Breaking The Bank (Part 1)

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"My friend sent a message that she could join us," she told Andrei who was glued to his phone.

His hands were holding a phone each. He was buried in work even when he was supposedly on vacation.

He just nodded his head in answer while his fingers danced across the surface of his smartphone.

She shook her in disapproval. When she glanced at Bella, she was just like Andrei, bent over her smartphone in her hands -- oblivious to the world.

She folded her hands in her lap and kept her eyes straight ahead when she noticed a little boy watching her. She smiled at him, but he stuck his tongue out at her and hid in his mother's arms. 'Little brat!'

She waited for the boy to look in her direction again, for she was also thinking of sticking her tongue out at him, but they already got off the train, one station away from the station they are to get off.

When she looked at Andrei and Bella, both were still occupied with their phones, it made her feel irritated with them, even though she knew that what they were doing was their job -- but it made her feel left out.

She fished out her phone from her jeans right pocket and scrolled through her IG. She has an Instagram account, but she rarely posts photos in it. Scrolling through her account, she saw that she posted about two to five photos a month.

She decided to check the IG account of Andrei's furniture line and she was pleasantly surprised to see that it had thousands of followers and the photos were aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. She liked most of their photos.

And went on to check Bella's account, and was surprised to see that she has more than a million followers!

She scrolled fast through her photos and most of them were like the ones she likes to take with them in the garden.

She hasn't posted the photos she took of them, but she saw some pictures of them already on her Facebook.

From observing Bella's photo on her Instagram, she saw the pattern of photos that usually garnered a lot of likes.

She checked her phone's photo gallery and saw photos that matched those types of photos that get a lot of likes.

She chose two photos and edited them. When she was satisfied with it. She posted it on her Instagram putting the cheesy caption she saw in most posts.

She cringed with how cheesy those captions. Especially those who like putting some quotation or some popular line that has nothing to do with the photos.

She decided to play safe with her caption. {Missing the island life} was what she wrote under her photo sitting on the wooden dock during one of the many sunsets that she enjoyed on the island with a cold beer at hand.

She also copied the usual tags similar to the photo she posted. Once done, she put her phone back into her jeans pocket and elbowed Andrei for the next station was their stop.

She forgot about the photo she posted because when they got off the train, Mei Mei was already waiting for them.

She said she has a car waiting for them to take them to Ginza for some shopping. She smirked when she heard that they were going to go shopping at Ginza -- it's a place where most branded stores are located.

She doesn't think that shopping is a kind of therapy as some other girls believe, but she has a therapy that she likes that is just as effective. And that is pissing her friends off -- or basically almost everyone.

With her mind set on buying overpriced clothing and letting Andrei pay for it all, she can imagine Andrei's reaction once she pulls items from the store they planned to visit.

The drive to the shopping district didn't take long. And since Mei Mei learned that they are going on shopping adventures, she already sent messages to her favorite stores to expect them.

Right on the first store, they were whisked away from the front of the store to the back and shown the newest collection that isn't yet available to everyone.

Bella's eyes bulged from their sockets. She finally forgot her phone, she grabbed a handful of items to try on.

She, on the other hand, took her time checking all the clothes. She wasn't aiming for the number of clothes, nor the quality because this is one of the famous clothing lines. Everything here screams quality and sophistication.

Her goal was to find some clothes that are actually wearable on most occasions but would still cause enough damage to Andrei's wallet to break it. Well, maybe not break it, but certainly, make a dent in it.

She counted the months of her possible stay in the country and there was a high possibility that she would stay here until autumn.

In addition to coats and blazers, she got two dresses for formal occasions, such as the lunch at the Nakamura residence this weekend.

She pointed to the store assistant want she wanted and gave her size measurements.

When she returned where Andrei was, he was still so busy with his phone.

She looked around the room to see if Mei Mei was in sight, but she couldn't see her. She raised her hand, and the assistant handed her a glass of Rosé.

She leaned back on the backrest of the Cabriole in a shade of pink, she didn't recognize, and would just call it bubble pop pink.

A store associate approached her while she was sipping her Rosé and asked if there was anything else she would like.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Andrei stepped out of the room with his phone pressed on his ear.

"I'm fine with my purchases, thank you," she gave the store assistant a small polite nod and waited for Mei Mei and Bella to be done with their shopping.

She didn't buy much because the next store they're going to is more expensive than this one! She grinned like a villain.