Chapter 1

The noisy living room instantly went silent.

Helen Bennett's face stiffened as she glared at me, utterly at a loss for words. All relatives in the room exchanged tense glances.

I casually peeled a clementine and reminded her again, "Helen, I'm sure you're not the stingy type either."

"Mom, let me have a word with Freya for a second."

Skylar Reynold suddenly grabbed my wrist and urgently said, "Freya Finch, come with me!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he dragged me into the room, pale-faced, and slammed the door behind us with a loud thud.

"All my relatives are out there, Freya. How could you say something like that? Think of how embarrassing it is for my mom!

"It's the holidays; can't you at least save me some face?"

"Face?"

I rubbed my reddened wrist and looked up at him. "This is my first time visiting your family for the holidays, and you expect me to fork over thousands of dollars. Why have I never heard of such customs around here in Thassia?"

Skylar's gaze darted around erratically. Then, he put on a helpless expression and sighed. "It's just a traditional custom from my hometown, which I forgot to tell you.

"You received around 4,000 dollars for your year-end bonus, right? Just cover for it now so Mom doesn't look bad."

While I remained silent, he leaned in close and tried to take my hand, but I pulled away.

"I'll transfer the money back to you in a bit, Freya. Just think of it as a loan."

"Transfer it right now, then."

Skylar froze, clearly never expecting that reply.

"I don't have money right now. I locked my year-end bonus in a fixed deposit after getting it, and if I pull it out right now, I'll lose all the accrued interest. I'll give it back to you next year with interest on top, alright?"

I nearly laughed out of pure frustration.

Here he was, pulling the fixed deposit excuse again.

Six months ago, when I had my eyes on a designer bag, he told me his salary was locked in a fixed deposit and promised to buy it for me once it matured.

On my birthday, he claimed he was locking everything away in a fixed deposit to save up for our future house and wedding, so he gave me a discounted custard pie instead.

I had never nickel-and-dimed over those things before.

When he invited me over to his family's place for the holidays, I showed up at his doorstep carrying bags of premium gifts. And yet, he expected me to hand out over 4,000 dollars in holiday cash gifts to his entire family.

Did he think my money grew on trees?

"What a coincidence," I said, eating a slice of the clementine and turning him down flatly. "I don't have any money either."

"How is that even possible?" he anxiously roared.

Then, he started pressing. "Did you spend all the money you received? It's been just a few days since your bonus cleared, so how could you possibly have no money?"

"I lent it to a close friend for an emergency," I lied to his face without blinking.

His expression immediately darkened. "Which close friend? Tell her to pay you back right now, and that you urgently need the cash!"

"She used it for an investment, so she can't give it back right now."

Skylar stared at me in absolute disbelief. His mouth hung open, and he could barely say a single word for a long time.

Just then, someone pushed the door open and walked in.

"Your girlfriend is an absolute cheapskate, Skylar. What do you even see in her?"

Alisa Lark sauntered into the room with a handful of potato chips. She tossed them into her mouth before rolling her eyes at me.

She was wearing a Chanel jacket, which was the birthday present Skylar had supposedly "scraped and saved up" to buy for her last month.