Chapter 38 - Shopping (1)

The next couple of days quickly flew by, and Valentina slowly got into a rhythm while living at the Grayson residence.

She would wake up and have a late breakfast with Luca. Then she spent the rest of the day applying for different roles while reading different acting manuals. Even though her status still read 40/100, she wanted to try to improve her skills without the system. She thought that if she could gain some real-world knowledge, she would be able to act better in the future.

While staying at the Grayson residence, she thought she would have to entertain Luca, but the little nugget entertained himself either on his iPad or on his computer. The two of them would peacefully be side by side in the living room doing their own thing with minimal interaction.

Throughout her stay, Valentina never ran into Kaiser. He woke up before she did and got home after she got to bed. Not seeing the big boss helped relieve her from the pressure of living at his spot and made her feel bad for Luca. Even though his father cared for him, he rarely saw him due to work which made Luca feel lonely. Valentina tried to alleviate his loneliness by interacting with the little nugget more. She often took him on walks around the gardens and to the play-park in the backyard. Although her stamina was bad, she did her best to run around with the child to tire him out and was satisfied to see him sleeping peacefully every night.

During this time, her body seemed to slowly get better. Although there were times when she coughed up blood after playing vigorously with Luca, for the most part, her body seemed to have reached a stable if weak equilibrium.

One morning when Valentina woke up, she noticed that Luca wasn't at breakfast.

"Matteo, where is Luca" Valentina asked the butler as she ate her porridge.

"The young master has gone to spend the next couple of days with his grandparents." Matteo respectfully replied.

"Ah, I see. Then could you ask the driver to prepare? I want to go shopping at the mall." Valentina decided she would finally use the card and buy something for Luca. She was tired of seeing the cute kid in such dark clothes.

As she had spent more time with him, she had gotten an idea of the things he liked and wanted to give him a gift.

"Of course, Miss Valentina," Matteo replied.

Valentina walked around Imperial Mall, which was the largest luxury mall in the capital. When she had said she wanted to go shopping, she expected to be taken to a regular mall, not a luxury mall. Still, she walked around until she saw a store that had lots of children's clothing.

As she walked around, she saw so many cute clothes for young boys that caught her eye. She collected clothes until she had an armful that she could barely carry. As she continued browsing around, she saw an emerald suit that caught her eye. It was nicely tailored and even had custom patches that could be attached like Minecraft Steve and other cartoon characters.

Seeing the color, she immediately thought of Luca since his favorite was green. She saw that the only one in his size was on the mannequin, so she lugged all the clothes in her arms and went to the payment counter to find an associate.

"Hello, I'd like to pay for all this as well as get an outfit from a mannequin on the floor."

As the salesgirl looked her up and down, Valentina could feel her irritation building. Valentina was dressed in a simple dress and wore her usual comfortable loafers.

Although she looked good in what she wore, she probably looked very different from the usual demographic that shopped at the store. She knew that the girl was trying to catalog her because she wasn't dressed in all name-brand clothing.

"Ma'am, that suit is over $5000. Would you be able to afford it along with everything you plan on purchasing?" the salesgirl asked haughtily.

Seeing the salesgirl's expression of looking down on her, Valentina wanted to laugh. Lady, do you know what I have in my wallet? It's a black card okay. the legendary black card. Valentina wanted to take the black card and slam it on the girl's forehead.

Restraining her temper, Valentina simply ordered the girl, "Is it your job to question a customer? If I tell you to wrap something up, wrap it up and check me out."

"Of course, ma'am, please wait a moment." When the salesgirl saw Valentina's confidence, she quickly went to collect the clothing, excited at the commission that she would make from the sale.

 As the girl hurried to the checkout counter, she was interrupted by a young girl and an older woman.

"Excuse me, Miss, may I see that suit? It looks like something that would fit my little cousin and I want to gift it to him for his birthday." The speaker was a young girl who had honey-brown hair with highlights that was softly curled and framed her face. She had light brown eyes framed by delicately curled lashes and her lips were a rosy pink. Her skin was lightly tanned, and she was dressed in a simple blue Chanel dress. She had on white Hermes sandals and carried a white Chanel camera bag. She had multiple diamond bracelets and a matching necklace.

The older woman who was with her had long black hair and bright green eyes. She was elegantly dressed in a floral black dress and carried a white crocodile skin birken bag. Due to maintenance, the woman's skin was still youthful and the way she carried herself indicated she was a wealthy wife, probably the mother of the young girl.

"I'm sorry ma'am, this lady over here requested it first. If you would like, I can place an order for you, and it will arrive within a week." The salesgirl responded apologetically.

"Ah but I'm willing to pay now, I'll even pay double." The young girl said.

"Sorry, but those are my things." Valentina interrupted while glancing at the two newcomers.

They both turned to look at her and there was an expression of shock.

"Sister is that you?" the girl asked.