"Hey! What the fuck are you talking about?" Mike sprung up and yelled, fe
eling a burst of righteousness after
secing the sleazy man pester Ruby. "My friend already told you she can't
sing the song! Why the hell do you.
keep pressing her?"
"Exactly! How can you force people to sing songs they don't know? Aren't
you being too unreasonable?" Ninal chimed in. The others who had remained
silent wore similar indignant expressions.
"A show–
off, huh?" The chubby man sneered, "She should follow the rules since she
walked onto the stage. I've already paid, so she has to sing!"
"So what if you paid? That measly sum is barely enough to buy coffee!" Mi
ke scoffed disdainfully. "You want to talk about rules? Let me humor you.
Hey, I'll give you 100 roses. Sing whatever you like for the first song!
" he said and paid ten thousand dollars on the spot.
"Damn! He sure is easygoing with his money. He spent ten thousand without
hesitation."
"He's probably some rich kid. Let's see what happens."
The
ama, which was far more interesting than someone's singing, attracted man
y onlookers, reaching the desired effect.
"I expected more than just ten
thousand dollars," the chubby man Jeered before pulling out a card and sw
iping it through the card terminal. He yelled. "Bring this girl ten bottl
es of red wine!"
Each bottle cost ten thousand dollars, so ten bottles added up to 100 tho
usand dollars. It took guts to spend that much money without even hesitat
ing.
"Holy shit! Spending 100 thousand dollars for one song? That guy must be
loaded!"
"I can't understand the life of the rich. 100 thousand is my total salary
for an entire year."
"That girl's getting so much money for no reason, Is this one of the perk
s of being pretty?"
The crowd began whispering among themselves for different reasons, namely
surprise, envy, and even jealousy, while the owner of the music bar beam
ed from ear to ear. Usually, they only get a few thousand bucks in tips a
t most; today, however, they were getting over 100 thousand dollars, whic
h meant that the owner would be raking in a large profit even if he split
the amount evenly with the singer.
"Why aren't you saying anything, punk? Don't tell me you can't even pay 1
00 thousand bucks?" Chubster
taunted, causing Mike's expression to darken.
"It's on! Let's see how much
you're willing to spend!" Mike immediately swiped his card again and shou
ted. "I want 20 bottles!"
20 bottles cost 200 thousand dollars, double what Chubster had paid earli
er. There was no way Mike was willing to give up now.
"Hey, chubster. Do you know how powerful Mike is? You should give up befo
re you embarrass yoursell!" Nina boasted loudly.
"Hmph! Mike's family has hundreds of millions in assets. What makes
you think you can win against him?"
"Precisely! 200 thousand is nothing to him. I dare you to top that. Let's
see who the final winner is."
A chorus of taunts and jeers rose from the crowd of youngsters, who were
at the age where they cared about nothing else besides their ego. Natural
ly, it meant returning insults after being on the receiving end.
"Foolish brats!" The chubby man sniggered and swiped
his card again. "I want another hundred bottles!"
"100 bottles of red wine?" The man's order
caused an uproar among the crowd, who couldn't believe someone
had not hesitated to spend a million dollars
on 100 bottles of red wine.
"He's a real tycoon!"
"That much money could get him a house, but he gave it away so casually.
Just how rich is he?"
Everyone was shocked. No one expected to encounter such a scene when they
merely came to enjoy some
drinks and music.
"I dare you to top that, brat." Chubster sniggered.
Mike gritted his teeth, his expression darkening. A million dollars was f
ar from a small amount of money. His
monthly allowance was
only 100 thousand dollars at most, and his yearly allowance amounted to o
nly around
a million dollars. The thought of spending a year's worth of allowance ju
st for a singer troubled
Mike. Worse still, he didn't have that much money on his card.
"Get him, Mike!"
"Yeah! He's too arrogant! You should teach him a lesson!"
"It won't be a big deal since the money is going to Ruby anyway."
Mike's friends were ticked off by the chubby man's attitude and chose to
fuel the fire. Mike's hands clenched
into fists, his face becoming stormy with anger.
"Goddamn it! I just wanted to show off and impress Ruby. How was I suppos
ed to know that the average-
looking chubster was rich?" he thought.
"Pfft! Don't tell me you ran out of money," the chubby man jeered as real
ization dawned on him. "You're trying to show off your wealth when you do
n't even have a million dollars? How embarrassing!"
"You-
" Mike's jaw clenched, but he couldn't refute what the other man was sayi
ng.
His friends quickly noticed something was wrong after seeing him remain s
ilent, and they soon realized they
might lose.
"What made you think an immature brat like you could win against me? How
foolish!" The chubby man scoffed. "Go home and play with your toys instea
d of making a fool of yourself here. Do you fancy yourself a knight in sh
ining armor? Ha, what a joke!"
"You're going too far!" Mike yelled.
"So what? You could always prove me wrong by paying up." Chubster taunted
, rendering Mike speechless. Shut the hell up if you don't have that mone
y." The chubby man glowered at Mike before turning his attention
to Ruby. "I've spent a million dollars on you, sweetie, so you better sta
rt singing. You're going to have a few drinks with me after that too."
"I'll sing for you, but I'm going to have to turn down the drinks." Ruby
shook her head.
While she was shocked by the chubby
man's considerable wealth, she also knew what he had in mind, so there wa
s no way she'd share some drinks with him.
"I spent over a million dollars on you, so how hard can it be to share a
few drinks with me?" Chubster huffed. displeased.
"I'm not good with drinks." Ruby seemed troubled.
"Shut up! You aren't leaving here if you don't drink with me!" the chubby
man shouted.
"Is a million a lot?" Dustin suddenly questioned icily. "I'll pay you ten
million dollars to leave this instant instead of disgusting everyone.