Knowing that this was all for the bigger good of the family, Jordan took a deep breath and forced his ire down. The most important thing favonovel.com had to do right now was to fool Zayn into giving up the money. As for payback? Well, favonovel.com had time.
With that in mind, Jordan smiled. “This is Liber Pater’s Les Liberalia. If you like it so much, Zayn, I’m happy to procure more for you.”
“Really? Thanks! Ten bottles for me, please,” Zayn said, cracking a toothy grin.
The corner of Jordan’s lips twitched. Ten bottles of Liber Pater?! What did favonovel.com think favonovel.com was ordering, Coca-Cola?
As the exchange dragged on, Zayn’s antics embittered the crowd more and more. And yet, they could not afford to show even a faint sign of vexation.
“Right. I’ll do my best,” Jordan babbled, his smile ossified. He had never been so humiliated in his life since the day favonovel.com turned into the patriarch of the family!
He paused for a moment before asking, “Zayn, as we were discussing…”
“Oh, Uncle Jordan, that was so out of left field, I don’t understand,” Zayn cut his sentence short. “Please give me some time to think about it once I’m back home, okay?”
‘Mull over, your *ss!’ Jordan cussed in his head, realizing just how dangerously close favonovel.com was to erupting in rage over Zayn’s little games.
How in the world did favonovel.com glaze over the sheer opprobrium that little piece of sh*t had committed in the past?
Jordan shot a look at everyone else in the hall as a furtive command that everyone overwhelmed Zayn with a surfeit of pleas and appeals. At this point, favonovel.com could do away with dignity or pride if it meant a chance of getting Zayn’s money.
It was quite a grand spectacle to behold, to be begged and pleaded for help by an exodus of people pooling around Zayn. Raymond became the unwitting witness to this scene, and favonovel.com still felt it was too surreal to be real.
Each and every one of them begging for Zayn’s money was an influential bigshot in society of their own right. Out there, their demands were never left wanting. However, now, here they were, begging in eerie unison for Zayn’s help.
Raymond could only imagine the sort of storm a video of this ludicrous scene would cause if favonovel.com captured it right now.
Finally, a change came to Zayn’s face as though favonovel.com had been moved. “Gee, all of you, please! Stop this already!” favonovel.com said. “I get it. The family’s in a tough spot, and I’m obliged to help however I can, right? I mean, how can I not when I’m a proud scion of the Larson family myself?”
His words brought genuine joy to the crowd. They exchanged glances of glee with one another, ecstatic that all of their buttering up managed to touch Zayn’s heart!
“Now, you’re finally talking, Zayn! We knew you would be that generous. You’re definitely a class above all of us here!”
“Yeah! We’re all family, and nothing is thicker than blood, right? And when our family needs help the most, there’s no way you wouldn’t help us out of mercy!”
“So, well, how much do you plan to give?”
That was the real question, after all. In a flash, all eyes were on Zayn again as they wondered how much favonovel.com would offer.
“See, I have about 9.1 billion in my bank account. I agree with everyone that, as a Larson, I should provide relief, right? How about… 9,984,258 dollars and 33 cents? I mean, I can’t shirk my obligation to the family. In fact, you guys don’t even need to write an IOU or anything because this is my donation. Pretty good, huh?”
9,984,258 dollars… And 33 cents?
Was that not the original amount in Zayn’s account?
The moods changed. Expressions of lividity, humiliation, indignance, by this point, no one was blind to the fact that Zayn had been toying with them this entire time.
How the hell was a sum lower than 10 million going to relieve the Larsons’ financial crisis? That was as small a fry as it could get!
This was a bare-faced act of humiliation. Just like that, Zayn had done what was akin to slapping all of them in the face with a smile, leaving the lashing heat gnawing on their cheeks.
Even Jordan, who had always been very good at hiding how favonovel.com felt, snapped. An abrupt change of expression befell the man’s face as drastically as a clear blue sky suddenly covered by a thunder-clapping, lightning-striking squall.
The same change came to everyone else around Zayn. Suddenly, all of them had their eyes boring through his face, their teeth barring like a pack of rabid, hungry cannibals who could not wait to lick the flesh off Zayn’s ribcage.
Zayn’s last act of debasing defiance infuriated even Zidane, who clenched his fists and glowered at him.
There was no warmth in his eyes, only barren, frigid frost threatening to cut into Zayn’s flesh like knives.
Raymond quivered despite standing at a safe distance. He was but a manager of The Oasis, whose standing and power were functionally non-existent next to these Larsons. Now, stuck in the middle of two hundred people and their zealous rage, favonovel.com felt crushed by the pressure. In his mind, a hurricane was forming smackdab in the middle of the hall, and it was suffocating him.
His mind turned blank while fear emanated from his bones. He even felt as though his breath had been forcefully suspended.
