Chapter 71
Seeing me stop Nina.
So Odile seemed convinced that I had just walked in to look around, not planning to buy anything, and was only putting on airs because I saw her here.
Odile walked up to me, her tone full of contempt.
"I'm not looking down on you, but if you can actually buy anything from this store, I'll get down on my knees and apologize to you."
I didn't want to deal with her. Talking to someone like this was just a waste of time.
I turned to leave, but Odile had no intention of letting me go just like that.
She raised her voice and mocked me, "You're just as fake as that mother of yours. No ability whatsoever, both of you are just useless."
My steps immediately stopped. My hands unconsciously clenched into fists, and my whole body trembled with anger.
She could say whatever she wanted about me, but I would never allow anyone to insult my mother.
I turned around and glared at Odile fiercely, looking at her as I said word by word, "Say that again?"
Odile was determined to believe I was just bluffing, so she repeated what she had just said.
The next second, I slapped her across the face.
Odile seemed shocked.
Her already large, bulging eyes now looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets from shock and anger.
She slowly turned her head to look at me, covering her reddened face, her voice trembling, "You actually dare to hit me?"
I shook my wrist and stared at her coldly, asking back, "Why can't I hit you? You insulted my mother."
My words seemed to hit a nerve with Odile. She screamed and tried to lunge at me to fight back.
But I was quick to step back, and Odile fell straight onto the shelf.
With a crackling sound, the ceramic rabbit figurines on the shelf shattered all over the floor.
When Odile came to her senses, she realized what had happened.
Her eyes were full of panic, and her lips were trembling.
The commotion we made was too loud. The manager who had been resting in the break room came out. Seeing Odile sitting awkwardly among the broken ceramic pieces, his eyes widened.
"My God, what have you done? Do you know how much these things cost? You couldn't afford to pay for them even if you worked for ten years without eating or drinking!"
With that, the manager strode over to Odile.
Odile trembled and pointed at me unwillingly, "She pushed me!"
The manager narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
He looked me up and down like he was examining merchandise, and just like Odile, he looked down on me because of my clothes.
He walked up to me and said with contempt, "Miss, do you know what you've done?"
I nodded calmly.
"Of course, I know what I did. I taught a lesson to a woman who insulted my mother."
Hearing my words, the manager didn't feel the slightest bit sorry or guilty about Odile's insult to my mother.
He frowned impatiently and said to me in a harsh tone, "No matter what personal grudge you have with Odile, you broke things in my store, so you have to pay."
I looked around and pointed at the surveillance camera overhead, "Is your surveillance camera just for show? Don't you have eyes to see what actually happened just now?"
My blunt words hurt the manager's pride.
He gritted his teeth, and his gaze at me slowly darkened.
Suddenly, the manager said, "Our surveillance camera just happened to break yesterday. Since the employee says you did it, then you must have done it. She's been working here for almost ten years and would never lie."
I was almost amused by the manager's ability to lie with a straight face.
At this point, our commotion had attracted many onlookers.
Seeing so many people watching, I felt somewhat annoyed.
I had come out happily to choose a birthday gift for Aunt Sophie, but encountered such an upsetting situation. It really killed my mood.
Seeing more people gathering, the manager felt he had the upper hand and shouted loudly.
"Everyone, come and see! This poor person walked into our store for no reason, pushed my employee, and caused me to lose so many products! Now she doesn't want to pay! Everyone, come and judge this!"
Everyone curiously gathered closer because of the manager's words.
Probably because of my cheap clothes, the people around me believed what the manager said. They whispered among themselves.
"Who doesn't know that the things in this store are very expensive? She's dressed like that and came in to browse; she definitely wasn't planning to buy anything."
"Maybe she was even trying to steal something! Otherwise, why would the employee target her?"
My face turned a bit red from these people's whispers.
I didn't understand, just because someone is dressed poorly, does that mean you can randomly label them a thief?
Nina spoke up before I did.
Her voice was clearer and louder than mine. She put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Are you all blind? Just now, this employee tried to push my friend, and my friend stepped back, so she fell onto the cabinet! Isn't it because their employee tried to hit someone that led to this situation?"
Hearing Nina say this, Odile covered her face and started crying, "Now that the surveillance is broken, nobody's word counts. Why don't we just call the police?"
I calmly patted Nina's shoulder and turned to the manager.
Upon hearing about calling the police, Odile's expression showed a moment of nervousness.
Then she rolled her eyes, slapped her thigh, and started crying, "Your stepfather is a gambling addict. Who knows if you came here specifically to frame me to get money for him?"
Society always hates gamblers, after all, everyone knows that gamblers are devils.
Having a gambling addict for a father, I naturally couldn't be a good person.
The people who had initially looked at me with curiosity now began to look at me with some disgust.
I bit my lip and forced myself to calm down.
If I didn't do something now, my reputation would be ruined by Odile.
Who knows what other slanderous accusations she would make against me?
I took a deep breath and slowly walked forward, taking out the black card Kane had given me from my bag.
The moment the black card appeared, the manager's eyes lit up.
He walked forward and reached out his hand, seemingly wanting to take the black card.
I stepped back, avoiding his hand, and stared at him coldly, "Do you think I can't afford things in your store?"
In fact, the money in the black card was enough to buy the entire store.
The manager seemed to realize something, and a flash of panic crossed his expression.
He was no longer as contemptuous as before, just rubbing his hands and smiling at me, "This is all a misunderstanding."
I shook my head and stared into his eyes.
"This isn't a misunderstanding. You didn't listen to my explanation and just decided I pushed Odile. You simply can't tell right from wrong because of how I'm dressed."
My words made sweat break out on the manager's forehead. He looked at me hesitantly, his lips trembling.
I turned to look at Odile again.
"What makes you think I can't afford things here? Just because you work as a cashier here, do you think you're as valuable as these expensive products?"
My words were basically humiliating Odile.
She couldn't care about anything else and screamed as she lunged at me to hit me.
I'm not the same Sonya I used to be.
There's absolutely no way I would let her bully me like this.