#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 51
Jeslyn glanced at her stepmother one lady time before she got up and took Valen’s hand to leave. “Don’t think that you have escaped this day. I will take proper care of you in the future.”
After she left with her guards, Ray who had been watching the whole fiasco among the crowd narrowed his eyes at Jeslyn’s back. The two ladies following her from behind were the same ladies he saw on the CCTV footage, which means, the lady wearing shades, was the same person wearing the Ç0çƙtail hat.
“You must be related to Jeslyn to know so much about her,” Ray mumbled as he watched them enter another store.
Instead of going back to the lady he accompanied shopping, Ray didn’t and instead started to trail Jeslyn.
After the Manager was taken away, the store was closed down.
Madam Chen took her daughter and left the store. She intended to go home due to the overwhelming shame that was eating her up. She couldn’t believe a small girl like that would dare to force her to kneel and ordered her guards to beat her people up. Just when she was lost in thought, Chi Chi’s voice pulled her back.
“Mummy, I– I wa– want that dr–dress!” Chi Chi hiccuped. Madam Chen was annoyed but still had to get the dress for her daughter. From one dress to another, until they forgot the time.
Meanwhile, at another store, Jeslyn was in a battle with another ‘enemy’, one of her Celebrity friends.
When she got into the store, Jeslyn met the lady Celebrity and her assistant buying boys’ clothing. She was just touching them with her fingers and paying for them with her mouth.
Jeslyn knew this Celebrity, Youan too well. Youan was the type that would decide to buy exactly what another had set their eyes on just to rub it on the person’s face that her fiance came from the number five richest family in Rose City.
Jeslyn smirked after thinking of a perfect way to start making this girl pay. She was one of those who ruined her voice by lying to her.
While the both of them were trailing their manicured fingers through the rows of clothes on the same line, they both spotted one cloth that looked really beautiful.
It was an oversized round-neck polo on black shorts. It would look dashing on Valen and Jeslyn didn’t intend to go home without it.
The Celebrity approached it first and asked for the clothes to be taken off the mannequin. Just when the salesperson was about to hand the clothes to Youan, Jeslyn came out of nowhere and grabbed the clothes from the salesperson.
“That!… That is mine,” the celebrity said. She almost raised her voice, but after remembering she was in public, she swallowed and spoke calmly.
This is who Youan really is. A white lotus.
“Have you paid for it?” Jeslyn asked.
“I was about to,” Youan gestured for her assistant to hand the card to the salesperson, however, before the assistant could, Jeslyn stuffed her card into the salesperson’s palm.
“I want this, that, that, that, those…” Jeslyn pointed out all the clothes she wanted, including the ones that the Youan already picked out but hadn’t paid for.
“Ma’am, those clothes have been picked out, please choose from–” The salesperson was interrupted by the ‘confused and oblivious’ Jeslyn.
“Who picked them out? Why are they still on the mannequin? I didn’t see a ‘sold’ tag on them, so why are you stopping me from buying them?” Jeslyn frowned slightly.
This was a war of lotuses. She didn’t want to appear like she was at fault, just like how Youan already started to act silly before the drama even began.
“What is going on here?” A young lady wearing the same uniform as the salesperson asked while walking over with her heels clicking against the sparkling tiles.
“Nothing serious, Miss Joan. I can handle it,” the salesperson smiled at the other lady.
“Oh, Miss Youan is here, I’m your biggest fan!” Joan smiled sheepishly.
“Hi,” Youan returned a forced smile at her.
“What can I offer you? You must be thirsty… oh, please, sit down, you must be tired!” Joan was so enthusiastic that she blatantly ignored Jeslyn just for a C–list singer.
“Oh no, I’m fine. I just want to get a few outfits for a friend’s child and an unpleasant situation happened with this lady here,” she raised her jaw in Jeslyn’s direction and pouted. She looked so innocent that you’d think Jeslyn bullied her.
