Nia Mitchell stared at her classmates, her brow furrowed in disbelief.
Did they actually believe what they were saying? she wondered. Were they trying to slander her, or just convince themselves?
"I was showing off my wealth by insisting on paying? And you couldn’t stop ?" Nia Mitchell repeated, looking in shock at everyone present.
"Exactly!" many people nodded.
It wasn’t surprising, really. Not everyone knew what Julia Adams had said earlier; after all, not everyone cared about the girls’ squabbles.
Nia shrugged. Fine, you win, she thought.
"Alright then," Nia suggested as she sat down. "Since I’m not showing off or acting rich anymore, everyone take out your money for dinner and the earlier karaoke session. Pool it all together and give it to the class representative so he can settle the bill."
This is the normal procedure for a gathering. Let’s just get back to normal from now on, she decided.
She didn’t really care about the money itself. But her classmates had been so ungrateful and unfair; why should she be the generous one now?
"Nia Mitchell, you’ve gone too far!" Julia Adams exclaid, standing up and yelling at Nia.
"It was you who insisted on paying! You were flaunting your wealth, showing off that you have money! That’s why everyone ordered expensive dishes. Now you suddenly say you’re not paying and want us all to pay together for this? We’re all students; how can we afford so much?"
Julia Adams personally didn’t care about the cost; it was well-known her family had money.
But University A wasn’t so elite academy; many students there were from modest backgrounds. Julia’s words struck a chord with those who weren’t well-off.
"Yeah, how could you do that? You clearly set us up!"
Students from less affluent families spoke up. If they had to pay for this al, how would they manage their living expenses?
They had initially been a bit hesitant about the class gathering being at Royal Dynasty. But the class representative had assured them they wouldn’t order expensive things, and with the whole class chipping in, each person wouldn’t have to pay much. Then, when Nia Mitchell offered to pay for everyone, they thought, why not take her up on it?
And Nia Mitchell had indeed paid for lunch. She’d even booked and paid for two luxurious karaoke rooms.
Isn’t she just a Local Tyrant? they’d thought.
Since she was so rich, no one held back that evening. They indeed ordered a great many expensive items. They ordered dishes they’d heard of but never tasted, and even so they’d never heard of before. Everyone ordered to their heart’s content. No one considered the possibility of not finishing the food. In that mont, they reveled in the joy of ordering without restraint; the feeling was exhilarating.
But now, this sudden reversal—who could stand it?
"I set you up?" Nia Mitchell found it laughable. I’m the one who spent the money, and now I’m supposed to take the bla too?
"Then let ask you all," she said, "which one of you heard say I would be paying for tonight as well?"
Instantly, the room fell silent.
That’s right. Nia Mitchell never actually said that, they realized. They had all just assud she would pay, figuring she didn’t care about the money.
So...
"But you didn’t say you *weren’t* paying either," soone muttered, a sentint that resonated with many.
Nia Mitchell laughed as she looked at her classmates.
"Then let ask you this: this gathering was ant for us to pay together, correct? That was the default system, wasn’t it? It was agreed from the start, right? Just because I didn’t say I *wouldn’t* pay, you all assud I *would*. By that sa logic, since none of you explicitly stated you *wouldn’t* be paying, should I then assu that you all intended to pay together for the bill?"
At that mont, Nia Mitchell radiated a sternness that made everyone afraid to et her gaze.
Every sentence, every word she uttered, carried an undeniable weight, an irrefutable authority.
No one could find a single word to refute her.
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