Chapter 3

The front desk staff had already pulled up the POS records and the security footage, waiting for Zach to dig himself deeper.

Even facing concrete evidence, Zach insisted, "I paid the $78! Your system must be glitching!"

"Then please show us your receipt or the transaction on your phone."

The manager and the servers kept their polite smiles, but Zach was losing his footing. He quickly changed his story. "I paid in cash! How am I supposed to have a digital receipt?"

Then he tried to turn it back on them. "You guys didn't even give me a receipt!"

The manager nodded and pointed to the security camera right above the register. "Then around what time did you pay, sir? We can quickly pull up the footage. If it proves we made a mistake, we will gladly pay you the ten-fold compensation immediately."

"Wait..."

Zach was clearly panicking now. His eyes darted around the room until he spotted me standing near the exit. He pointed a finger at me. "It wasn't me who paid! My girlfriend paid! Her name is Chloe! Talk to her!"

Everyone turned to look at me. I shook my head and waved. "I don't know him. I'm just here for the drama."

"Maya, the circus show is over. Let's go shopping upstairs."

As Maya and I turned to leave, Zach's desperate screams of my name echoed behind us.

Even after being forced to leave the restaurant empty-handed, Zach kept spamming my Snapchat.

【Chloe, you went way too far! How could you leave me there like that? You owe me that compensation money!】

Then, I saw his Instagram story update.

He posted a picture of the restaurant's aesthetic interior and the food plates.

The caption read: *One of my favorite regular spots. Great food, amazing prices. Highly recommend treating yourself here once in a while.*

After Maya saw it, she looked like she had just swallowed a fly. "Chloe, your boyfriend is a world-class clown."

"He’s my ex-boyfriend now."

I quickly typed a reply to Zach: 【Let's break up. Blocked.】 Then I deleted him from Snapchat and blocked his number.

I couldn't afford to have such a delusional, toxic man in my life.

Thankfully, Maya was the only one in our social circle who knew I was dating Zach. Otherwise, if the video of him rolling on the restaurant floor went viral, I would have died of embarrassment.

But the peace didn't last. The next morning at the office, my coworkers were whispering.

"Isn't that the 'Stomach Pain Guy' from the viral video? Why is he in our office?"

I turned around, only to meet Zach’s pathetic, sorrowful eyes.

"Chloe, I thought about what happened yesterday."

Zach walked up to my desk, holding out a sad little bunch of wildflowers he had clearly ripped from a random bush outside. "I’ve decided to forgive you."

Me: ?

"It's normal for you to be greedy for high-end food. Your family probably never fed you anything good growing up. I should have been more patient and taught you how to save. Let's get married, Chloe. I’ve already planned out our future."

"We can rent a place near your office. I’ll bring my mom, dad, grandparents, and sister over to live with us. Since it’ll be close to your work, it’ll be super convenient for you to come home and take care of them every day."

"You need to remember all of their personal preferences. Every meal has to be a balanced three-course dinner. If you perform well, I might consider giving you a $50 weekly allowance for groceries. Oh, and if you give me a son, I’ll immediately give you a $200 bonus!"