Stop! Hazel, you broke my watch!” It was just a watch. Why was she so dramatic? The game was heating up, and our team was about to win. I really didn’t want to stop. “I’m sorry, I’ll pay for it. Can we talk about this later? Let’s just finish the game first.” Scarlett pulled a dirty move, snatching the ball from my hands and throwing it out of bounds. The game was forced to stop. I wasn’t happy about it. She held her head high. “Hazel, this is a Cartier.” I glanced at it. I’m not really into watches and rarely wear them. I just knew it was a Cartier, but I had no idea about the series or how much it cost. It definitely wasn’t an antique, so it probably just cost several tens of thousands of dollars. Fixing the crystal wouldn’t cost much. There was no need for her to get so worked up. Everyone gathered around. “Oh my God, Scarlett, what are you going to do?” “The watch crystal is shattered like this, seriously, it makes my heart ache just looking at it!” Seeing everyone looking so distressed, I asked, “What? Is this watch really expensive?” Someone who knew their stuff said, “Of course! It’s a Blue Balloon!” Scarlett shoved her wrist in front of me. “Over forty thousand!” Everyone gasped. That was a bit different from the several hundred thousand I’d imagined. At that price point, fixing the crystal would probably only be a thousand or two. She looked impatient. “I have to send this watch to the boutique, and then they’ll have to send it to Switzerland for repairs. It’ll take at least a month, back and forth!” How annoying. I said, “I’ll just get you a new one.” I just wondered if she’d like a Vacheron Constantin. My parents’ gifts to me usually start at tens of thousands of dollars and up, but I don’t like wearing watches, so I just store them at home. I thought it would just be a spare one for her. “A new one?” Scarlett scoffed. “This isn’t some knock-off! My dad brought it back from Switzerland for me!” I wasn’t planning on getting her a fake one anyway. What was wrong with this person? I’d heard she had some money. She swapped between LV and Chanel bags daily and often treated classmates to coffee. But my family wasn’t exactly struggling either. That new building at school? My dad donated it. I asked her, “So, what do you want to do?” My boyfriend had just gone to get me water and was only returning now. After figuring out what happened, he looked at me reproachfully. “How could you be so careless?!” How was I supposed to know someone would wear a watch while playing basketball?! Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable? Doesn’t it affect your game? “Hazel, look, can you even afford to pay for this?!” Justin had never said such harsh words to me before. He carefully held Scarlett’s wrist, as if it were the most precious thing in the world. It was just a stupid watch. My elbow still hurt. “So, Scarlett, what do you want to do? How much do I owe you?” She still looked heartbroken. “It has to go to the store first, then we’ll see.” Fine. “Okay, then just show me the receipt when you get it, and I’ll transfer the money.” That seemed like a pretty reasonable solution. After all that drama, I didn’t feel like playing anymore. Everyone else had lost their enthusiasm for the game too and just stood around chattering. “Damn, how can Hazel be so calm? That’s at least a few thousand, right? It would take months of saving every penny to pay that back.” “She probably has no idea how much it costs to replace the crystal! She probably thinks it’s just putting on a piece of glass.” I usually kept a low profile at school. I never flaunted my wealth. My clothes and dorm supplies were very simple. Even though they were expensive, they didn’t have big logos, so most people couldn’t tell what brand they were. In a situation like this, I couldn’t exactly show them my bank account balance and shout, ‘I’m rich!’ Whatever. I couldn’t be bothered with them. I picked up my stuff and left the basketball court.
Justin caught up to me and put an arm around my shoulder. “Hazel, are you mad?” It would be a lie to say I wasn’t. He hadn’t considered my feelings at all. “Don’t be mad, babe. I did that for you. Didn’t you see me winking at you just now?” I actually hadn’t noticed. “I talked to you like that to shut Scarlett up. If I criticized you, she’d be too embarrassed to keep going.” Is that how it works? Why did it feel a bit off? “And I kept emphasizing that you couldn’t afford it. I thought Scarlett would back down, but I had no idea you’d be so silly, you totally missed my point! You immediately agreed to pay her!” I just thought it wasn’t that much money. My housekeeper spends more than that on groceries every day. There was no need to stand there arguing about it. “Hazel, I’ll pay half for you.” I waved my hand. “No need.” “We’re a couple. If we get married later, it’ll be shared assets. Half and half, perfect.” He took my hand, his smile sweet. So, he was being so calculating because he was planning our future. How nice. I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Do we have any plans for tomorrow?” Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day, and my family didn’t know I was dating. My brother, Declan, had said we should hang out, since we were both single, and wanted to take me out. He sighed. “Hazel, I have to tutor students tomorrow.” Oh, I had hoped he could meet my brother. I felt a little disappointed. But his eyes were firm. “It’s all for our future.” Justin had always been hardworking. As his girlfriend, I should support him. “Okay… fine.”
