Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I heard two consecutive knocks from outside my room then I heard one of our helpers say

"Miss Kourt, Madam wants you to her office now." Mom? I curiously asked myself. My forehead frowned and at the same time, I had an idea why. In the end, I just sighed and stood up in my seat.

"All right, tell her I'll be there in a few minutes..." 

  Before finally leaving my room, I looked at the full-size mirror to check what I look like in my new dress.  I immediately smiled when I saw my reflection. Perfect! I said happily to myself.

I am wearing a white backless dress with cherry blossoms print and was above the knee-high.

The truth is, I just bought this dress earlier from Dior with my friends. We were outside the Dior store when I immediately saw this dress worn by one of their mannequins that was displayed in the middle of the store, it was so beautiful and I couldn't take my eyes off the dress.

And my interest in the dress became even more intense when the clerk said that they only had one stock.

I couldn't think of anything else aside from this dress that would really look good on me and it is meant for me because of the idea there is only one stock left, even though I feel like the dress is overpriced for five hundred thousand pesos because of its very simple design. Okay, whatever! The only important thing is, this dress looks so good on me and my friends say the same thing that I looked like Barbie, so I took it.

However, it looks like my Mom didn't seem happy with what I did. Alright, I admit it, I overspent today, I spent almost three million pesos at the Dior store. My feelings got me again. I feel so happy with everyone complimenting me in the store earlier and as a thank you for all their compliments, I offer to pay for everything.

Eventually, I just sighed in the end and then hurried my way out of my room, I had already spent a few more minutes overthinking about what might happen with my conversation with Mom. Anyway, whatever she says is either me or she can't do anything. Three million is gone and we have a lot of money so that three million is nothing.

It's just that I can't help but think, why Mom is overreacting lately to my spending millions in a day, if you look at it, this is normal for us. It was like this then, so what’s up? Unless... okay stop! Before I could continue what, I was going to say to myself, I just shook my head, twice. I am overthinking again. Our company can't be bankrupt. It will never happen!

When I entered the library, I immediately saw Mommy standing on the glass wall and talking on the phone. I also immediately noticed that she keeps on walking backwards, from her left to her right. They also seem to be talking so seriously whoever is on the other line. She didn't even notice my arrival. So I went straight to the sofa and decided to just wait there and relax. And since I'm not a fan of  reading books, to keep myself entertained I fished my phone out of my cute dress pocket.

I logged in to messenger since that's what I mostly do on my F******k account. I even frowned as my phone vibrated with the number of messages that entered my messenger. There are group chats and personal messages. I keep getting notifications because my name is on their chats.

What's up? I asked myself and was immediately confused as to what I would prioritize to read in the number of messages. Personal messages or group messages?

I even bit my lower lip when I noticed that even those guys that I am not close with got a personal message for me. I'm starting to get nervous, what the hell is happening? Suddenly I am feeling like I am lost.

When all I did was just go home and as if there was a sudden disease that was spread outside and I am the only one who is not informed. Not infected.

I took a deep breath and decided to check my friend's group chat, because that is also one of the group chats who got more notification than the rest. In the group chat are me, Addison and Penelope. The friends I am talking about earlier.

But before I clicked on our group chat, I read another notification that Addison and Penelope left in our group chat!

What the hell?! Why did they leave the group? So, it means, I am the only one left in chat?! Is this a prank? Because it's working and it's making me overthink and really not fun at all! What the fuck is happening? What's going on?!

And with my trembling fingers, I clicked on our group chat to read what the conversation was all about; however, before I could read what was going on, Mommy immediately caught my attention.

"Kourtney!" She shouted my full name. Okay, I'm pretty sure now that whatever's going on right now, it's really serious. She usually doesn't call me by my full name unless I have a serious violation.

“Mom –“ However before I could continue what I’m about to say she cut me off. She really looks mad, by the way.

With her red face and eyes, eyes that seemed to be about to cry any moment from now.

"What have you done?!" She asked me in her angry voice. I bit my lower lip.

"Three million pesos?!" Then her voice sounded exhausted, as she asked me about the digits I spent on shopping.

"Mom-" I wanted to ask her why she's making this a big deal, but she's not giving me a chance to speak. We are rich so I can't understand why she's like this right now. Daddy doesn't care and for sure he will tell me that as long as I'm happy, there's no problem.

She used her two hands to fish her hair in a very hard way, the reason why it ended in a messy arrangement. Mommy is the kind of person who often wants her hair to be neat and always look presentable.

So, this means she's too stressed out about me wasting money.

"You're grounded! You don't know how to listen to me! When to follow what I politely asked you! It was just a simple request but you -" And then she shook her head twice and continued what she was about to say.

"You're not going anywhere and I'll tell your Teachers to just send your module here at home. You also can't use your cellphone and laptop!" My eyes almost came out of my eye socket from what I heard.

"Are you serious Mommy?! It's boring here at home! And no cellphone and laptop? Are you joking with me?! Because it's not funny at all!" I answered her in a loud voice but she didn't seem to hear anything.

"How can I research my assignments and projects if I don't have gadgets?!"

"Do you see these books?!" Mommy pointed out almost all the shelves full of books, she was not even satisfied and because she was close to one of the shelves she took a few books out and then she threw them in front of me.

