Chapter 3 What Did You Say Again?
The loading screen was like a wall covering Roland's eyes at this moment.
He waited in anticipation and after a few minutes of processing, a screen that asked him to type in the pin appeared in front of him.
Roland complied and after the pin was accepted, he excitedly tapped the 'balance' button.
There he saw and confirmed that there was indeed 500000 Globar Dollars deposited in the account.
The joy in Roland's eyes could not be hidden as they gleamed in excitement.
At this moment, working part time only gives him 1 Global Dollar for every three hours.
A kilo of rice was around half a Global Dollar, or 50 Global Pennies and a bucket of mineral water was around 10 Global Pennies. Not to mention 500000 Global Dollars, even just 100 Global Dollars was not a low sum of money for him.
With this much money in his account, Roland was very excited.
This was his first time seeing such a huge amount in person, much less directly owning one.
As a person who lived frugally due to his financial difficulties, Roland could not help but think of spoiling himself at this moment.
Gone were the days that he suffered. Gone were the days where he needed to skip a meal just so he could pay the rent, buy school supplies and make Anna happy.
Thinking of that, Roland suddenly looked at his current appearance.
His outfit was not pleasing to the eye. He was wet from the rain and dirt's could be seen on his plain white shirt too. His jean has already faded while his shoes had black line all over it due to the accumulated dirt.
However, even with this outfit, Roland thought that it was not an enough reason to cheat. In fact, an immoral act such as cheating should not be considered in any relationship at all.
'Right. Anna's worth is just that much if she cheated because of something like this.'
'How shallow of me to be hurt by someone like that,' Roland smiled as he ridiculed himself.
With the money in his hands right now, he was no longer as heartbroken as before. Especially after realizing that Anna was not worth it for him to stay heartbroken forever.
Roland shook his head to clear his mind of Anna's figure. He then looked at the 500000 Global Dollars and decided to withdraw 1100 Global Dollars as his allowance for now.
After a few seconds, a 1100 Global Dollar bill was spit out by the machine. Roland hurriedly took it as well as his black atm card away.
In this world, there was only one currency that was generally accepted all over the world, the Global Dollar. A Global Dollar has a very high purchasing power. Considering that a kilo of rice was just half a Global Dollar or 50 Global Pennies.
The 1000 and the 100 Global Dollar Bill in Roland's hand was like a precious gold in his eyes.
Before, he could only dream of obtaining a mere 100 Global Dollar bill. However, he did not expect that let alone 100, he was now even capable of getting his hands on the more valuable 1000 Global Dollar bill.
Just like what he said earlier, Roland wanted to spoil himself for the first time in two years.
After successfully withdrawing his desired amount, he immediately inserted the black atm card in his pocket again, afraid that he might lose it.
He then went to the nearest mall and decided to buy himself a meal first.
And as expected, his get-up that almost looked like he was a beggar on the streets successfully drew the attention of the people. If not for his good looks, others might even find him very revolting and might not let him enter the fast-food restaurants at all.
Fortunately, he managed to get a proper meal this time without any interference as the other people did not bother him and only looked at him curiously.
Roland savored the taste of the fried-chicken and the ice-cold soda as he could not help but tear up a little. After two years, he finally tasted a 'proper' meal.
The entire meal only cost him 4 Global Dollars in total.
Fast-food restaurants were indeed very expensive. To think that his twelve hours of part-time work could only amount to a single meal in here. Roland just shook his head with a wry smile.
However, although he was a little dissatisfied about the 'overpriced' meal and because he was not used to such expensive purchases, he still decided to steel himself as he was spoiling himself this time.
And besides, with over 490000 Global Dollars inside his bank account, what could go wrong for spending a few Global Dollars over a delicious meal?
After he finished eating, Roland decided to stroll around the mall and buy himself a change of clothes and anything that he might fancy.
With that, Roland began his shopping spree.
He went to the general area and found a simple shirt. He then proceeded to pick a lot of items from the display cabinet with a happy heart. Brand new clothes, jeans, a shoe, socks, wallet and even a simple cap. Roland took everything he fancied without caring for their price.
