“But Sophia, I don’t have a credit card. Mom never gave me one. Dad and Mom are biased. They only gave you one, not me.”
She spoke as if it were perfectly natural.
I laughed bitterly. You’re not even their real daughter—why would they give you a card? For now, since my parents didn’t know the truth, we had to share one.
Chloe pouted, “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll tell Mom you’re being stingy and won’t spend money on me. Boo-hoo.”
In the past, when she acted spoiled, I always gave in. After all, it wasn’t much money. But this time, I refused outright.
“Sorry, I never said I was going to the seafood buffet. Chloe, you’re the host, you pay. It’s not that much anyway, is it?”
I hung up immediately.
Chloe fumed, then started whining in the class group chat:
“My savings are running low. It used to be a joint fund with Sophia, but she always got more love from our parents, so she separated the accounts. Now I only have a few hundred left, but Sophia has tens of thousands. Boo-hoo, I had no choice but to spend my own money on this buffet.”
When classmates saw the bill for thousands of dollars, they grumbled as they helped her cover the cost.
“If you couldn’t afford it, you should’ve said so earlier. Why make us pitch in?”
“Exactly, Chloe. You’re such a fake show-off. It’s not like we had to eat seafood.”
Several classmates called her out in the chat. Enraged, Chloe sent me a private message:
“Just wait, Sophia. I’ll make you pay for this.”
I replied calmly: “I’ll be waiting.”
Just then, Ethan Miller spoke up in the group, trying to smooth things over:
“All right, all right. Don’t be too harsh on Chloe. She meant well. Maybe her savings really were taken by her sister.”
Chloe quickly responded with gratitude:
“Thank you, Ethan, for standing up for me. I have something I’ve been wanting to say to you. I’ll say it now, in front of everyone.”
