Chapter 222

So Alice put on an air of indifference and said lightly, “I have plenty of dresses like this. I’m really not interested-let someone else have it.”
The boutique was already crowded, and Alice’s friend had spoken earlier with a conspicuous hint of showing off, not bothering to lower her voice. That alone had drawn curious glances. Now, with Alice making such a brazen statement, all eyes turned toward her.
“Who is she supposed to be?” someone whispered nearby.
“Since when do we have a trust fund princess like that at Fairhaven?”
“Never seen her before
Across the aisle, Maggie and her friends recognized Alice immediately. “That’s the freshman everyone says has a crazy rich family!”
“Well, then, it’s no wonder she talks like that. She could actually afford it
Sandra was with them today. She came from a well-off family herself and often attended charity galas with her parents, so she was familiar with Fairhaven’s upper crust. But she’d never heard of Alice.
Or rather, in her memory, there was no old-money Porter family at Fairhaven at all.
She shot Maggie a skeptical look. “Super rich family?”
It turned out Sandra had been away from campus when the Alice gossip was making the rounds and hadn’t heard a thing. Maggie quickly filled her in.
But Sandra just frowned, her suspicion deepening. “Fairhaven doesn’t have a Porter family. There’s no mysterious dynasty like everyone’s saying. Where exactly did this Alice even come from?”
Maggie and the others were taken aback. “No way. She doesn’t seem like a fake, though
Just then, one of Alice’s friends came back from the restroom, overheard the conversation, and immediately snapped, loud enough for everyone to hear:
“If you don’t know anything, maybe keep your mouth shut? Alice is a real heiress. Thıs content belongs to.net
If you’ve never heard of her, it just means you’re not at her level. Don’t embarrass yourselves further.”
Instantly, the room’s attention zeroed in on them.
Sandra’s expression darkened. She was never one to back down from a challenge, and being called out like that in front of everyone? No way she’d let it slide.
She looked straight at Alice. “Alright, let’s be honest. I’ve never heard of a secretive, old-money Porter family at Fairhaven. If you’re really that rich, then just buy the dress right now. If you do, I’ll apologize to you in front of everyone.” There was no simpler way to prove whether Alice was the real deal.
Not only was the dress outrageously expensive, it was a custom piece by Master Bing—a designer whose work usually cost a fortune. Even the wealthy had to think twice.
But if Alice truly was an heiress from some secretive dynasty, buying this dress would be nothing to her.
All at once, every gaze in the boutique landed squarely on Alice.
Her smile faltered for half a second; she could have throttled her overly zealous friend for running her mouth. Buy it? How on earth was she supposed to do that?
She managed to force a smile. “Like I said, I already have plenty of dresses like this. I don’t need another one-no point in fighting over it.”
Sandra’s eyes narrowed, even more suspicious now.
“So what if you have a lot of dresses? My closet’s full too, but if I see something I like, I’ll buy it—sometimes even if I know I’ll never wear it. It just makes me happy to have it!”
“It’s not like money’s an issue. Why be so stingy about it?”
The skeptical looks from the crowd sharpened.
“She’s right. If you’re really not short on cash, why pinch pennies?”
A few of Alice’s friends, almost fuming, pressed her urgently.
“Alice, just buy it-prove them all wrong!”
“Yeah, buy it right now and see what they have to say!”
With all that attention pressing in on her, Alice could practically feel the cold sweat prickling down her back.