Early on Valentine’s Day, Justin asked me to come downstairs. He held a bouquet of red roses and a pretty gift bag. As soon as I came down, he gave me a big hug. “Happy Valentine’s Day, babe. Even though I can’t be with you, we still need to have our moment!” I thought I wouldn’t see him at all today. Turns out he’d prepared a gift for me. After chatting for a bit, he left. I went upstairs happily and only opened the gift in my dorm room. It was a YSL gift set. My roommates exclaimed, “Wow! Hazel! Your boyfriend is so good to you!” “That must have cost a lot! No wonder your boyfriend’s been busy lately, he was earning money to buy you a gift.” He’d given me what he thought was the best. I was very satisfied. Chloe, one of my roommates, a beauty blogger with a keen eye, looked at the gift box but didn’t say anything. Seeing her silence, the other two roommates, afraid of putting their foot in their mouth, also kept quiet. I asked, “Chloe, is there a problem?” She picked up a lipstick and looked at it, a bit hesitant. “I can’t quite tell right now. Let me have my friend take a look.” My heart dropped. I’d never encountered fakes before, nor paid attention to the differences between real and fake. But if Chloe said that, it was almost certainly fake. She was just trying to save my feelings by saying she’d have a friend look at it. My roommates tried to comfort me. “Oh, Hazel, maybe Justin just doesn’t know brands and got scammed.” “Yeah, how would guys know what’s real and what’s fake?” That made sense too. I sent Justin a message: [Where did you buy this gift set?] He replied a few minutes later: [From the official online store.] He even sent me a screenshot of the purchase history from the official store. Could you buy fakes from an official store? Or had Chloe really misjudged it? Justin: [What’s wrong, babe? Don’t you like it?] Me: [No, it’s fine. I love it.] Justin: [Glad you like it. I’m off to tutor students now. We’ll talk later.] My brother took me to an amusement park, but my mind kept wandering. It wasn’t until Chloe sent me a message: [Fake.] She sent several pictures showing the differences between the authentic product and the fake. [Justin most likely bought it on Wish.] She sent a link to a YSL gift set that cost just over a hundred dollars. The details in the buyer’s photos were identical to mine. [Hazel, if he tells the truth, maybe he just didn’t know and thought YSL was that price. But if he lied to you, you’re better off without a guy like that.] I didn’t know what to say. I asked her, [Can you buy fakes from an official online store?] [Let’s put it this way: this set is an obvious fake at first glance. Even if an official store sold fakes, they’d only fake the quality, making it hard to notice.] But Justin really did buy a gift set from the official store. I sent the screenshot to Chloe. She replied, [What if that official store gift set wasn’t meant for you at all?] She was right. What if Justin bought two sets—one from Wish and one from the official store—and gave one to me and the other to someone else? That would make sense. But how could that be? How could Justin do something so despicable? We’d been dating for over a year, and our relationship had always been good. He surely wouldn’t do that to me. Just as I was thinking this, I saw a familiar figure in the crowd. It looked like Justin. Wasn’t he supposed to be tutoring students? Why would he be here?