When Joan followed Youan’s gesture, she saw Jeslyn and her eyes darkened. ‘Wasn’t she the troublemaker at Manager Rita’s store a while ago?’ she thought.
When the chaos was happening at their rival’s store, they were all happy. She was the happiest because of what Manager Rita did to her.
She used to work under Rita’s store as the Manager, but Rita accused her of stealing and then arrested and fired her without pay.
Because Rita couldn’t trust anyone, she became the CEO, a Manager, and a salesperson all by herself. She monitors her workers like a CCTV. So when the disaster in the form of this lady swept her off her feet, they were very happy and suddenly fell in love with her.
However, Joan started to h@ťě Jeslyn the moment she offended her bias.
“Ma’am, what can I do for you?” Joan wasn’t courteous but rather spoke as if she was tired of Jeslyn and wanted her gone for good.
“I already have a salesperson attending to me. My card is with her. All she needs is to take out the money for the things I bought and I’ll leave.” Jeslyn calmly. She knew Joan’s type of person really well; The bootlickers.
Joan glanced at Jeslyn from head to toe and rolled her eyes. ‘She and her son are wearing unbranded clothes, meaning they aren’t very rich. Only pretending to be…’
However, Miss Youan would be getting married to the youngest son of the Bo family. So, it was obvious whose side Joan would take.
“Return her card to her and leave these customers to me,” Joan said to the other salesperson. Then she turned to Jeslyn and bowed slightly. “Please, visit other stores, we don’t have what you are looking for.”
“Imprudence!” Blue thundered. “How dare you chase my Boss out!?”
Jeslyn chuckled. “Valen, it seems today is a day for drama. It might hinder us from going to other places.”
“I don’t have a problem. These people are irritating. Can’t we just get them settled once and for all?” Valen frowned. Stupid things like this cannot happen in Country M. River of blood would have washed over the mall already.
“This is Rose City, a little too lawful,” Jeslyn stated as she caressed Valen’s hair.
She knew why she was being looked down on. The reason she had a clothing store that nobody but her grandfather knew about was that she was disrespected by a salesperson who happened to be the boss’ side chick.
Angered that the girl wasn’t fired after all the insult and disrespect, Jeslyn bought the company, went to the slum, and took in a person whom the problem of the world had broken, thinking Rita wouldn’t be greedy because she was once betrayed by a friend and understood how much it hurt.
She could have done a similar thing to this salesperson right now. But she had no money. Jeslyn sighed.
The other saleslady couldn’t object because Joan was the senior salesperson in the store. Going against her would mean getting fired. Not wanting such trouble upon herself, she handed the card back to Jeslyn, bowed to her, and left.
“Miss Youan, please can I have your card now?… You are right on time, the company just established a 30% discount rule on every cloth a customer buys. I can see you bought a lot and also saved yourself a lot of money.” She smiled.
“No, no, no, please don’t bother about the discount. I’m not shopping for the discount.” Youan smiled shyly.
“Miss Youan is so generous.” Joan chuckled.
Jeslyn sighed. “It seems companies these days no longer care about screening their workers. All they do is focus on the money they earn without caring about their business. No wonder many businesses are failing. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” Jeslyn turned around, ready to walk out.
“You–” Joan was about to speak when a man who just walked in interrupted her.
“Excuse me, Ma’am, please hold on!”
Jeslyn stopped when the man in front of her said that. She looked up at him and raised a brow.
“Please, calm down. I’m Mr. Tim, the manager of this place. Do you mind telling me what happened?” The man was polite and his voice sounded so calm that one would think he has never raised his voice before.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Your salesperson said you don’t sell children’s clothing and directed me to other stores.” Jeslyn said that so innocently that a passerby would think she meant no harm.
The manager looked around the store. Aren’t these children’s clothing? Or did the lady have a specific taste that they don’t sell here? Probably.
“Ehm, ma’am, she might have said it wrongly, please forgive her. She meant to say your taste has been sold out. Other stores might have them, so you should look around a little.” The manager said, believing that was what happened.
