Cathy was stunned. "No, you must have misunderstood. The text message must be a fake."
Billy took out his cell phone and showed the manager the confirmation of his reservation. "We booked table eight."
The manager checked Billy's text message and smiled politely. "Yes, you did reserve table eight. But your table is in the general section, and Mr Ambrose's table is in the VIP section."
"What?" Cathy exclaimed. "He is in the VIP section?" She stared at the manager in surprise. Alex was a loser and didn't even have the money to eat in the university cafeteria. So how could he possibly afford such a good table at Chez Laurent? She simply couldn't believe it.
To make up for his mistake, the manager personally showed Alex and Emma to their table.
When he arrived at table eight, the manager frowned. The table had been reserved, but it wasn't ready. Dirty dishes still sat there, untouched, and there was no clean cutlery.
"Please wait a moment," the manager said, his expression grim. He called over a nearby waiter. "What's going on here? Our guests have arrived, and this table hasn't been cleared yet."
"The guests at this table have been here for a while," the waiter said, frowning. "I believe they went to the bathroom."
"What?" The manager was angry as he held out an arm to indicate Alex and Emma. "These are the guests at this table, and they've only just arrived. So, who have you been serving?"
"Oh!" The waiter flushed with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, sir. I'll go and check what's going on." Then he fled.
"Hey, why are you two loitering at our table?" Cathy asked as she walked over, her arm around Billy.
"You've been eating at this table?" the manager asked politely.
"Yes, why? What's wrong?" Cathy asked, puzzled.
The waiter returned with a younger colleague. "Sir, he seated the wrong customer at this table."
The young waiter lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, sir. This is my first shift, so I'm not familiar with the seating plan yet. The customer at this table had a reservation for table eight, and I accidentally brought him to a VIP table instead of taking him to the regular section."
The manager looked at Billy and Cathy. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Would you mind moving to a regular table? Our VIP guests have already been waiting for a while."
Cathy's mouth fell open in shock. He expects me to move aside for Alex, she thought. No. Not. That's unacceptable!
"No way!" She flatly refused, crossing her arms.
"Oh… uh…" The manager struggled with his dilemma. "Well, are you sure you still want to eat here?"
"Of course, we want to eat here." She scowled. "We refuse to go anywhere else." She stubbornly glared at him.
The manager sighed to himself. "Fine. But as I've already explained, the cost of a VIP table is much higher than a regular one."
"So be it. We're already here, so obviously we're not worried about the cost." She sneered, seemingly unconcerned.
She simply couldn't allow Alex to steal the limelight. You just had to come and play the big man, didn't you, Alex? she thought. And I took your place. You're not so important now, are you?
"How much more?" Billy asked, feeling a little nervous. Cathy might not care, but she wasn't the one paying for it. He was!
"The food you already ordered costs around 1,000 dollars. Then there are 200 dollars for the reservation, 300 dollars for the VIP room, 400 dollars for the musicians, 190 dollars for the special tableware…"
Billy was shocked. The total was more than two thousand dollars. His heart started to beat faster, and his face burned with embarrassment. I can't afford this, he thought. What am I going to do?
"Cathy, let's just go and sit in the regular section," he murmured to her.
"No, baby, I like this table, and I want to stay here!" She was not going to back down in front of Alex.
"You want to stay? Fine. Then you can stay by yourself because I'm going!" Billy was furious. He didn't have enough money, and if he stayed here, he'd be humiliated.
With that, he stormed out, and Cathy was on her own. Her mouth hung open as she watched him leave. She looked around and realized she was standing by herself in the middle of the restaurant, and she didn't have much money. Everyone was staring at her, and she'd never been so embarrassed.
She glared at Alex and then hurried after Billy.
The manager had the waiter clear the table, and then he asked Alex and Emma to take their seats. Various exquisite dishes were brought to the table, and the musicians returned to perform for them. A waiter stood by, ready to fetch whatever they needed.
Cathy and Billy decided to stay at the restaurant. Even though things had become awkward, they didn't want to waste the opportunity to eat at Chez Laurent.
They sat at table eight in the regular section of the restaurant. And from their new table, they could see Alex and Emma in the VIP section.
