My eyes surveyed everything that it landed on. I saw people hopping in and out of a tent where I saw pants and shirts of different colors and sizes. My eyes widened as I saw a shirt from Gucci!
"They have Gucci here!?" I squeaked as I looked at Ezekiel with pure excitement.
He let out a hearty laugh before nodding his head. "They have different brands of shirts here but they're not real. They're just imitations Eero."
My jaw dropped in shock and looked at the familiar design of the shirt that I saw.
"It looks authentic!" I said. "Are they really imitations?" I asked just to clarify and he nodded. "Wow... so you can buy it here for a cheaper price?"
"You can buy that shirt for only 150 pesos or should I say... 3 dollars?"
"T-Three dollars!?" I exclaimed and he laughed like he's enjoying my evident shocking voice before nodding. "I spent a fortune for a shirt and they sell it here for three dollars!?"
"Eero that's how the world works." he gently said before dragging my arm towards the tent. "The target market of luxury brands are the rich so of course only the rich can afford those but you see, people find ways to enjoy one thing or another. Some people don't really care if what they wear is the real thing or not— they just wear it because it makes them look good, even if it's just an imitation and that's okay. They live within their means."
"B-But... aren't they afraid that other people may judge them?" I asked and he smiled before shaking his head.
"Only the rich and the social climbers do that. Why would you buy something you can't afford in the first place?" he smirked and I honestly don't have any idea how that feels.
I mean, I get the idea and it's true but I guess what they say is right; you'll never understand the life you never lived.
"Do you want to look around and buy something?" Ezekiel suddenly asks.
"Can I?" I hopefully said and he agreed right away. "Nice!"
I excitedly skipped inside and wandered around the shelves of clothes. I feel like I'm inside the closet going to Narnia because there are a lot of clothes from t-shirts, shorts, cardigans for women, crop tops, jeans, ripped jeans, ruffled tops, dresses, tuxedos! Gowns! They even have trench coats and padded coats for winter season! Why would you sell those!? We're in a tropical country!
I continued looking around and felt eyes prying around me. My forehead creased as I looked to my left and realized that it wasn't me they were looking at— it was Ezekiel.
I unconsciously looked at him from head to toe and he was disturbed by the way I scanned him.
"What?" he asks and I smirked before shaking my head.
I really don't know what they see in this guy that makes everyone turn their heads at him but if they think this is his final look... well I'm quite challenged to change his clothes.
Besides, we are in a huge walk-in closet.
"Come here." I said as I pulled him towards the section of the tent where I saw jeans. I read surplus clothes and I guess that's why they're cheaper than the clothes displayed in front.
"American eagle!? Levi's!?" I hissed and I heard the man beside me laughed. "Don't tell me this is also an imitation?"
Ezekiel shook his head before pointing at the signage.
"It's a surplus Eero. It means it came from the factory. It's an excess but it's not always the case. Some of it are the real deal while some are just imitation. You can't really distinguish the real thing." he bluntly said and I grinned as I ran my hand through the fabric of the jeans.