I was about to go after him when my brother came back with ice cream. Seeing my hurried expression, he asked, “What’s wrong?” “I think I saw a friend.” In the blink of an eye, that figure disappeared into the crowd. I licked my ice cream and sent Justin a message: [Where are you?] He replied half an hour later: [Tutoring a student.] As if to prove it, he sent another picture: a child bent over a desk writing. [What’s wrong, babe? Missing me? How about I come find you after my class?] Once the seed of doubt is planted, it easily takes root and grows. I suddenly wanted to video call him. But with my brother next to me, I had to drop the idea. After my brother politely declined the nth girl asking for his number, he finally had time to pay attention to me. “Hazel, you seem a bit down.” “Yeah.” “Is it because you didn’t get a Valentine’s Day gift?” I shook my head. My brother didn’t care what I was thinking. He snapped his fingers. Then, a group of exaggeratedly dressed “princes” seemed to pop out of nowhere and surrounded me. “Pick whichever ones you like most. I’ll have them hang out with you.” My brother always did this crazy stuff. How was I supposed to handle ten or so of them? “Oh, bro, I…” My brother’s jaw dropped. “What?! You want all of them?!” When did I say that? He waved his hand. “Fine, kids make choices, but we adults have it all.” I was a bit speechless. “Forget it, bro. Let’s just go get some food.” The princes were all handsome, but I had a boyfriend. It wouldn’t be right to do that. But very soon, I changed my mind. Not long after we got in the car, Chloe sent me another message. [Hazel, weren’t you with Justin today?] [He’s busy tutoring students. I’m out with my brother.] But then she sent me a photo. It was Justin and Scarlett playing the claw machine together. The location was the amusement park I was currently in. This amusement park wasn’t cheap. Other places might be a dollar a game, but here it was ten dollars for a single coin, and one try cost twenty dollars. Scarlett was already holding several stuffed animals. With Justin’s skill, he probably wouldn’t even get one in ten tries. He bought me a hundred-dollar gift set on Wish and tried to fool me with a screenshot of an official store purchase! But he was spending hundreds, maybe even a thousand, dollars at the amusement park playing the claw machine for Scarlett! Chloe asked me, [Hazel, do you want to come over now? I can keep an eye on him for you.] [No, Chloe, you go hang out with your boyfriend. I’ll handle this myself.] I couldn’t take it anymore. I called Justin directly. One ring, two rings, three… He didn’t pick up until the fifth! “Hazel, what are you doing? I’m in class! The student’s parents are right here!” I took a deep breath, trying my best to control my emotions. “Video call me.” “I’m really busy here. I’m tired after a full day of teaching. Don’t be unreasonable, okay?!” His tone was incredibly impatient. This time, he didn’t even bother making up a lie. “Am I being unreasonable, or do you just have a guilty conscience?” He snapped, furious, “Hazel, what do you mean by that? I’ve been working so hard for our future, and now you’re doubting me?!” He kept saying it was all for our future! But my future wasn’t going to come from him sucking up to some rich girl! I hung up, sent him the link and the photo, and left a message: [We’re over.] Then I blocked and deleted all his contacts. When did he start seeing Scarlett? That authentic YSL gift set must have been for Scarlett too. Scarlett, that kind of rich girl, so proud, claiming she never bought second-hand goods, despising vintage and antiques. But a person like that actually liked stealing other people’s boyfriends?
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.
Disappointed in love, I went on a shopping spree. My brother really does understand women. Spending money genuinely makes you happy. After returning to my dorm, I even bought gifts for my roommates. Chloe gasped, holding a new Dior bag, unable to put it down. “Girl, where did you make a fortune?” I smiled, saying nothing. The main reason was that Chloe had my back. When she heard I’d been tricked by a scumbag, she recorded a video about the absurd situation and shared it with her followers. She didn’t name names or reveal too many details. But her followers knew she was a student at University A. So now everyone was guessing who the cheating, super cheap scumbag at University A was. Some even posted questions on the campus gossip page. Anyway, Justin would have to keep a low profile for a while. Otherwise, he might accidentally reveal his true colors. … Friday afternoon, I went to a student council meeting. Before I even entered, I heard people chattering inside. “…She’s just come into money somehow, buying all those bags to give away. I heard her ex-boyfriend Justin spilling details, saying she was two-timing, hooking up with a rich kid on the side but also unwilling to let go of her ex, a real potential catch.” That sounded exactly like something Justin would say. Calling himself a potential catch, how shameless. “Even if a rich kid gave her bags, she wouldn’t flaunt them by giving them to others, right? I bet they’re knock-offs…” “Exactly! And last time on the court, she said she’d pay Scarlett for a new watch. Oh my God, that’s a Cartier, not some dollar store cheapie!” I was thoroughly enjoying eavesdropping when someone suddenly tapped my shoulder. Just as I was about to yelp, that person covered my mouth. I turned my head; it was Liam, the student council president. He gestured for me to be quiet, then let go of me and stood by the door, listening in with me. Wasn’t this guy always cold, distant, and perfectly put-together? Why was he doing something like this with me? The people inside kept repeating the same things, and I quickly got bored. Liam leaned close to my ear. “Done listening?”
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