The heartbreak he suffered was gradually forgotten just like that.
The joy of shopping could truly replace one's sorrow.
Especially when you can shop without bothering to check for the item's price.
However, Roland's joy did not last for long.
At this moment, a security guard and a saleslady approached him from behind.
"Uhm, excuse me," the sales lady greeted with a wry smile.
Roland turned around with a confused expression, "Yes?"
"Well, it's just that we notice that you've been 'collecting' a lot of items since earlier," as she said this, she secretly gave Roland a head-to-toe look.
Seeing his get-up, the sales lady was even more sure of his previous conjecture.
"And from what we observed, you do not even plan on buying them. So, 'sir', we humbly asked for you to return the items lest you dirty them with your hands." The sales lady was smiling but her words truly weren't.
The security guard who came along with her already has his hands on his baton, as if he was ready to 'apprehend' him if something turned serious.
Seeing their action, Roland could not help but frown.
"Wait, who told you that I won't buy this?" Roland held back his displeased expression as he asked politely.
The sales lady gave him a head-to-toe look again before she smiled, "It's based on our observation 'sir'."
She even emphasized the 'sir' a bit, implying that she actually did not want to call him that way.
Seeing that, Roland finally understood the real reason.
"Just because of my appearance, you think I'm unable to pay for such items?" Roland asked with a smile on his face.
This time, the sales lady could not take it anymore after seeing his smile. She thought that he was only pretending because he was afraid of getting embarrassed.
In her mind, she was already criticizing Roland a thousand times.
'If you can't pay, why pretend to do so? If you can pay for something like that, why are you still wearing such dirty and even wet clothes?'
"Enough. I've been working at this store for almost two years. I know at a glance if someone has the ability to buy or not and you are clearly part of the latter. Stop embarrassing yourself any further and hand back the items. Don't contaminate them with your dirty hand. Guard," she said as she signaled the guard from her side.
The guard nodded his head and prepared to take the items away from Roland. However, before he could do so, they suddenly heard a feminine voice from behind.
"What's going on here? Why are you shouting?"
Roland looked over and a pretty lady gradually entered his view. Her hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing a different outfit compared to the arrogant sales lady.
Seeing her, the sales lady also lit up as if she just saw a formidable backer.
"Miss Stacey, it's actually you. It's like this. This person has been window shopping for an hour and has even taken a lot of items from the display cabinets. Look at him carrying them like a crab. He doesn't even have the capacity to pay for them."
"This time, I'm afraid that he might dirty the items, so I asked him politely to return them. However, he actually refused to listen," the sales lady reported to Miss Stacey, who was clearly her superior.
Miss Stacey nodded her head to the sales lady's delight. She thought that the man who smiled arrogantly would surely be thrown out of the store by the manager, Miss Stacey.
Miss Stacey nodded her head; however, she had no intention of jumping to conclusions right away.
"Sir, is what she said true?" She asked Roland politely.
Roland was surprised at her polite tone. He thought that she would just be another arrogant fellow who looks down on everyone with dirty clothes like the sales lady earlier. However, it seems that he was wrong.
Roland nodded his head as he answered, "What she said about the first part is the truth. However, I must disagree on the latter part. Who said that I can't pay for these items?"
He waved the clothes and the other items hanging on his arm. These were all the items that he picked earlier. Even though he did not look at their prices when he took them earlier, Roland was confident that they wouldn't go past the 200 Global Dollars mark.
The sales lady kept on going on with her assumptions over and over again. Roland was already pretty annoyed deep inside his heart.
When Roland said those words, the sales lady only scoffed and even laughed at him," You? Pay? What are you going to pay them with, your body? Stop embarrassing yourself and return the item while it's still not too late-"
The sales lady's eyes bulged all of a sudden. Her words suddenly got stuck in her throat.
In front of her, Roland has already taken out the 1000 Global Dollar bill from his pocket. He looked at the sales lady straight in the eye as he said with a smile,
"What did you say again?"