CHAPTER FIVE

We arrived at a mobile phone store, and we were immediately ushered in by the security guards.

Inside, we were greeted by some of the workers.

“Tentin,” One of the workers gushed, her eyes filled with unshed tears as she approached us. She cleared her throat as she stood before us, “C-can I help you? I can be of service to you if you want. I mean, I'm willing to do anything to please you.” 

Tentin grinned and ran his hand through his hair. It was his charm that attracted the woman to him. I could see that she was a human. 

Human females tended to fall quickly for a guy that looked a bit average in looks, while female wolves rated a man's attractiveness based on his strength.

“What's the latest iPhone?” Tentin asked.

“iPhone 12. Do you want one?”

“Absolutely. Get me one with a green customized color.”

“Right away. Please have a seat.”

I looked at Tentin, and he sent a wink my way before grabbing my wrist and sitting me down on the beautiful white couch. Now that I looked at it correctly, the store was big and exquisite. I became worried,

“You're not with cash, are you, Tentin?”

“That won't be a problem,” He said, “Apart from owning my cosmetic store, I'm a model, so I'm quite popular. No one can refuse my offer. Just watch.”

I sighed. I ran my fingers through my messy light brown hair. I got my hair from my white mom and my brown skin from my black dad. My green eyes were also from my mom. I used to think I was odd, but now that I looked at it, it benefitted me. You know, pretty privilege.

The worker arrived, her bob dark hair sticking all over her sweaty face.

“Hello there, beautiful.” Tentin greeted with a charming smile. The woman sighed and showed him the package in her hands; it had green-themed customization. It made me feel a bit excited because green was my favorite color.

Tentin accepted the package and tore it open, revealing the high-quality phone. My jaw dropped from how pretty it looked. I wasn't too much a fan of high tech, but this particular phone appealed to me.

“Pretty, I don't have cash on me right now, so I'll have to bother you to contact my secretary, who will pay for the phone and leave you a huge tip.”

Without thinking, the worker nodded. 

“Let's take a selfie together.” Tentin offered and turned on the iPhone.

The woman nodded vigorously and quickly fixed her face. I chuckled at how flushed she looked and stood up from the couch before helping her improve her hair. She turned to face me in awe, her cheeks turning an even darker shade of red.

“Tha—Thank you.” She stuttered shyly.

She was cute.

“Are you from London? You have quite an accent.” 

“Oh,” She said shyly, “Is that obvious? I'm from Scotland.” 

“Wonderful. What is your name?”

“umm. Anna, what about you?”

“Jasmine, but you can just call me Jas.”

Anna smiled, “Thank you. By the way, can I take a selfie with you too?”

“Yes! Of course.”

Anna took out her phone from her pocket and took a selfie with Tentin. Then she gave Tentin her phone and asked him to take us photos.

We took up to twelve pictures with different poses before Tentin dropped her a business card, and we headed out of the store with my new iPhone.

I was in the middle of creating an I*******m account when Tentin scoffed suddenly. “I can't believe she was flirting with you.”

“What?” I asked. I was typing my I*******m username as honeypie03.

I chose Armin's surname as my password and took a quick selfie before uploading it on my display photo.

“Aren't you oblivious? Anna was into me first, but when you fixed her hair, she became soft for you. How did you seduce her subtly.”

I shrugged, not feeling his words.

“I think she was being friendly. By the way, I uploaded my display photo. What else should I do?”

Tentin sighed. “Before uploading photos, choose catchy tags like natural beauty, barefaced, etc.”

I nodded, “Should I post another selfie?”

“Not when you're dressed like this. Let's go shopping!” Tentin suggested excitedly.

I hesitated. “Armin should have woken up by now; let's go back.”

Tentin grasped my fingers and stared, pulling me across the road where a mall stood independently. 

I sighed and went with him. It wouldn't take long anyways.

“But you have no money, Tentin. I have no money either. Everything can't always go our way, we already got the iPhone, and that's enough for me.”

Tentin smiled and shoved his hand in his pocket before revealing a black card. I read the name on it. It was Luke's.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. “While Luke and I rushed Armin into the hospital, you stayed back. You must've found the card by that time.”

“Smart,” Tentin commented.

“Then why didn't you use it to pay for the iPhone?” 

Tentin chuckled, “I have other plans for the card.”

The evil in my wolf began to surface, and I smiled, “Tell me more.”

“Let's shop rot.”

I got a little excited and pulled out dresses from the closets. I wasn't even bothered to check the receipts

“Why don't you do your hair while I continue shopping for the both of us.”

I agreed. My hair was quite messy anyways.

In another section of the mall, a hairstylist was waiting for me.

I chose to get bangs, and surprisingly, they stuck and suited me so well.

I got my makeup done, too, and ordered a milkshake. I sipped it and continued shopping with Tentin. 

We took many photos and paid for everything we bought before moving to the food court.

I posted some of the selfies with Tentin and put the caption, Bestie.

The tags included friendship and hangout.

When the waiter arrived, it was with my order, “Stake and potatoes with red wine.” At the same time, Tentin's plate included spaghetti and an egg with orange juice. 

Tentin gave off a savage flirty bad boy vibe, but he was dining low-key creeped me the fuck out.