“Oh,” Jeslyn nodded. “I get it now… but, I chose my taste and gave them my credit card but it was given back to me and the clothes I picked are being sold to this lady because your salesperson seemed to be her fan… I heard her say so.” Jeslyn said innocently and shrugged her shoulders.
The Manager’s face frosted over. He glared at Joan. If looks could ki||, Joan would have lost her life by now.
The manager then smiled at Jeslyn. “We are so sorry for the inconveniences, Ma’am. Please, do not be angry. Joan Chen was wrong. The company will make sure to discipline her for this.”
‘Oh, so she’s Chen? No wonder she has such awful manners. Just like her worthless family.
“I’m not angry at all…” Jeslyn sighed. “The clothes I chose for my son are being given to a celebrity, I think I have to go to another store like I was told to.” Jeslyn sighed again while pulling Valen, ready to leave.
“No, no, no, please wait, ma’am. Since you chose the clothes first, you can have them.” The manager immediately said without thinking.
Youan was flabbergasted. Her assistant had her head down, pretending she wasn’t there. Joan had long turned jelly looking for a hole to hide ever since the manager came in.
“Manager Tim, I chose those clothes first, I was about to pay when she got involved,” Youan reported in a sweet voice that could drown a soul in intoxication.
The assistant and Joan nodded. Manager Tim looked from Youan to Jeslyn. The latter was too calm and cute to cause trouble, however, Youan was a celebrity and must uphold her image in public. Besides this lady looks rich and from an old man’s observation, the lady and her child are richer.
But then, he has to play fair, or else the store’s image will be ruined, which would include the company.
“I didn’t say I chose the clothes first.” Jeslyn shook her head in denial. “What I did was… I saw the clothes on the mannequins. No one was standing beside the clothes and there were no tags either to say the clothes were sold. Which was why I chose them–”
“How about the one I gave the salesperson? You grabbed it from her and – ”
“That was what pulled me into the store. Then I saw you playing with it, so I had to take it.”
“You are lying!”
“How? You can see the CCTV footage.” Jeslyn offered. Although she wasn’t sure, she believes that the first to strike has a better chance of winning a battle.
Youan frowned. She doesn’t even know if she was actually playing with the clothes because she held the clothes in contempt. It would be bad if they watch the footage and see her making ugly faces at the clothes… no, the price tags.
Her fiance might be from the Bo family, but that doesn’t mean he gives her money. Also, she is a celebrity but she doesn’t earn much because her company literally sucked them dry with things to pay for.
Even though she sounded like she didn’t need the discount, it was just a way to keep her image intact.
So, in a sense, Jeslyn was right for saying Youan was playing with the clothes.
“Ahm… there’s no need for that… hehehe.” Manager Tim laughed awkwardly.
He turned to look at Youan and smiled faintly. “Miss, the thing is, our company only produces one set of these wears once in a lifetime. So, since both of you happened to like the same thing, we should split the clothes among you. How does that sound?”
“No!”
“No!”
Both Jeslyn and Youan refused. The manager swallowed. It was obvious both women wanted to make his job difficult.
He can’t possibly give one person the clothes, could he?
“I got here first! I picked the clothes first!” Youan yelled.
“Oh? how was I supposed to know you wanted the clothes when I didn’t meet them in your hands? I brought out my card. If that lady didn’t cause trouble, I would have long left this store.” Jeslyn retorted, albeit calmly and innocently.
“You both calm down. I’ll bring out more clothes and see if there is anyone who would like to pick from there.” The manager chimed, preventing the argument that was about to escalate.
Seeing them both nod their heads, the manager clapped and ordered the newest clothes to be brought out.
While all that was going on, Ray who had been watching everything from the beginning smiled. “Interesting,” he mumbled.
Soon, the clothes were brought out, they were even prettier than the ones they were fighting for.
Jeslyn glanced at Youan. She saw her eyes light up and smirked. “I want everything.” She declared.
