Two Million for a Dress? You'll Regret That Bill

INTRODUCTION:

I go to the boutique my son has invested in to pick up the gown I've ordered for a banquet. Just as I'm about to leave, the manager, Wendy Reed, stops me and says that I still owe them money.

She pulls out the bill. I look down at it and see that the boutique is charging me 300 thousand dollars for their creativity, 500 thousand dollars for fabric therapy, and one million dollars for their chief designer's mental wellness.

On top of other expenses, the price totals up to two million dollars. I laugh incredulously and send a message to my secretary.

"Withdraw our funding from my son's company and this boutique!"

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"You're already wearing our shop's haute couture brand. You'd better not tell me you can't afford it." The lady in front of me crossed her arms and sized me up condescendingly.

I felt like laughing. Where did a tiny boutique like this get the audacity to call their gown haute couture? Despite looking barely 20 years old, she was terribly haughty.

I suppressed my anger and pulled out my phone to call my son, Cole Sanders. He invested in this boutique, after all, so he should be the one to clean up this mess.

However, all I heard was a robotic voice from the other end of the line. "The person you are trying to reach is not available."

I frowned and tabbed on WhatsApp to contact him, but my messages wouldn't send. Cole had blocked my number. Taking a deep breath, I put my phone away and forced myself to calm down.

I looked at Wendy Reed and said solemnly, "I'm Yasmine Miller, the mother of your biggest investor, Cole. His funding for this boutique comes from me."

I thought that revealing my identity to her would intimidate her. However, Wendy didn't even bother verifying it after hearing my name. Instead, she cackled.

"Drop the act, old hag. I've seen your name in Cole's contact list, checking in on him every day to cozy up to him. How shameless can you be to seduce a young man like Cole when you're this old?"

The other store clerks also whispered amongst themselves and looked at me disdainfully. It seemed like they were enjoying the show. It was at that moment that I finally realized that the elegant, smart, artistic, and perfect girlfriend Cole had mentioned was the foolish, mean, and evil lady before me.

The ridiculously expensive bill I had received today wasn't a misunderstanding. It was Wendy's scheme to humiliate me, whom she thought was her love rival.

Just as I figured everything out, Wendy lost her patience. The smile on her face disappeared. Her expression twisted with jealousy and hatred.

"Stop standing there in a daze and pay up!" Her sharp voice cut through the superficial peace in the boutique. "Pay up, or you're not getting out of here today!"

She shot a glance at two of the male sales clerks next to her. "Lock the door!"

They seemed to be the security guards. At her command, one of them locked the glass door while the other slowly approached me.

I asked harshly, "What are you doing? This is unlawful imprisonment!"

Wendy snorted as if she had heard a joke. "Unlawful imprisonment?

"A homewrecker who's been trying to seduce another person's boyfriend like you has no right to cite the law. In the name of justice, I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"

At her words, two tall men pinned me down.

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