Chapter 291. An Insidious Trap. (8/8)
“What are you suddenly talking up for? Go keep trying to act cool and mysterious by staring down a drain all day. I’ve got no interest in having some awkward heart-to-heart talk and getting all buddy-buddy with you.”
“Hahaha, man… it really sucks after all. Losing.”
“Nobody asked.”
“I’m so lame. Getting all depressed over this when I only got acquainted with her today.”
I raised my hand up, curled my fingers to form a circle, and asked, “Jass, do you see this?”
“What?”
“Do you know what it represents?”
“Uh… no.”
“It’s the number of fucks I give.”
“Come on man, give me something! I’m a dying man out here!”
I rolled my eyes and let out a resigned sigh, “Haaaah... Look, guys are simple creatures. We get the wrong idea over the smallest little things and interpret their meaning in whatever way is most convenient to us.”
“Yeah... You’re right. She was using me to try and make Zale jealous and I was too blind to realize that… those small little things she did, I completely got the wrong idea. I got way ahead of myself.”
“Well, it’s only been about half an hour since you became acquainted with her. If you can’t accept that you may be burnt, just give up now, run away, and forever miss out on that slim chance of success. Your only other alternative is to accept you’ll be used and take advantage of it to find an opening to steal her heart. Anyway, good luck with that.”
“Did you come to check on me because you were worried?”
“Worried? Of course not. I don’t worry about anyone.”
“Not even your girlfriend?”
“There’s no need to worry about her.”
“What if someone kidnapped her? You wouldn’t worry?”
“She can take care of herself. Besides, I’d be more inclined to worry about her kidnappers' safety before I worry about hers.”
“You sure are heartless.”
“Kindness isn’t rewarded. The most you’ll receive for kindness are shitty consolation prizes nobody wants. If you really want something, you have to be heartless and willing to trample over everyone else’s feelings to acquire it.”
“Remember this well, those with ambition take everything while the overly kind ambitionless fools are left impoverished with nothing for themselves in the end. That is how this cruel world operates. For every winner, there exist ninety-nine losers. The top 1% control everything. Everyone else is as good as trash to them.”
“If you don’t like it, then don’t become an overly kind, ambitionless fool who thinks it’s fine to hand someone over to someone else because you believe you’re happy so long as that person ends up happy. Their happiness is not your happiness. That is the mindset of someone who has long accepted their defeat and inferiority. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re incapable of ever making that person happy.”
“If you don’t want to see someone showing a certain expression toward another person, then become the person that’s important to them so they never have to show that expression again.”
With that, I exited the washroom and left Jass behind.
“Any sign of those two?” Rosa asked.
“No. I take it there was no sign in the women’s washroom either.”
“None.”
“Do you think they went outside?”
“We could ask one of the restaurant staff.”
“Oh, good idea.”
We went down the stairs and asked the employee by the front desk behind the counter, but they said they hadn’t seen anyone come down before us so we returned upstairs.
If they hadn’t gone downstairs then they had to still be on the second floor. If not in the washroom on the second floor, then… they must have gotten into one of the other karaoke rooms.
We walked down the hall and pressed our ears up against each door one by one to try and hear what was going on inside each room. Some of them we couldn’t hear anything at all while others we heard people singing. It didn’t seem like there was anyone up to any funny business inside any of the rooms.
Without any further leads, we returned to our room. Only, when we opened the door to our room we came across the two we’d been looking for.
It seemed they’d returned when we went downstairs.
“Jeez, it sure took you two long to get back. We went looking because we thought the two of you bailed.” We entered the room and sat down while Rosa complained.
“Haha, if it was just you here I’d have definitely bailed,” Zale countered. “But where’d Jass go? He’s not with the three of you?”
The door opened up again, “I’m here. I was in the washroom. Funny how I didn’t see you in there though.”
“You must have just missed me, I went outside for a bit to get some fresh air right after I used it.”
That was definitely a lie. The three of us who knew that didn’t bother to say anything though.
“Fresh air? You certainly do look quite refreshed~ are you sure all you got is some fresh air? Was the wind blowing strong outside?”
“Haha, yes, the wind was certainly blowing vigorously outside.”
