Frustration building, Alise was on the verge of punching her phone if it didn't hurry up and come on.
Finally, when the screen lit up, a sigh of relief escaped Alise's lips. with her phone in hand, She then rushed back to the bathroom.
Now, that she was fully prepared to ask for her online ID for instant payment, she asked, out of breath, "Now, what's your information?"
As she shared her information, Alise rapidly typed in her code, momentarily disregarding her family's persistent barrage of buzzing messages and notifications on her phone.
She swiftly swiped them out of the way, frantically trying to find the app eager to complete the transaction.
After locating the app, Alise swiftly clicked on it and began searching for the required name. Once she found it, she turned the phone toward the lady and asked, "Is this it?" The lady confirmed with a nod, and Alise promptly sent the payment.
Alise patiently awaited the lady to confirm the receipt of the payment. When the lady finally acknowledged, she held her phone up and expressed her gratitude, saying, "Thank you." As she walked away, Alise closed the door.
Setting the basket on the counter, she started to inspect its contents. Picking up the clothes and unfolding them, she realized they were blank – just a plain black tee and a pair of shorts with no design or markings.
She gave the clothes a quick sniff to ensure they were clean and suitable. With a shrug, she muttered, "I guess this will do for now. I'm definitely going shopping when I'm out today;
She set the plain black tee and shorts on the counter, then proceeded to undress, shedding the oversized clothes. She grabbed the body wash, toothbrush, and face soap, and began to run the shower as she stepped inside.
Choosing efficiency, she opted to wash her face, brush her teeth, and wash up in the shower all at once to knock out her daily routine.
Under the warm shower, Alise carefully lathered her face with face wash and brushed her teeth. Afterward, she washed her body, letting the soapy water cleanse and refresh her for the day ahead.
Once she finished her shower, she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel, feeling clean and refreshed. She dried herself off then proceeded to get dressed.
However, since she didn't have any underwear or a bra, and she refused to wear her used ones, she took a moment to check in the mirror to see if it was noticeable before she walked out the bathroom.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Alise couldn't shake the feeling of exposure, despite her earlier mirror check. She glanced at her phone, and it showed 12:03. Deciding to attend to her notifications, she started scrolling through them while simultaneously looking around for Auston.
As Alise scrolled through her notifications, her father's messages grabbed her attention. She halted in her tracks, reading his words "You're irresponsible. I should've known you'd ruin your wedding.
I did all this for you. Why can't you ever be happy? You embarrassed this family way too much. I don't understand. Why can't you be more like Neva? Don't expect to get any more money out of me," stung deeply.
In response, Alise retorted sarcastically, "Yeah, I'm irresponsible, blah blah. I thought the wedding was great," and then added with a hint of bitterness, "Why can't you? You've been miserable my whole life. I am barely around to embarrass you.
"I can't be like Neva because I'm me, I am Alise. I'm sorry you can't control my life like you want And rest assured, I won't ever ask you for money again." Alise concluded her message with a smiley emoji at the end, just to be petty and make him mad.
Alise wasn't upset; she had grown accustomed to her father's hurtful words and constant comparisons. Nevertheless, she felt compelled to express her feelings, especially since he was intent on making comments about someone.
Alise swiped out of her father's messages and clicked on the rest, her siblings, instead of her mother. She suspected that her mother would likely echo her father's sentiments, as she had always been one to support her father. Alise was only curious to see how her siblings would respond.
She began walking and as she opened each of her messages from her siblings. As she read most of them, she continued looking around for Auston and eventually yelled his name.
Alise reassured her concerned siblings, letting them know that she was fine and that their worries were unfounded. However, Neva's frustration was more evident, so Alise responded by telling her not to worry and that living with Auston was inevitable.
After replying to the messages, she secured her phone in her shorts, attaching it to her hip due to the lack of pockets. Alise then descended the stairs, moving through each room of her house, from the kitchen to the dining room, and finally to the living room.
There, she found Auston comfortably reclined on the couch, and as she approached him, it was evident that he had dozed off.
Auston was in a deep, peaceful slumber, with a book and a pair of glasses perched halfway down his face. Alise found this sight charming, as not everyone shared her enthusiasm for reading, and she had a particular fondness for the nerdy hot look.
She quietly mumbled to herself, Alise thought, "Who would've thought?" as she carefully tiptoed away from the living room, making her way to the kitchen without disturbing Auston's peaceful slumber.
In the kitchen, she opened the fridge and grabbed some fruit for a quick snack. As Alise finished her snack, she felt a bit bored. She grabbed her phone, scrolled through her social media feeds, and ended up on Instant Flick.
She found a discussion thread about her marriage to Auston, but there were no pictures of them together. Amused, she chuckled as she read the title and the comments. People seemed to have various reactions.
Some were upset that their elusive tycoon had gotten married, others were frustrated that they didn't know what Alise looked like, and a few even suggested she was ugly.
There were mean comments about Auston's appearance as well. It was all quite entertaining for her. She always thought people were just jealous of her. Seeing haters always brought her joy.
As she sat there that's when Alise started to entertain the idea of tagging the current posts in their mentions to stir things up, but with a twist. When viewers clicked on the posts, her face would remain concealed. She aimed to provoke her haters and amuse herself.
With a grin crept across her face she captioned the post: "Want to see my face? CLICK HERE."
With a decisive tap, she published the update and turned off her notifications on Instant Flick, anticipating the reactions it would generate.