#ILoveYou #YouLoveHer

#Wallet

Tia

"You know, she calls you wallet behind your back?" I phrased it as a question to make it sound less hurtful.

He nodded.

I looked at him, trying to detect any signs of anger or hurt, but his face is passive – as if that didn't matter. As if whatever she says doesn't matter.

"She's evil," he replied nonchalantly.

I don't think that she's particularly nice, but I wouldn't call her evil either. Especially not to her face.

But Nate does, and it annoys her only a little bit.

I guess kind if like her calling Nate wallet only annoys him a little bit. Or rather, not even a little bit.

Is it because he doesn't care about whatever she says, because he doesn't care enough about her. Or is it because he cares too much about her that he's willing to ignore all her offenses against him?

I shake the latter thought from my head.

"Thank you," I said as Nate paid for dinner.

He just shrugged. His shrug feels suspiciously similar to her signature shrug.

"No problem," he replied with a smile.

I wonder if he's wondering if I call him wallet behind his back too. I don't for the record.

"Nate," I said.

He turned to look at me.

"I guess, I'll see you tomorrow," I continued as we parted ways.

"Good night, Tia. Take care," he said curtly, as he walked towards the parking lot.

I sometimes wonder why Nate never offers to drive me home. Is it because he's too busy being her personal
driver?

The only reason why we even had dinner with just the two of us is because she had a family thing and didn't need Nate to drive her home.

I took a deep breath.

I mustn't think this way.

I mustn't think of her.

I mustn't think of her marry rich to get rich plan.

I mustn't think of how she keeps Nate on a leash even though she clearly feels nothing for him, thinks of him as only as a friend and a fallback plan.
Michelle and her Wallet.

Michelle

I don't get how Harlequin novels never seem to run short on powerful and wealthy heroes- billionaires- shieks, oil tycoons, and hoteliers.

I've never met a shiek, and I don't think I'll ever meet one. Even if I meet one, I'll probably not want to be with him, because chances are he'd be Muslim and they accept polygamy. I don't think I can stand being one of many wives.

Oil tycoons are not easy to come by, especially since we don't really have oil mines around here.

Hoteliers – the easiest one on that list, but no, never met one under 30.

CEOs – maybe. Actually one of my childhood friends just started his own internet security firm, therefore earning himself the title of CEO. And that just makes me incredibly jealous, because I'm still stuck in a rat race. Still, I wouldn't date him (not that he likes me or anything), because it just hurts my ego too much.

Are billionaires that easy to come by? I don't even know what the measurement for billionaire is.

I'm pretty sure that a few of the guys I went to school with are from pretty well-off families.

Nate is from a pretty well-off family and he never hesitates when spending his parents' money on extravagant dinners and expensive presents, but it doesn't feel half as romantic as those guys in the novels.

Or maybe because I just became numb to it. I gotten used to it. It became a requirement, rather than simply a pleasant plus point.

Nate

"Tia told me that you called me wallet behind my back," I said to Mich the next morning. It was a Sunday, and we were going to Tia's church together.

To be honest, it didn't really matter that she calls me wallet. It's the fact that Tia felt the need to tell me- that mattered.

She nodded, and asked, "What does your parents think of me?"

I looked at her, a bit confused by her question. She was never interested in what my parents, or anyone actually, thought of her.

"I mean, you treat us to buffets and stay-cations are 5 star hotels. Does your parents think that we're gold diggers or something?" she asked, genuinely interested.

"They don't think anything about it."

She nodded. "I just want to tell you that you don't have to do that. I don't want you to feel that you'd have to bribe us to be your friend."

It's funny how Mich keep on using us, including Tia, even though she knows that it's really just her.

"Does that mean I don't have to give you rides home anymore?"

"That's me being a user," she replied. "You can always say no."

I laughed. "And have you throw a tantrum? I don't think so."

She laughed, and replied, "I don't throw tantrums."

"Right, you'll just not talk to me."

"The silent treatment," she conceded with a nod.

"Why would Tia tell you that I call you wallet behind your back?" she finally continued the conversation I started.

"So you're not denying it," I said, more like a statement than a question.

"No," she replied, not at all embarrassed. "I do," she admitted.

"You're evil," I said. I liked calling her evil to her face, because it annoys her a little, but didn't bother her as much as it should.

She just laughed, "And you're asking for it."

I smirked.

"Why would Tia tell you though?" she repeated her question, emphasizing what she really wanted to know, which also happened to be what I wanted to know.

I shrugged.

She shrugged, repeating me.

Michelle

Tia had always been above that. Tia always believed that love conquers all. That if we love someone, everything else shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter if they weren't... rich, or of the same religious affiliation.

It's a shame that her parents didn't agree with her. Her parents don't care about the size of her potential boyfriends wallets, but they do care a little too much about their willingness to go to church every Sunday, and be baptized as a Protestant, regardless of their actual religious affiliations.

While Nate's parents' apparently only rule was that he must marry someone Chinese. Someone like... me.

Well, who am I to judge them? My parents just want me to marry someone of the same or better financial background (that's their way of saying I must marry someone rich). Someone like... Nate

So can you blame me if I'd like to keep Nate, my wallet on a chain. I remember wallets with chains were quite popular back when we were in high school.