Blowing...
I glanced at Izora’s slightly parted lips and couldn’t stop my imagination from running wild. Rosa’s out-of-place word choice was quite suggestive after all.
Had they really gone that far?
“What about you Ria? Did you go outside for some fresh air too?” Rosa posed the same question to Izora.
“Uh… yeah. I did.”
“I see.” Rosa had a sharp dissatisfied glint in her eyes. Well, there was no way to say for certain whether these two had really done anything. It seemed the winner of the pointless bet we had was undecided. Not that it really mattered since they returned to the room.
After that, we spent the next two and a half hours eating and singing karaoke. Unfortunately for me, another opportunity to slip out never presented itself, and I was trapped until it was over.
I was tormented by Rosa and Alicia who occasionally forced me to sing a song for their amusement. Jass, on the other hand, seemed quite motivated to sing despite not being very good at it. I guess he saw it as an opportunity to practice. Well, maybe he was just singing his sorrows away to cope. Out of our mismatched group of six, he definitely sang the most songs by the time we called it a day and went our separate ways.
Though the start of this little meetup had been rather bumpy, everything that came after went much smoother. Zale was still constantly at odds with Rosa, but even he had mellowed out. Those two really couldn’t stand each other. They had a cat and dog relationship.
As for who footed the bill in the end… it all fell on Zale. It had been Rosa’s nefarious plot from the very beginning to dump it all on him. Since he wanted to flaunt his money, she decided to take full advantage of the situation and take a strong jab at his wallet to hit him where it hurt.
When I saw the number on the bill, I broke out into sweat. I was horrified. If I had to foot that bill, almost two months of my savings would have gone down the drain.
Never get on Rosa’s bad side or that would definitely be me in the future. How did she rack up such a bill? Well, she secretly ordered a bunch of food for takeout.
It seems Zale didn’t want to question the bill because of some weird rich people's pride. I didn’t fail to notice the sweat on his forehead when he swiped his card.
I guess the moral of the story here was to not flaunt your wealth if you didn’t want Rosa to assassinate your wallet.
Chapter 291. An Insidious Trap. (8/8)
“What are you suddenly talking up for? Go keep trying to act cool and mysterious by staring down a drain all day. I’ve got no interest in having some awkward heart-to-heart talk and getting all buddy-buddy with you.”
“Hahaha, man… it really sucks after all. Losing.”
“Nobody asked.”
“I’m so lame. Getting all depressed over this when I only got acquainted with her today.”
I raised my hand up, curled my fingers to form a circle, and asked, “Jass, do you see this?”
“What?”
“Do you know what it represents?”
“Uh… no.”
“It’s the number of fucks I give.”
“Come on man, give me something! I’m a dying man out here!”
I rolled my eyes and let out a resigned sigh, “Haaaah... Look, guys are simple creatures. We get the wrong idea over the smallest little things and interpret their meaning in whatever way is most convenient to us.”
“Yeah... You’re right. She was using me to try and make Zale jealous and I was too blind to realize that… those small little things she did, I completely got the wrong idea. I got way ahead of myself.”
“Well, it’s only been about half an hour since you became acquainted with her. If you can’t accept that you may be burnt, just give up now, run away, and forever miss out on that slim chance of success. Your only other alternative is to accept you’ll be used and take advantage of it to find an opening to steal her heart. Anyway, good luck with that.”
“Did you come to check on me because you were worried?”
“Worried? Of course not. I don’t worry about anyone.”
“Not even your girlfriend?”
“There’s no need to worry about her.”
“What if someone kidnapped her? You wouldn’t worry?”
“She can take care of herself. Besides, I’d be more inclined to worry about her kidnappers' safety before I worry about hers.”
“You sure are heartless.”
“Kindness isn’t rewarded. The most you’ll receive for kindness are shitty consolation prizes nobody wants. If you really want something, you have to be heartless and willing to trample over everyone else’s feelings to acquire it.”
“Remember this well, those with ambition take everything while the overly kind ambitionless fools are left impoverished with nothing for themselves in the end. That is how this cruel world operates. For every winner, there exist ninety-nine losers. The top 1% control everything. Everyone else is as good as trash to them.”