Tentin took a picture of our meals and posted it. We took another selfie, and I think he posted it because when I checked my notification on I*******m, I now had four hundred followers and two thousand like on my display photo and five thousand likes on the selfie I took with Tentin.

It had so many comments, and many were positive; it was overwhelming.

Even when I placed my phone on the table, I heard my new phone beep continuously, which meant I had new likes or followers.

“This is insane!” I started, “Getting a lot of followers on I*******m Is pretty easy.”

“If you are pretty and know a celeb or two, you can become famous,” Tentin added.

I nodded and rechecked my followers. Seven hundred and fifty-one.

I hadn't read the comments, yet I got more likes and followers. It was crazy.

“There's a downside to fame, though. You'll have to deal with hate comments from jealous people; you'll also meet some crazy fans in real life. Handling creepy-ass fans earn your points.”

“What points?”

“Loyal fans who will stick for you when other influencers try to throw shade at you.”

“Why would they do that? If anyone doesn't like me, I can duel with them, and if they lose, they'll have no choice but to not throw shade at me.”

Tentin face scrunched up, “That's not exactly how it works.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Since social media is not real anyway, you'll have to adopt a certain persona. Do you want to be cute and nerdy or hot and sexy? If you choose cutely, you'll have to respond to hate comments kindly and with Grace, but if you choose the other one, you'd have to be like savage and stuff.”

I nodded intensely, then said, “I can do both.”

Tentin smiled, “Right.”

We ordered some takeouts and decided it was time to go back to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, I felt Armin's and I bond grow more robust. He was awake. I could feel him.

As we moved down the hallway to Armin's room, we received several stares because we were dressed in the most flashy way. I liked it.

As soon as we entered Armin's room, my heart exploded with joy when I saw that he was eating some salad by himself on the bed.

I placed down the shopping bags and looked at Armin, who seemed quite dissatisfied about something.

“Babe,” I grinned, running towards him and throwing my hands over his neck as I embraced him tightly.

I felt his hand caress my back, and I hummed, loving the way it felt.

“When I woke up, I feared you'd been badly injured.” He said sadly.

I kissed Armin's cheek and pulled away from the hug. “I'm not as weak as you guys.” I said teasingly, “The small dose of poison cannot kill me.”

Armin sighed and took another spoonful of salad. 

“I'm so useless; how could I let you face danger like that?” Armin sighed, his face sad.

I was annoyed.

“You were poisoned; it couldn't be helped. Even Tentin couldn't have done anything in that situation—”

“—Excuse me,” He cut in, “You were the one who insisted I take Armin to safety. I could've to beat the weird-ass blonde.”

“Even so, you would've died of poison because you're not immune to poison like me.”

Tentin scoffed, “At least, I'd be useful, unlike some people.”

“Enough,” A voice cut in. 

A small scream erupted from my mouth, and I hid behind Armin on the bed.

Luke's face was filled with fury; it was terrifying. Even Tentin looked scared as fuck.

“What happened?” Armin whispered to me over his shoulder. 

“We went shopping with Luke's black credit card.”

Armin groaned, “Without me?”

I smiled and kissed his neck, “Don't worry, I bought a lot of goodies for you, my love.”

“YOU TOO?!” Luke looked at Armin, his red eyes filled with betrayal and disbelief.

“You've always borrowed money from Tentin and me since we were kids, and you never once paid back. This is payback time now,” Armin laughed.

I smiled and placed my hands over his chest as I embraced him. He was always a proper man, and seeing him joke like that brought tears to Luke's eyes while he held back a smile before cursing, “Bastard!”

“Weirdo.” I shot back, keeping my hands tightly wrapped around Armin's chest.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't attack me with Armin being here. He was that overprotective over Armin. Sometimes, I wondered if Luke had secret feelings for Armin. It looked like it sometimes.

Armin kissed my wrists, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I grinned and kissed his ears while watching Luke beat the hell out of Armin. It was pretty intriguing.

I also didn't want to risk my neck and save Tentin. It was his idea to go shopping after all.

“You're so cruel,” Armin said through the mind link.

I chuckled. He was listening to my thoughts.

“I know,” I said through the mind link as well.

“I want to kiss you,” Armin said through the mind link.

“I don't want to tire you,” I said, disengaging from the hug. “You should focus on recovery.”

“I am recovered,” Armin said through the mind link.

“No, you're not.” I shot back and got up from the bed and the take-out bags.

I had had a waiter quickly wrap up some healthy vegetarian porridge when ordering food.

I also got some braised pork and beans for Lucas; it was his favorite meal.

After handling Armin the porridge and ensuring I was close to him, I said, “Luke, I have your favorite braised pork and bean sprouts!”

Luke landed one last punch on Tentin's face before looking at me, then at the takeouts in my hand.

With inhuman speed, he snatched the take out from my hand and pinched my cheek.

Before Armin could say a word, Luke casually leaned against the wall, eating his food.

“I'll take my money back from you no matter what,” Luke vowed before disappearing behind the door.

Tentin struggled off the ground, his face pink. “I don't mind getting beat. For some fun with you, it's worth it.”

Armin looked at me, “What is he talking about?”

Tentin immediately ran out of the door, not forgetting to close the door. I groaned at the rugged look on Armin's face.

I had some explaining to do.

“Well,” I started. “Not much.” 

“Tell me every detail,” Armin said intensely.