“Ah?” Youan was shocked before she glared at Jeslyn. “You are deliberately doing this, you evil creature!” she barked.
“Now, now, you are wrongfully accusing me again, Miss, and I’m not finding it funny. Go to another store and see if I’ll follow you.” Jeslyn frowned.
“If–” Youan was rudely cut off by the manager.
“Since that’s the case, I’d say we hold an auction. Whoever pays the highest gets to take the clothes.” He suggested. With that, he’ll be making extra profit. What a great business idea!
Having no choice, both ladies agreed and the manager made an arrangement for a mini-auction for fifteen beautiful clothes.
A small crowd gathered around, watching the scene. Some were wondering why the same lady who just caused trouble at Manager Rita’s store would come here to continue. Some of Youan’s fans were already angry at Jeslyn and were discretely reading the event.
The fan’s intention was for other fans to come together and chew Jeslyn out for troubling their goddess. Because the video was live, Youan’s fans started to cuss Jeslyn online.
Something none of those in the store are aware of.
After gaining their approval, Manager Tim continued: “Each of these clothes cost nothing less than $2000 each. Only three are of that price though and the others are from $2,500– $3,000. However, since we are auctioning them, the starting price would be $45, 000 for the fifteen wears.”
The moment the manager said that Youan wanted to give up, Jeslyn hurriedly proclaimed: “$50,000.”
Valen snorted and Blue flattened her lips to not laugh out loud. Pink on the other hand couldn’t help but sigh.
Youan glared at Jeslyn but couldn’t back down now. if she did they might think she was the troublemaker and also, this is no longer just an auction anymore, her reputation was at stake.
“$50,100,” She said.
“$60,000.” Jeslyn raised the bid.
The people gasped, including Youan. How could she raise the price so much? an idea formed in her mind and she narrowed her eyes at Jeslyn. “$60,500.”
“$70, 000”
“$100,000.” Youan blurted out.
The store and netizens turned silent for a while before they exploded. They have been making assumptions about how rich Youan was, but now, they got to understand that the lady was super rich!
Everyone in the store shifted their gazes from Youan to Jeslyn. The people were excited to see two Young Misses battling with money. However, to their disappointment, Jeslyn shook her head and sighed.
“Too bad, I’m quitting. Valen child, hope you are not mad at mummy?” She caressed Valen’s cute face.
“No, mummy,” Valen shook his head.
“Aww, my child is so understanding.” She focused her gaze on the manager and said: “Manager, even though I love these clothes so much, it’s obvious Young Miss loves them more than I do. It’s a pity,” she sighed.
The manager laughed boisterously. “No problem, no problem, Ma’am. You have really proven your love, hahaha… congratulations Miss Youan, you won the bid. hahahaha… Your little one will be very happy when he sees these.”
While the manager was so excited that he couldn’t help himself but reveal it, Youan was almost puking blood.
She just realized that Jeslyn led her on and made her lose so much money. Impossible! she wasn’t going to allow that.
“Miss, it seems you did this deliberately. You knew you couldn’t afford these clothes, that was why you created so much drama.” Youan’s assistant finally spoke up after Youan gave her a sideways glance.
“What sense are you making? It doesn’t sound like what a good person would say… Your Miss raised the bid to $100,000, didn’t she? I don’t have much money, so I backed down. What are you still angry about? You are so unreasonable.”
“B– but…”
The manager furrowed his brows. Why are Youan and her assistant causing trouble again? Does that mean Youan can’t afford the $100,000?
Youan was mad that no one seemed to understand what Jeslyn was doing. Due to that, she became desperate to prove her point.
“Manager, this woman doesn’t have so much money in her account. She was only doing it to spite me!” She pointed at Jeslyn.
The manager and the others looked at Jeslyn. If the claim is true, then Jeslyn was at fault and would be punished or probably arrested.
Jeslyn glanced at Pink. After their eyes met, Pink shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t sure if she had so much money in her account.
Jeslyn sighed. Then that means they’ll have to keep battling with words until she wins.