“If you don’t like it, then don’t become an overly kind, ambitionless fool who thinks it’s fine to hand someone over to someone else because you believe you’re happy so long as that person ends up happy. Their happiness is not your happiness. That is the mindset of someone who has long accepted their defeat and inferiority. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re incapable of ever making that person happy.”
“If you don’t want to see someone showing a certain expression toward another person, then become the person that’s important to them so they never have to show that expression again.”
With that, I exited the washroom and left Jass behind.
“Any sign of those two?” Rosa asked.
“No. I take it there was no sign in the women’s washroom either.”
“None.”
“Do you think they went outside?”
“We could ask one of the restaurant staff.”
“Oh, good idea.”
We went down the stairs and asked the employee by the front desk behind the counter, but they said they hadn’t seen anyone come down before us so we returned upstairs.
If they hadn’t gone downstairs then they had to still be on the second floor. If not in the washroom on the second floor, then… they must have gotten into one of the other karaoke rooms.
We walked down the hall and pressed our ears up against each door one by one to try and hear what was going on inside each room. Some of them we couldn’t hear anything at all while others we heard people singing. It didn’t seem like there was anyone up to any funny business inside any of the rooms.
Without any further leads, we returned to our room. Only, when we opened the door to our room we came across the two we’d been looking for.
It seemed they’d returned when we went downstairs.
“Jeez, it sure took you two long to get back. We went looking because we thought the two of you bailed.” We entered the room and sat down while Rosa complained.
“Haha, if it was just you here I’d have definitely bailed,” Zale countered. “But where’d Jass go? He’s not with the three of you?”
The door opened up again, “I’m here. I was in the washroom. Funny how I didn’t see you in there though.”
“You must have just missed me, I went outside for a bit to get some fresh air right after I used it.”
That was definitely a lie. The three of us who knew that didn’t bother to say anything though.
“Fresh air? You certainly do look quite refreshed~ are you sure all you got is some fresh air? Was the wind blowing strong outside?”
“Haha, yes, the wind was certainly blowing vigorously outside.”
Blowing...
I glanced at Izora’s slightly parted lips and couldn’t stop my imagination from running wild. Rosa’s out-of-place word choice was quite suggestive after all.
Had they really gone that far?
“What about you Ria? Did you go outside for some fresh air too?” Rosa posed the same question to Izora.
“Uh… yeah. I did.”
“I see.” Rosa had a sharp dissatisfied glint in her eyes. Well, there was no way to say for certain whether these two had really done anything. It seemed the winner of the pointless bet we had was undecided. Not that it really mattered since they returned to the room.
After that, we spent the next two and a half hours eating and singing karaoke. Unfortunately for me, another opportunity to slip out never presented itself, and I was trapped until it was over.
I was tormented by Rosa and Alicia who occasionally forced me to sing a song for their amusement. Jass, on the other hand, seemed quite motivated to sing despite not being very good at it. I guess he saw it as an opportunity to practice. Well, maybe he was just singing his sorrows away to cope. Out of our mismatched group of six, he definitely sang the most songs by the time we called it a day and went our separate ways.
Though the start of this little meetup had been rather bumpy, everything that came after went much smoother. Zale was still constantly at odds with Rosa, but even he had mellowed out. Those two really couldn’t stand each other. They had a cat and dog relationship.
As for who footed the bill in the end… it all fell on Zale. It had been Rosa’s nefarious plot from the very beginning to dump it all on him. Since he wanted to flaunt his money, she decided to take full advantage of the situation and take a strong jab at his wallet to hit him where it hurt.
When I saw the number on the bill, I broke out into sweat. I was horrified. If I had to foot that bill, almost two months of my savings would have gone down the drain.
Never get on Rosa’s bad side or that would definitely be me in the future. How did she rack up such a bill? Well, she secretly ordered a bunch of food for takeout.
It seems Zale didn’t want to question the bill because of some weird rich people's pride. I didn’t fail to notice the sweat on his forehead when he swiped his card.
I guess the moral of the story here was to not flaunt your wealth if you didn’t want Rosa to assassinate your wallet.