"This and this! Use them to research your assignments!" I was so upset with what Mommy wanted to happen so I ended up crying and then got up from my seat and said

"I'll tell everything you did to me to Daddy!" And then I hurried out of the library. It's annoying that I'm in such a hurry and I'm also annoyed with Mommy that I forgot my phone. Yeah, I left it at the centre table. 

And since I still have my laptop in my room. When I came out of the library, I noticed that there was a commotion down the stairs and I got curious so I looked at our helpers from up here. Our helpers were in the same spot and looked like gossiping about an interesting topic.

It's my first time seeing them like that. They are often busy with their work.

However, their voices are weak, I can't hear anything but wait...

Is that still my problem?! I just shook my head and decided to forget about them, then went straight to my room.

I speed up going inside my room, lock the door before Mommy gets in or ask one of our helpers to capture my laptop on her behalf. I have read what's going on with my messenger. 

I have a strong feeling that whatever is happening, it is connected to me.

Even though my hands and fingers are again trembling with nervousness. Damn! I really should have stopped having coffee, I easily panic and get nervous about things I am not sure of yet!

When I logged in to F******k, I went straight to my messenger and my jaw almost dropped when I saw that in all the group chats I was a part of, I was removed, because there was a notification that said "You've been removed to the group" when I click on the group chat there are still those old chats so it's okay I can still back read, however, I can't reply to them.

As I checked their conversation, I was feeling the wetness of both sides of my eyes, I even swallowed one after another just to not choke. And then I started back reading.

"Her Dad is a scammer!"

"Oh my God! Maybe the money she used to pay for our Dior bags also came from a scam!"

"I don't want this bag anymore, I decided to send it back to Kourtney's house!" Those are the messages from Addison and Penelope in the group chat in our classroom.

"I'll order our driver to take it back to their house. I don't want this dirty bag in our place!"

"I no longer want to be associated with Kourt! I don't want to talk or be friends with her!" Then there are other side comments from my classmates, mostly from girls!

"I heard from my Mom that her Mom is a social climber, I am sure Kourt inherited her Mom's social-climbing attitude!"

"My Mom said, her Dad just met her Mom in some cheap nightclubs, so there's a chance that her Mom is a stripper!"

"And now tasted expensive things and a good life so she's trying hard to look rich and fit in the new lifestyle that her Dad offers!"

I was so upset with what I was reading from my friends and classmates. I am always nice to everyone, whether I know them or don't. I didn't understand anything about what was happening. I want to talk to Addison and Penelope so I can explain to them even though I have no idea what's going on.

However, when I look at their accounts the message option is graded out, okay it looks like they have blocked me. So, the last option is to speak with them via phone call but is it worth it? I don't think so if they have blocked me on F******k, what more with my number, right?

Maybe it's okay that they removed me from the group chat because if they are my true friends, in the first place they won't give mean comments like that, they should have defended me first or waited to hear my side but they blocked me instead and judge me based on the situation I even have no idea.

Do they think of me as a friend or did they just use me to get free expensive things?! I am sure the second option is the best answer to my question!

Anyway, what do they have to do with Mom and Dad? If they are mad at me, it should only be me, they don't have to include Mom and Dad in the conversation. That's rude and I am not letting this go! I swear to God, tomorrow once we're back at school I will speak to all of them and let them explain their side! Even if they didn’t listen to my side, I would still give them a chance!

Hmm, Mom is mad about me spending a million within a few hours and my classmates talk shit about me and my family. I feel like there is a connection to Mommy overreacting to the money I spent and my classmates treating me this way. With so many questions in my mind, I feel like my head is going to explode. I cried earlier, now I have to deal with my classmates so in the end, I decided to go to bed and sleep and then just think about what happens when I wake up.

I woke up when I felt someone gently caress my face. I can feel the frown on my forehead, because I still want to sleep but whoever this a sshole caresses my cheek won't just stop!

So, I ended up slowly opening my eyes and the first person I saw was Travis. His blue eyes were looking at me tenderly while his hand was on my cheek. After all these years, my heart is still fragile when it comes to Travis.

I immediately felt annoyed by what was happening.  I hate this feeling!  I looked at him coldly and then I removed his fingers on my cheek and got up from bed.

"What are you doing here?!" I asked him using my rude voice.  

"I’m here to check on you. You haven't eaten dinner yet." Travis answered me in a faint voice. I became even more frustrated.

"It's none of your business!"

"You're still skinny, you should be eating a lot to gain more weight." He said softly to me. I swallowed one after another because there was a sudden flashback of memories in my mind.

He said the same words before, the only difference was that we were somewhere else then. In a romantic place... 

I closed my eyes tightly but it seemed like a wrong decision because I got more  flashbacked to my mind, how he held one of my hands that night, while we were at an exclusive restaurant that he purposely reserved just for our first date.

I remember how he looked at me  that night like I'm the most beautiful woman in the world, the only woman his eyes can see. How he kissed my hand that he was holding. How his eyes gently look at mine.

How he asked me if I could be his girlfriend that night, before our date ended. How I gave him my first kiss and while thinking about the past I didn't notice I am already crying.