2: 2
2
I stopped Louis Gilbert, and the first thing out of my mouth was a full-blown confession.
Stanley Dickerson's face went blank with disbelief.
Louis looked caught off guard too.
For a moment the whole thing was painfully awkward.
But I wasn't the one feeling awkward.
Because I happened to know that Louis Gilbert wasn't nearly as awful as the male and female leads made him out to be.
If anything, he wanted friends more than anyone.
He wanted to be recognized.
He wanted to prove himself.
So he was generous to the people around him, and loyal too.
There was that one scene in the book especially, where a girl had confessed to him and given him a gift.
He turned her down, but he still sent money for the gift.
The gift was worth eighty-eight dollars. He transferred her a full thousand.
And said he never took advantage of anyone.
In the original book, Stanley twisted this into Louis flaunting his money and power, using cash to humiliate people's dignity.
But the way I saw it,
that wasn't humiliation at all.
That was Louis's principle, and a principle that fine deserves a thumbs-up.
A friend that lavish, if they didn't like him, fine, I did.
Which was exactly why, the first thing I did after landing in this book was come here to exploit the bug and farm gifts.
As long as Louis stuck to his principle, I could keep buying him gifts and printing money forever. Hehehe.
Just thinking about it, I couldn't stop a sly little grin from creeping onto my face.
Louis watched me curiously, one moment lost in some fantasy, the next wearing that shady little smirk.
He asked, puzzled:
"Hey, I don't think I know you."
I said quickly:
"Does that matter?"
What matters is that you see my gift, stick to your principle, and give me the money!
Under my hopeful stare,
sure enough, the next second Louis nodded:
"You're right, it doesn't matter. I'm not accepting your confession, and I never take advantage of anyone. How much was this gift? I'll transfer it to you."
Here it comes. Here it comes.
Right on cue.
Watching him pull out his phone to make the transfer, I was so thrilled I nearly lost my grip on the gift box.
"This, this, this gift is very expensive."
Louis said impatiently:
"How much?"
I steeled my nerve and slapped a sky-high price on a two-dollar red string:
"Fo—forty-eight thousand."
"Forty-eight thousand?" Stanley's shocked yelp came from behind me.
He ran over, his eyes full of enormous displeasure as they landed on me:
"Dawn Henson, you've never once given me a gift this expensive!"
I couldn't stand one more second of this so-called male lead:
"Who do you think you are? Why would I ever give you a gift?"
"You, how can you talk to me like that?" Stanley's face was a mask of disbelief. "How dare you? Aren't you afraid I'll never speak to you again?"
I said flatly:
"Are you sick in the head?"
Stanley's expression twisted even uglier:
"You're calling me sick? Didn't you used to like me more than anything?"
If I were still the supporting character from the book, then yes, that would've been true.
But I wasn't a person from the book anymore.
I gave Stanley a flat-out eye roll and said:
"You really are sick. Go crawl off wherever it's cool and quiet, and stop getting in the way of me confessing to a guy."
"Dawn Henson, you'll regret this!"
Stanley threw the line at me and stormed off in a fury.
Louis kept his hands in his pockets and studied me with open curiosity:
"You've got nerve. How do you dare talk to the campus heartthrob like that? Not scared of getting swarmed by Baby Stanley's White-Knight Squad?"
I gave a dismissive little laugh:
"Hmph, I couldn't care less about him!"
Louis seemed genuinely delighted and laughed out loud:
"Good, good, good. I'll transfer you the money."
He didn't even open the gift box, just sent over fifty thousand.
I said happily:
"You seem to have sent too much."
Louis said breezily:
"Whatever's extra, call it a tip."
Watching that dashing, obscenely rich figure of his walk away, I have to admit that in that moment my heart really did skip a little.
Wait, hold on, he didn't even take the gift with him.
Maybe I should just give it to him again next time?
This bug was so broken it even saved me the cost of materials?
