Myriam and Phillipa hadn't noticed that Alex had arrived back from the bathroom, and he
overheard everything that Myriam said about him. It made him feel guilty.
When she saw him, Myriam raised her head and looked at him with hatred. She said,
"You're so proud of yourself, aren't you? But don't feel too pleased with yourself. Without
Ken Stokes and that woman around to help you, you're still just a poor and worthless loser."
"In my eyes, you're no better than the flies feeding on garbage. You managed to
humiliate me publicaly. But don't worry, I'll pay you back with interest", she continued.
Myriam stood up, walked up to him with a venomous glare, and gave him a hard shove. She said, "Get out of here, you scumbag."
Then she went back to the table to wait in line.
Phillipa walked up to Alex and looked at him anxiously. She said, "Alex, I'm so sorry about
that. Myriam's too stubborn."
She knew that Alex was not at all the kind of person that Myriam thought he was. It was all a misunderstanding and now they hated each other.
"I know", Alex said with a small smile. "You need to go and register. I'll wait in line with you."
They deliberately joined the line furthest away from Myriam and tried not to look at her.
After half an hour, it was Phillipa's turn to register.
She sat on the swivel chair to complete the registration form while Alex stood nearby and waited.
As he was waiting, he saw a small group of people arriving and noticed that several staff
members stood up to greet them. He heard one of them say, "Mr. Brennan."
He was surprised when he saw that the person in the middle of the group was Darryl
Brennan, the man who had taken Leona out for dinner recently. He was dressed smartly as before; his eyes were bright, and his expression was relaxed.
He looked like a rich and healthy young man.
Darryl's family business was one of the sponsors of the Olympic Games and they had specifically sponsored the modernization of the gymnasium where volunteers were now
being recruited. Because of his family's involvement, his father had asked him to inspect
the venue, check that everything was going smoothly, and meet some officials from
the Olympic Committee and show them around. He was surprised to see Alex. He still
remembered him clearly as the loser who had destroyed his chances with Leona Marvel.
Then he quickly recovered his composure and smiled.
He said to him, "So even a loser from the street can sign up to volunteer? What did you have for breakfast, loser? Was it a corn cob?"
The other applicants waiting in line overheard Darryl's joke and smiled. Some of them
recognized him. Others didn't know who he was, but they all saw that he was handsome and well-dressed. He looked like someone important.
Most of the volunteers were students from various universities in Washington, D.C. and
they didn't know Alex. They could see that he had clearly offended Darryl but didn't know how or why.
Darryl went to the registration table in front of Alex. He leaned on it lazily, looked at Alex with disdain, and said with a smile, "You are really thick-skinned. Does anything get
through your thick skull? How dare you come here? Get out. You've no right to be here."
Then he looked at the staff and said, "Don't give him the registration paper. It's a waste of paper to give one to him"
Alex swallowed his anger and said, "Don't worry, I didn't come here to sign up. I'm just accompanying my friend who wants to volunteer."
"Friend? Who could possibly want to be friends with you?" Darryl sneered. Then he noticed Phillipa standing next to Alex and asked, "Are you friends with this scum? What great taste you've got. Don't bother filling in the form. Just leave."
Alex said in a hurry, "Darryl, that's not fair—"
But before he could finish, another voice interrupted him, saying, "Not fair? That's rich,
coming from you."
People looked in the direction of the voice and saw a slender young woman
approaching them. It was Myriam.
She walked up to Alex, looked at him with a sneer, and said to the crowd, "This man and I,
were high school classmates. A few days ago, we held a meeting in the Ruby Hotel, and he
totally disrupted the dinner. We had a lot of important people there. In the end, he made us all kneel on the ground and eat our food from the floor." She turned to Alex and said, "Your behavior that day was abysmal and now you expect to be accepted as a volunteer?"
That night in the hotel, Myriam and her family had struggled to eat all the food from the ground. They had been totally humiliated. Before leaving, they were told that they must
never mention Ken Stokes' name in connection with what happened that night or they
would suffer even more severe consequences.
Although she now told everyone what had happened, she was careful not to mention Ken's name.
Anyway, everyone in D.C. had already heard the story of people having to eat off the floor of the Ruby Hotel. There was no reason for her to keep it secret.
Someone commented, "Ah! I heard that story about people eating off the floor like pigs. This must be the guy who made them do it."
Another man said, "Judging from his clothes, I would say that he's also a poor loser. How
did he get everyone in the hotel to eat from the floor?"
"Hey, just forget it. All we need to know is that he's not a good man", replied his friend.
Someone else said, "None of you know who he really is. Let me tell you plainly. This is also
the loser who rode a hire bike to the fancy restaurant last month. You must have seen the
photos on Instagram."
