"Make up your mind," Ethan Yu's calm voice cut through her thoughts like a blade.
Hailey Tang scrunched her nose, pretending to be troubled. "This is hard. I kind of want… all of them."
Ethan didn't even blink. He pulled out his wallet and handed a sleek black card to the sales associate. "We'll take them all. Wrap everything up."
The store clerk's eyes practically turned into crescent moons with excitement. "Right away, sir!"
Hailey's jaw dropped. She had only been teasing him, trying to test the waters. She didn't expect him to actually buy every single item.
But then again, this amount of money was probably pocket change to him.
If he was willing to bleed money, she wasn't going to stop him from hemorrhaging.
Ethan stood up, picked out a dress from the pile, and handed it to her. "Go change into this one."
Hailey accepted the dress without protest and headed toward the fitting room.
Once inside, she sank onto the small velvet couch and flipped over the price tag.
¥25,000.
She stared at the number in disbelief.
Ethan never liked her. He'd always made that painfully clear. So naturally, he was stingy when it came to giving her money—not because he lacked generosity, but because he simply didn't want to.
She only received a fixed allowance of ¥20,000 per month from him. If she wanted anything extra, she had to keep track of expenses. He had a rule: her monthly spending couldn't exceed ¥200,000. Not one yuan more.
Hailey had never cared much about his money anyway. She liked him—or at least she thought she did. That was the point. That was why she rarely touched his allowance. Most of the time, if she wanted something, she'd ask her grandfather instead.
In her past life, Ethan had never bought her a single thing. Not a flower, not a pen.
And now… he'd just dropped a small fortune on clothes for her. In one go.
It was so absurd it made her laugh. Bitterly.
What was he playing at?
There was no way he had suddenly fallen for her. Not a chance.
The only reasonable explanation was that he was acting on a whim. Nothing more, nothing less. Definitely nothing worth overthinking.
She had been in the dressing room a long time when Ethan's impatient voice snapped her out of it.
"Are you done in there?"
"Just a sec…" Hailey winced. Somehow, she'd managed to zip part of her hair into the back of the dress. She tugged at it awkwardly but only made it worse.
"I need help," she called. "Can you get one of the store clerks?"
The door creaked open—only it wasn't a clerk. Ethan's tall figure stepped right in.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, startled. "You could've just gotten a staff member!"
He didn't answer. Instead, he turned her gently around, then reached for her hair. With an unexpected tenderness, he began untangling the strands one by one.
Hailey froze, thrown off by the sudden softness in his touch.
He zipped her up once her hair was free, then turned away.
"Let's go," he said casually. "We're getting dinner."
Hailey blinked. "Dinner?"
Ethan adjusted his sunglasses and looked back at her. "Hurry up. I don't have much time."
Even as she followed him into a nearby French restaurant, she was still trying to figure out what was going on.
Once they sat down and ordered, she studied him across the table, bemused. "Wait… are you actually treating me to dinner?"
Ethan's lips curled into a lazy smirk. "Is that a problem?"
"I'm just… surprised. I've known you for years. And this is the first time you've ever done something like this."
He shrugged. "Well, you did bring me lunch today. I figured I owed you one. Especially since you managed to burn yourself and ruin my lunch in the process."
Hailey leaned back, feigning deep thought. "If I had known that messing up your lunch would earn me a steak dinner, I would've done it yesterday."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "If you wanted me to take you out that badly, you could've just asked."
"Would you have said yes?"
He didn't answer.
Because the truth was, he wouldn't have.
Not before.
Not when she used to chase him around like a lovesick fool.
But now…
"Depends on my mood," he said at last, cryptically.
"And today, you're in a good mood?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Ethan didn't reply.
Because he didn't know the answer himself.
Why had he spent all afternoon with her? Why had he dropped thousands on clothes, followed by dinner?
He couldn't explain it either.