After Being Exposed, She Broke Down!

As I snapped out of my reverie, I looked at my excited classmates and gave a faint smile.

"Drawing has been exhausting lately," I said, "so today, I'd like to take a break."

Lydia, looking flustered, nudged me. "But you said that painting was really important to you. Is it really okay to skip a whole night?"

"It's fine. It's almost done anyway."

I tried to reach out to my former roommate, Louisa Lane, but she recoiled. She looked at me with obvious disdain.

"Meryl, you have some kind of infection. Don't come so close."

I immediately grabbed Lydia's hand, feigning hurt. "How could I have an infection? Lydia wears my clothes and uses my things every day, and she's perfectly fine. How could I be contagious?"

Lydia's face flushed with embarrassment, and she froze in place.

I couldn't help but smirk at her discomfort.

I thought, You love to play games, don't you? Let me tear away your mask piece by piece.

We arrived at the restaurant, and the waiter, seeing our group of over a dozen, greeted us with a broad smile and led us to the best table.

As I pulled out a chair to sit down, Louisa pointed at me with irritation and told the waiter I wasn't part of their group.

The waiter, looking uncomfortable, asked me to sit elsewhere. Just as I was picking up a plate, Louisa's voice cut through again, dripping with sarcasm.

"I was just trying to warn you. She has an infection. If this fancy restaurant ends up with other guests getting sick because of her, can you cover the cost?"

Seeing the waiter's distress, I calmly dropped my plate.

I thought, If they don't want to serve me, so be it. I'll let them deal with the fallout.

I headed to McDonald's, bought a meal, and took a seat outside, watching them through the glass while I ate.

Apparently, having someone watch while eating wasn't exactly appetizing—soon, everyone put down their forks and declared they were full.

The waiter brought the bill, and I glanced at it—it was nearly 40 thousand dollars. Lydia, with a nonchalant air, pulled out my card and handed it to the waiting waiter.

Her calm demeanor made me wonder if the card had been hers all along.

Everyone around her showered her with praise for being both beautiful and generous, and Lydia basked in the attention, looking like she was floating in the air.

But reality hit her hard when the waiter returned with a serious look.

"I'm sorry, but this card isn't going through. Do you have cash or another payment method?"

Lydia's face turned a deep shade of red as she stared at the card in disbelief. She examined it repeatedly.

Her friends began grumbling about the restaurant's outdated equipment, blaming them for not accepting the card.

The waiter explained apologetically, "It's not our equipment. This card has been reported lost."

As Lydia's expression shifted to one of realization, she fixed a steely gaze on me, who was now enjoying the show from outside.

I leisurely got up, brushed off crumbs, and shrugged in her direction.

I thought, Looks like you've been playing this part for so long, you've started to believe it yourself. Lydia, it's time to wake up from your princess fantasy.

Seeing my nonchalant reaction, Lydia blushed even more.

She signaled for silence, saying she needed to make a call to figure out what was going on.