That day, Alex had hired a bike and followed Darryl and Leona to the restaurant. He hadn't realized that he was being photographed and that those photos were then posted all over social media. Of course, everyone had found them hilarious and shared them with their friends.
"Ah, I recognize him now. He's that idiot who took a hire bike into the restaurant lobby,"
said one man.
Another student said, "Yes, I still have that picture on my cell phone. Look, here it is. You can see there are luxury cars such as Porsches, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benz outside the building and this guy pushed a hire bike right in. He should be ashamed to show his face in public."
He showed the photo to all his friends who roared with laughter.
"Not only that, but he also proclaimed his love to Leona Marvel outside the front of the
restaurant like a total psycho. He thought she would accept him, and he could marry into a wealthy family. He told me himself. I feel disgusted just to look at him," Myriam told everyone.
Darryl looked at Myriam, processing the way she had told the story. He thought to himself" She knows so much about that day then she must know that I was also there, having dinner with Miss Marvel in the restaurant. She must know that I was also rejected by Leona."
He realized quickly that Myriam had purposely left out his humiliating part of the story to protect him. He couldn't help but feel a little more favorable toward her.
The onlookers began to mock Alex's pursuit of Leona. They made all sorts of jokes at his
expense, calling him a loser and a daydreamer.
"Will you please leave now?" Darryl said to him with a proud smile.
Alex knew that there was no point trying to reason with Darryl, so he lowered his head to
Phillipa and whispered, "It's okay, take no notice of him. Fill in the form."
"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Darryl grabbed Phillipa's application form and
tore it into pieces, which he threw into the air. The paper fell like confetti.
She stared at Darryl and her mouth tightened. Two tears slowly gathered in her eyes.
Alex squatted down and held her face in his hands. He said gently, "Don't cry, it's okay. I'll
make sure that you become a volunteer."
Phillipa could no longer stop herself from crying and a stream of tears rolled down her face. Alex felt terrible.
"Alex, let's go. I don't want to be here. Let's just go", she said as she took Alex's hand and prepared to leave.
He looked at Phillipa, wiped away her tears, and said softly, "Don't cry. Olympic volunteers
are recruited by the government. This man has no say in it. You're so good at foreign
languages, you have every right to volunteer."
"But they—", Phillipa said.
Alex interrupted her with a smile. He said to Darryl, "Look, I know that you hate me, but
please don't take out your resentment on my friend. She has very good foreign language skills and is well qualified to volunteer. I don't know what rights you have in all this, but I
think if this matter went higher, it wouldn't look good that you tried to stop her."
"Are you threatening me? Ha, you really think I'm afraid of you?" Darryl sneered.
Alex didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly. He couldn't believe that Darryl wasn't backing down.
Some of the onlookers were now starting to feel sorry for Phillipa.
One girl said, "That girl is completely innocent."
"She was dragged into it by that boy",agreed her friend.
Darryl was actually a bit worried. If Alex did decide to take it further, he knew that he could handle the government officials. But public opinion on social media was beyond his control. Any negative publicity about him on the internet would impact his company and could cost him a lot of money.
Myriam suddenly said to him, "Darryl, I've got an idea. Why don't you make a bet with this
idiot? If he wins, you let the girl sign up. If he loses, they both have to leave quietly. He was
my classmate for three years and I know that although he's a bit of a loser, he will keep his
word."
Darryl looked at her. Then he turned to Alex and said, "Do you agree?"
Alex thought for a moment, and then nodded.
Darryl looked around and noticed a dartboard on the wall. His mouth raised into a small
smile. He looked at Alex and said, "I challenge you to a darts contest. If you beat me, she can be a volunteer. If you lose, you both have to leave."
"No, Darryl, that's not enough of a punishment. If he loses, he has to kiss your feet", Myriam suggested.
"Great idea," Darryl said excitedly. He laughed as he looked at Alex and said, "I'll raise the
stakes with you. In addition to what I said before, whoever loses has to get down on their
hands and knees and kiss the other's feet. Do you agree? You have to promise to keep your word."
Phillipa took Alex's hand and whispered, "Alex, let's go. I don't want to volunteer anymore."
"No, I must do this. Since Darryl's challenged me, I have to accept or be totally humiliated.
Don't worry, it will all be over soon", Alex said to Phillipa with a small smile.
"You mustn't."
Phillipa still wanted to persuade him to walk away, but he was no longer paying her attention.
"Haha, you loser. So, you've accepted my challenge. You can't get out of it now. Since you
think you're so amazing, now's your chance to prove it. Come with me," Darryl said with a
smile. He and Alex walked over to the dartboard.