Independence

The instructor called on Ingrid directly, waking her up to answer a question.

But Ingrid hadn’t been paying attention, so unsurprisingly, she couldn’t respond correctly. The other students merely glanced at her, their looks filled with obvious mockery.

Ingrid’s irritation was visible. She loved designer clothes and bags, but her enjoyment came from owning them, not learning how to pair them effectively. So, discussions about color coordination and which

tones suited different skin types didn’t interest her at all.

When the class finally ended, she was the first to leave.

Stepping out into the mall, Ingrid remembered she had previously made some revenge purchases on Hansel’s supplementary card.

He hadn’t reacted, probably not even noticing the charges. Feeling the need to shop away her irritation, she headed straight into a luxury brand store and began buying whatever caught her eye.

Meanwhile, Hansel was in a routine meeting when his phone kept buzzing with purchase notifications. He glanced at it, then expressionlessly turned it off.

Evelyn had timed her arrival to pick up Ingrid as the class ended. She instructed the driver to park at the mall and headed toward the classroom.

Truthfully, she didn’t want to be there. St ssed her old routine of meeting with friends for tea, chatting, and playing poker.

Her biggest worry back then was choosing which boutique to visit the next day or deciding if a quick overseas shopping trip would be too time–consuming

Now, her life revolved around Ingrid and the baby she carried. Evelyn had to constantly remind Ingrid about her classes and even pick her up on time, making her feel like a nanny

But she couldn’t afford to let Ingrid slack off, fearing she might pass on her poor habits to the unborn

child.

Every time this happened, Evelyn regretted her decision to insist on keeping Ingrid’s pregnancy. Still, she consoled herself that it wouldn’t last more than eight to nine more months. Once the baby was born, she could deal with Ingrid however she wanted.

Evelyn then took the elevator up to the third floor, where Ingrid’s class was supposed to be–but found the

room empty.

After asking the instructor, Evelyn found out that the class had ended long ago. Ingrid had given her the wrong class schedule!

Evelyn gritted her teeth and immediately called Ingrid, but the phone rang for a long time without anyone answering before it eventually hung up automatically.

Fuming. Evelyn stormed out of the classroom and was about to call the driver to help her look for Ingrid when she spotted Ingrid walking out of the Chanel store across the way, loaded with shopping bagsContent (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Among them were several orange Hermès paper bags. Judging by their size, it was obvious they contained purses!

Even Evelyn wouldn’t splurge on so many Hermès bags at once, but this little ingrate dared to be so extravagant. And she was spending the Johnson family’s money!

Furious at the thought, Evelyn marched straight over and snatched the shopping bags from Ingrid’s hands. She then threw them to the ground.

She exploded at her, yelling. “Who do you think you are? My son’s supplementary card isn’t for you to max out like this! Do you think money grows on trees?

“Tve never seen a woman as greedy as you. Do you think my son is some kind of fool? Do you really think you’re worth this much? You’re so shameless!”

Evelyn’s anger boiled over. She spewed every insult she could think of.

Ingrid’s face tumed a mix of blue and white as a crowd began to gather, some even pulling out their phones to record and take pictures.

Evelyn had lost all sense of reason; consumed by rage, she didn’t care about her reputation or appearance anymore. It was as if she wanted to unleash all the frustration she had bottled up over this

time.

Seeing Evelyn’s insults growing nastier, Ingrid’s own temper started to flare. Did they really think she was a pushover to be trampled on like this?