4: 4
My new proposal had been picked back up, and the partnership was moving along smoothly.
The celebration dinner was held in the banquet hall, the big screen behind us cycling through this quarter's project results and team photos.
I stood on the stage with the microphone, white suit, everything about me sharp and straight.
"Thanks to the team. This proposal got off the ground because of all of you. This one's to everyone."
The applause was still going when the screen behind me buzzed.
The slides had switched.
A yellowed photo.
A night market, a plastic tent, a boy with short-cropped hair crouched beside a basket of eggs.
His school uniform washed pale, his fingers red with cold, head down as he counted out a customer's change.
In the lower right corner, a line of small watermark text: 【The one bought for twenty thousand.】
The banquet hall went quiet.
Some turned to look at the screen. Some looked at me.
Wilfred stepped out of the crowd, a glass of red wine in hand, grinning wide.
"Surprise! The planning department slipped in a little gratitude segment. 'Thanks to the person who helped me most.'"
He turned to face the room. "Let me make a proper introduction. This is Mr. Nathaniel Stewart. Ten years ago, Kayla brought him back from a night market for twenty thousand. Without her, there'd be no him today. So the person who helped you most has to be Kayla, doesn't it?"
"That's why we picked this particular photo tonight. To thank Kayla, and to thank Nathaniel himself—"
He paused, then added, "After all, not everyone's lucky enough to get bought for twenty thousand. Right?"
The room stayed silent, then the murmurs started.
"So it really was true... I thought it was just a rumor."
"I'd heard before that Ms. Vance was keeping him on her dime. Didn't think they'd actually air it out in public."
"No wonder he made it from little assistant to director. Turns out that's the kind of skill that got him up there."
Somewhere in the corner, someone laughed.
It was Kayla.
She leaned against the bar, a smile at the corner of her mouth, her eyes crossing the crowd to land on me.
Wilfred walked over and hooked his arm through hers. "Kayla, go up and say a few words. This is your masterpiece, after all."
He tugged her up onto the stage. She dipped her head with a small laugh as she took the microphone.
Then she looked up at me.
I stood under the spotlight, the white suit washed pale in the glare, my face just as pale.
"Twenty thousand ten years ago. Still twenty thousand now, I'd say."
Her voice wasn't loud, but under the chandelier everyone heard it.
"I'll pay twenty thousand. Buy a smile from you."
"It's a celebration dinner. Why aren't you smiling? Come on. Give me a smile."
The room erupted.
I stared at her and didn't move.
She frowned.
"You want me to keep going? You want two hundred thousand, fine."
I drew a bank card from my suit pocket and held it out to her between my fingers.
"On this card is every dollar you've spent on me these ten years."
"Tuition, living expenses, clothes, skincare. And back then—"
I paused.
"That twenty thousand. All of it's here, not a cent short. I calculated the interest at the bank's fixed rate. Anything extra, call it my gift to you."
The banquet hall went completely still.
I set the card on the tabletop and pushed it forward.
"The egg-selling boy you bought for twenty thousand ten years ago, I'm officially giving him back to you today."
"He doesn't want it anymore."
"Kayla Vance, from today on you don't owe me, and I don't owe you."