Seeing how superior Alex's table was, Cathy grew sullen. The loser she had dumped was sitting in the most important part of the restaurant, eating expensive dishes, and being fawned over. Jealousy gnawed at her, and she barely tasted her meal. She may as well have gone to the university cafeteria.
She was also very confused.
Eating in the VIP section would cost at least two thousand dollars. Even Billy couldn't afford it. So why was Alex so calm? Shouldn't he be panicking? Where on earth could he have got that kind of money?
She stared at Alex, her mind spinning, as she continued to stuff food into her mouth. After all, this was Chez Laurent, so she was going to make the most of it.
In the VIP section, Emma was just as confused. She sat at the table, wondering what was going on.
"Alex, how did you get this table? And do you have enough money to pay for this?" she asked doubtfully.
"Don't worry. I promise I won't embarrass you," he said with a faint smile.
"Where did you get the money?" she asked again.
"Uh…" He thought for a moment. "I… ah… won the lottery. I guess I just got lucky. I bought a bunch of tickets, and I won 150,000 dollars."
Revealing the truth would cause far too much trouble, and he couldn't risk their friendship by explaining who he was.
She frowned at him. "You can't waste your money like this. You just spent two thousand dollars for this meal. If you keep this up, you'll spend all your money in no time."
"It's fine. It's just money." He didn't seem to care. "You're a good friend, and I take care of my friends. I promised to bring you to Chez Laurent, and here we are."
Emma was moved by his words. She thought he was rather cute.
When they'd finished their meal, Alex paid the bill, and they left. Cathy and Billy had left earlier.
Billy had planned to take Cathy to Chez Laurent for dinner before getting a room and spending some time with her. But after making a fool of himself at the restaurant, he was no longer in the mood to hang out with her. Instead, he left her at the entrance to the female dormitory and went off alone.
Alex went back to his dorm room and lay on his bed. When he'd been with Emma in Chez Laurent, he'd noticed Cathy watching him with a strange expression.
The corner of his mouth twitched in a half-smile.
He'd been willing to give Cathy everything when they were together, but now he was shocked to realize he was glad she'd made a fool of herself.
She wasn't worth thinking about. This is only the beginning, he thought. From now on, you can do whatever you want, Cathy. I don't care anymore.
Meanwhile, Cathy had already returned to the dorm. She was still racking her brains, trying to make sense of it all. Is Alex really rich? she wondered.
She decided to swallow her pride and ask Emma.
She pushed open the door to Emma's dormitory and walked into the middle of a heated conversation about Emma going to Chez Laurent for dinner. Everyone seemed envious.
"Hey, Cathy," one of the girls said. "I saw your online posts. You went to Chez Laurent, didn't you? Did you see Emma there?"
"Uh…" Cathy felt a bit awkward. She had gone to Chez Laurent and seen Emma. She had accidentally taken her place and had been forced to leave. How could she possibly explain that without being humiliated?
She avoided the question and looked over at Emma. "Emma, can you come outside for a minute? I need to ask you something."
Although Emma didn't want to speak to Cathy, she still followed her out of the dorm.
"Emma, was it Alex's idea to have dinner at Chez Laurent?" Cathy got right to the point.
"Yes. Why? Does it matter?" Emma shrugged.
Cathy was taken aback. "Where did he get the money?" She knew Alex was poor. There was no way he could afford to spend that much money.
"Why do you care?" Emma narrowed her eyes. Cathy had a reason for asking.
"Oh, Emma, don't be so sensitive. I'm Alex's ex-girlfriend. Am I not allowed to still care about him? Not even a little?" Cathy forced a smile and began to chat with Emma as though they were still on good terms. And it was working. After they'd spoken for a while, Emma started to warm to Cathy again.
"Emma, where did Alex get the money?" Cathy asked again when she felt the time was right.
Emma hesitated for a few seconds and then said, "Oh, he won the lottery. He got 150,000 dollars!"
"He won 150,000 dollars?" Cathy's jaw dropped. She'd never expected Alex to be so lucky.
"Cathy, what are you thinking?" Emma asked. "Alex is poor, and this money will help to relieve the financial pressure on him. Don't even think about stealing his money."
"Oh, shush, Emma. Don't be silly. Of course, I won't steal his money!" Cathy smirked. "I'll just let him hand it directly to me."